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Chapter 22
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
Radha, Lakshmi and Mailk are almost in Shimla. The two youngsters are dazzled by the pine trees and the snow. Radha promises Malik that once winter falls, they can build a snowman together, modeled after Mrs. Iyengar. Kumar has already arranged lodgings and schooling for both of the children. Surprisingly, Samir has offered to pay for Radha’s schooling, and Lakshmi agrees, on the condition that the payments be anonymous.
The fact that this last chapter is called an ‘epilogue’ shows that everything in Shimla belongs to a different narrative; even the pine trees and approaching snow signal that Lakshmi and Radha’s lives will take on new, more pastoral texture. Though Samir is not a part of Lakshmi’s chosen family in the way that Malik is, he remains in her orbit—and provides the future for Radha that he once seemed to completely disregard.
Themes
Dr. Kumar has started signing his letters “Jay.” Each letter is filled with new details: about how excited the patients are for Lakshmi’s arrival, about the new cures he is working on every day, even about a soup he just tried (it was intended for pregnant women, but he was curious). Lakshmi loves receiving these letters, and Dr. Kumar’s awkward manners make her smile.
Lakshmi and Kumar’s shared interest in medicine and healing now becomes a language of flirtation, too. Kumar’s deep interest in women’s biological needs also marks him as separate from more patriarchal men like Samir.
Themes
The train pulls into the Shimla station, and all of Lakshmi’s former patients are there. The woman who had struggled with her pregnancy now holds a happy baby, and the woman with arthritis is using her hands on her mule’s reins. Dr. Kumar looks tall and handsome, and Lakshmi feels herself blushing. “A thousand miles from the tiny village where I’d started,” Lakshmi reflects, “I was finally home.”
In the epilogue, Lakshmi’s life takes on its full fairytale contours: all of her patients have been healed, and the man she is seemingly meant to be with is standing in wait. Lakshmi has created “home” not by building a fancy house or earning a lot of money but through expertise, care, and a willingness to understand and be understood by others.
Themes
