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Chapter 4
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
That night, while Lakshmi waits for Samir at her Rajnagar property, she frets about how unprepared Radha is for city life. The etiquette lessons Lakshmi gave were not nearly enough. At the same time, though, Lakshmi is sympathetic: as Radha explains, throwing stones was the only way to make the “gossip-eaters” back in Ajar stop their hurtful chatter.
Radha’s tactics in Ajar—her open, sometimes violent determination—will not work in Jaipur. As Lakshmi’s maneuvering has proven, self-defense in Jaipur looks different: it is about observing behavior, making deals, and suffering humiliation instead of pushing against it.
Themes
Worse still, Lakshmi feels that her abandonment of Hari directly caused Radha’s difficult childhood. “In India,” Lakshmi muses, “individual shame did not exist. Humiliation spread, as easily as oil on wax paper, to the entire family.” Radha worries that Lakshmi will send her away, but Lakshmi promises she will not do such a thing—and that she will try to be a better sister to Radha.
Lakshmi drifts off until Samir wakes her up and calls her “beauty.” They discuss Joyce Harris, who is slowly recovering, and Samir tells Lakshmi he knows it was not her fault. Then, Lakshmi confesses that she is going into debt, in part because of Radha’s arrival and the ensuing expenses. Samir offers her money, as he has before, but Lakshmi declines.
The ease with which Samir lets himself into Lakshmi’s apartment is a testament to their comfort with each other—and her confession displays how much she trusts him. Samir’s offer of money also reveals that Lakshmi’s money woes stem in part from a sense of pride, not a lack of resources to help her pay off her debts.
Themes
Lakshmi teases Samir for gambling, and he teases back (“I already have one wife, Beauty”). The pair gossips about how Naraya is a third-rate builder, and Samir laments that Lakshmi did not let him intervene earlier. The two lie close together, their hands intertwined, and Lakshmi thinks about how easy it would be to have sex with Samir. But though her desire is intense, she distances herself, vowing not to have sex with him or to tell him about her past with Hari.
At the same time as they push towards intimacy, however, both Samir and Lakshmi have to acknowledge the limits of their bond. Samir is married, and Lakshmi’s troubled past—not to mention her precarious social station—make this sexual desire a threat to her stability.
Themes
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Lakshmi asks about Hazi and Nasreen, and Samir tells her that they miss her terribly. Samir wants to see the floor Lakshmi has designed, so the two get to their feet. But as they do so, Lakshmi falls, suddenly within kissing distance of Samir. She pulls away, remembering Parvati. As Samir admires the floor, he realizes that Lakshmi has hidden her name in the design—an old trick that the “pleasure women” would do in their henna.
Once again, Lakshmi’s terrazzo floor acts as a manifestation of her interior life, a way to convert the things and memories she is most proud of into something tangible. Samir’s knowledge of the floor’s hidden name bolsters the sense that these two understand each other deeply, beyond the level of mere physical attraction.
Themes
Now, Lakshmi comes around to her true purpose: since she has not heard from Parvati, she will ask Samir to make the introduction to the palace. In exchange, she assures him that his architecture firm can collaborate with Mr. Sharma to get the maharaja’s business (which will also please Manu, the maharaja’s Director of Facilities). Lakshmi hails a rickshaw, and while Samir complains about wanting more “thanks,” Lakshmi smiles. “You don’t need thanks,” she tells him, “you have a driver.”
Lakshmi’s business savvy now sneaks in to contaminate even her warmest relationship, as she uses her closeness with Samir to gain access to the palace. But such savvy is important when class and caste are felt in every step of daily life: while Lakshmi has to hail a rickshaw, upper-crust Samir has a driver on his payroll, ready and waiting for him.
Themes
