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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Henna Artist, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Choice, Independence and Women’s Freedoms
Family and Responsibility
Societal Hierarchy vs. Unordered Intimacy
Care and Communication
Creativity vs. Possession
Summary
Analysis
When Lakshmi arrives in Shimla, Radha is traumatized by the image of “Kanta’s sari dripping with blood.” Kanta’s baby was stillborn, but she had refused treatment, and now she’s in danger of blood poisoning. Radha admits that even though she knows she was supposed to give her baby up for adoption, she couldn’t help but picture sharing naming ceremonies and playdates with Kanta’s child.
The fairytale structure of the story is especially evident here: Kanta’s painful birth was foreshadowed by Joyce Harris’s miscarriage, making this tragic stillbirth feel almost destined. Radha’s confession that she still fantasizes about keeping her baby, though stressful to Lakshmi, is also one of the first times Radha has been forthcoming with her sister.
Themes
Radha goes into labor from the shock, and soon, her baby boy is born. Lakshmi is proud of her sister but worried about Kanta—more so when she learns that Kanta will, in fact, never be able to have children. Though both Lakshmi and Dr. Kumar are disappointed, they each compliment the other’s medicine and knowledge.
Because the baby is a boy, he can be adopted by the palace, though Lakshmi (tellingly) does not seem to celebrate this fact. The mutual medical admiration Lakshmi and Kumar share bolsters the sense that there is romantic potential between them.
Themes
Dr. Kumar brings Lakshmi into the hospital garden and drapes his jacket over her shoulders. Kumar pitches his idea: he wants to combine Western medicine with Lakshmi’s knowledge of herbs to help treat these Himalayan patients. Specifically, he wants Lakshmi to grow an herb garden at the hospital with all the plants she needs. “I’m thinking that the new India…may not be quite ready to give up her old ways,” Kumar confesses. “And that might be for the best.” The two say goodbye, but Kumar’s scent lingers on Lakshmi’s sari, and she pictures sharing a garden with him.
More than just admiring Lakshmi, Kumar articulates the exact challenge she is facing: how to be independent (“new”) without sacrificing history and connection (“the old ways”). For the first time in the entire story, Lakshmi begins to imagine a shared life as a joyful thing instead of an intimidating one, which is especially salient given that her fantasy life with Dr. Kumar would be centered on plants, simplicity, and healing—all the things she lacks in Jaipur.
Themes
After Lakshmi admires her sleeping sister’s face, both “familiar and alien,” she applies lavender-peppermint oil to Kanta’s hands. Weakly, Kanta revives, confessing that she tried so hard to keep the baby—and that though she prayed for a son, she would have been happy with a girl, too. The two women cheer each other up: Kanta reminds Lakshmi just how much Radha really loves her, and Lakshmi does an imitation of Baju.
Again, the forces of internalized misogyny are painfully evident: Kanta responds to biological facts as her own moral failings, and she frets that she suffered so because she wanted a boy. Lakshmi’s ability to use Baju (Kanta’s ridiculous servant) as a source of humor shows how deeply the women understand each other—and how this understanding can facilitate healing.
Themes
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Kanta falls back asleep, and Lakshmi goes to the nursery. To her surprise, she feels an instant connection to Radha’s baby. While she looks at the sleeping child, Kumar approaches, asking why she has never had children of her own (though he apologizes for the question). Lakshmi confesses that she was once married, long ago, while Kumar tells of his own parents’ untimely death. Kumar vows to get started on the adoption paperwork for the palace, promising that Radha will still not be allowed to have any contact with the baby.
Despite knowing Samir for over a decade, Lakshmi was never able to confess her past to him—but she reveals it all to Dr. Kumar almost immediately. This transparency both suggests a lasting, healthy bond (unlike Parvati and Samir’s), and might allow Lakshmi to navigate the line between her past and her present with more ease.
Themes
Kumar takes Lakshmi to his clinic, explaining that he started it a few years ago to provide treatment to the mountain peoples. Though some rich patients come from across the country, he is mostly focused on the locals. Lakshmi and Kumar visit five patients, and in almost every case, Lakshmi is able to hear the patients’ symptoms and recommend an herbal substitute for Kumar’s Western treatments.
Lakshmi is acting almost as a translator here, helping Dr. Kumar establish a common medicinal language with his less-Westernized patients. The efficacy and skill of Lakshmi’s work further testifies to the need for good communication and comprehension in healing spaces.
Themes
Noticing that Lakshmi takes to this work, Kumar again asks her to come and stay in Shimla. He assures that he will pay well, hinting delicately to the difficult circumstances Lakshmi faces back in Jaipur. Kumar is nervous, but Lakshmi agrees to think about it—and the doctor smiles so wide that his dimples show.
Like Kanta, Kumar is one of the only members of the upper classes who seems to have any sort of consciousness of how difficult Lakshmi’s in-between station is; much of her seeming lack of care for Radha stems, in reality, from a lack of privilege and free time. This flash of dimples confirms that Dr. Kumar has more than just professional interest in Lakshmi.
Themes
