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Malik
Hari Shastri is the man Lakshmi married, against her will, at 15; two years later, unable to bear his verbal and physical abuse any longer, Lakshmi abandoned Hari. When the novel first introduces Hari, he is a figure of menace and disgust—various characters emphasize his “big-big scar” and his unwashed clothes. But over time, Lakshmi comes to realize that Hari has reformed himself, using the healing practices he learned from his mother (Lakshmi’s saas) to help nautch girls and other women who have been brutalized. Hari thus sparks several contradictory feelings in Lakshmi. On the one hand, Lakshmi acknowledges that Hari is “trying” and “righting his wrongs”; on the other hand, she knows she can never “forgive the younger Hari…who left me with lasting scars.” Hari’s final moment in the text reflects this complexity—he comes to watch Lakshmi and Radha ride away from Jaipur, and though he says some (presumably kind) words, Lakshmi does not hear them. By shifting the focus from Hari in this final moment, The Henna Artist both allows him some measure of redemption and allows Lakshmi the distance she needs to truly heal.
Hari Shastri Quotes in The Henna Artist
The The Henna Artist quotes below are all either spoken by Hari Shastri or refer to Hari Shastri . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
Hari chuckled, a sound without joy. “Now that you’re working for the palace, you're too good to help her yourself?”
I felt my face grow warm. For a decade, I had been healing the rich, only, for their minor, more emotional troubles. If I'd stayed with Hari, no doubt Saasuji would have gotten around to teaching me the more complex procedures only she practiced. I shivered as I imagined my mother-in-law regarding me with as much dismay as Hari was now.
He knew he'd touched a tender spot. “Even Radha travels in such fine circles now.” Before I could ask him what he meant, he said, “How much did the palace bursar give you?”
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Hari Shastri Quotes in The Henna Artist
The The Henna Artist quotes below are all either spoken by Hari Shastri or refer to Hari Shastri . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
Hari chuckled, a sound without joy. “Now that you’re working for the palace, you're too good to help her yourself?”
I felt my face grow warm. For a decade, I had been healing the rich, only, for their minor, more emotional troubles. If I'd stayed with Hari, no doubt Saasuji would have gotten around to teaching me the more complex procedures only she practiced. I shivered as I imagined my mother-in-law regarding me with as much dismay as Hari was now.
He knew he'd touched a tender spot. “Even Radha travels in such fine circles now.” Before I could ask him what he meant, he said, “How much did the palace bursar give you?”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
