Previous
The Bearded Man
Ambika, wife to Jagan and mother to Mali, died of a brain tumor about 10 years before the main events of The Vendor of Sweets. Jagan fell in love with her at first sight after his family arranged for him to meet her as a prospective bride. After their large, traditional Hindu wedding, Jagan was so preoccupied by spending time with her and having sex with her that he repeatedly failed his college exams. His infatuation annoyed her somewhat, as it distracted her from her household tasks and made her look bad in front of his family, but they maintained a loving relationship. For many years, they had no children—to Ambika’s shame—until Jagan’s father insisted that Jagan and Ambika go on a fertility retreat, after which Jagan and Ambika had Mali. Ambika died when Mali was about 10 years old.
Ambika Quotes in The Vendor of Sweets
The The Vendor of Sweets quotes below are all either spoken by Ambika or refer to Ambika. 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 2
Quotes
Jagan found his son’s attraction to aspirin ominous. He merely replied, “I’ll get you better things to eat than this pill. Forget it, you understand?”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3
Quotes
Even with the passage of time, Jagan never got over the memory of that moment. The coarse, raw pain he had felt at the sight of Mali on that fateful day remained petrified in some vital centre of his being. From that day, the barrier had come into being. The boy had ceased to speak to him normally.
Chapter 4
Quotes
“I hate to upset him, that’s all. I have never upset him in all my life.”
“That means you have carried things to the point where you cannot speak to him at all.”
Chapter 10
Quotes
“Mo has no more use for me.”
“Use or no use, my wife—well, you know, I looked after her all her life.”
Chapter 12
Quotes
Jagan, as became a junior, was careful not to show too much personal interest in his marriage, but he was anxious to know what was going on.
They sent out three thousand invitations. […] Jagan’s whole time was spent in greeting the guests or prostrating himself at their feet as if they were older relatives. The priests compelled him to sit before the holy fire performing complicated rites and reciting sacred mantras; his consolation was that during most of these he had to be clasping his wife’s hand; he felt enormously responsible as he glanced at the sacred thali he had knotted around her neck at the most auspicious moment of the ceremonies.
Get the entire The Vendor of Sweets LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ambika Quotes in The Vendor of Sweets
The The Vendor of Sweets quotes below are all either spoken by Ambika or refer to Ambika. 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 2
Quotes
Jagan found his son’s attraction to aspirin ominous. He merely replied, “I’ll get you better things to eat than this pill. Forget it, you understand?”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3
Quotes
Even with the passage of time, Jagan never got over the memory of that moment. The coarse, raw pain he had felt at the sight of Mali on that fateful day remained petrified in some vital centre of his being. From that day, the barrier had come into being. The boy had ceased to speak to him normally.
Chapter 4
Quotes
“I hate to upset him, that’s all. I have never upset him in all my life.”
“That means you have carried things to the point where you cannot speak to him at all.”
Chapter 10
Quotes
“Mo has no more use for me.”
“Use or no use, my wife—well, you know, I looked after her all her life.”
Chapter 12
Quotes
Jagan, as became a junior, was careful not to show too much personal interest in his marriage, but he was anxious to know what was going on.
They sent out three thousand invitations. […] Jagan’s whole time was spent in greeting the guests or prostrating himself at their feet as if they were older relatives. The priests compelled him to sit before the holy fire performing complicated rites and reciting sacred mantras; his consolation was that during most of these he had to be clasping his wife’s hand; he felt enormously responsible as he glanced at the sacred thali he had knotted around her neck at the most auspicious moment of the ceremonies.
