Honor

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1

Part 2, Chapters 9-18

Part 2, Chapters 19-27

Part 3

Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

Izzat (Honor) and Patriarchy in the Indian Subcontinent

While abru is one Indian word for honor, izzat is another. In the complex socio-linguistic terrain of Northern India, both words can be traced to Hindustani (a combination of Hindi and Urdu) and ancient Persian. Specifically, abru can be traced to Sanskrit (the language of Hindi religious texts), while izzat has traces of Arabic (the language of Muslim religious texts). In Honor, Meena names her child Abru in the spirit of her Muslim husband, Abdul, and his dream of a unified India. The word izzat is only used once in the novel, in an accusatory way: It is connected to the “honor” of “honor killings,” practiced by both Hindu and Muslim communities. When Smita’s Muslim family was assaulted by their Hindu neighbors, her father swallowed his pride and converted to Hinduism to protect them. This extended to him trying to sell the family’s apartment so that they could move to America. He bribed the man who assaulted his children and forced the family to convert in order to sell the apartment, but when his wife found out what he did, she was furious:

Zenobia had accused him of collaborating with their persecutor, the man who had terrorized their children. ‘Where is your izzat, Asif? Or should I say Rakesh?’ she had taunted her husband. ‘First, you sold out your religion. Now, even your honor?’ (254).

The term “collaborator” was used to describe Indian people who helped British colonizers during their rule of India. Zenobia addresses her husband by his original Muslim name (Asif) and then his Hindu name (Rakesh) to accuse him of being a traitor to his religion and honor. Here, izzat means not only honor but also reputation. Because Indian culture is communal, reputation extends to one’s family. Once one’s reputation has been impugned, the only “recourse” is to seek revenge. However, Smita’s father instead concentrated on securing a new life in America. At the time, Smita disagreed with him, but for Mohan’s sake, she apologizes to the mob of men who attacked Meena. She now understands the love behind her father’s “collaboration” with her persecutor.

For women, the concept of izzat is connected to their “purity” or virginity, with related revenge often taking the form of “honor killing.” This type of killing is violence inflicted on women, rather than the attackers who dishonored them through sexual assault, incest, or the like. Izzat relies on reciprocity, meaning revenge should equal but not surpass the original insult. Meena’s brothers believed Meena’s “insult” to their family (i.e., her relationship with Abdul) was so great that the only way to cleanse their reputation was through murder. While Abru, a living union of Hindu and Muslim, represents honor with integrity, izzat represents potential destruction.

Family Dynamics and Secrets

Both Meena and Smita are embroiled in secrets that tear apart their families. While the reveal of Meena’s romance resulted in the death of her husband, Abdul, and eventually herself, Smita is more fortunate. Her family was given the chance to remake itself in a new country, yet the trauma of their forced conversion has influenced Smita for decades. Likewise, Meena’s romance with Abdul was forbidden within her conservative village and influences their daughter, Abru, long after their deaths: Not only was Abdul Muslim and Meena Hindu, but Meena does not have the right to choose her own husband as a woman. In her family’s hierarchy, she occupies the lowest rung. The brothers who once loved her came to see her as a threat to their honor, as she earned more money than they did. Meena initially tried to resist her attraction to Abdul, but when she no longer could, she kept their relationship a secret from even her sister, Radha. When she revealed her relationship to her brothers, she was forced to run away. When she and Abdul revealed her pregnancy, they engaged in honor killing.

It was Smita’s inability to keep a secret as a child that disrupted her own family. While her family was hiding from anti-Muslim sentiment, an innocent call with a friend’s mother, Pushpa Auntie, led to their forced conversion to Hinduism. The family remained silent about the incident when they emigrated to America, to the point of keeping their new Hindu identities. For Smita’s father, his new identity became a matter of honor, as he promised the man who forced the family to convert to remain Hindu—so as to not “risk” all their souls. Smita’s brother Sameer also embraced his new identity, using it to forget their shaming by hostile neighbors. However, Smita herself wears trauma like an “armor” of revenge fantasies (256). She lies to her father about being in India and remains in denial about her post-incident relationship with Pushpa Auntie. When Mohan confronts her about her past, she finally reveals the truth. This reveal allows Smita to take responsibility for what happened to her family, be honest with her father, and begin a relationship with Mohan.

Personal Redemption and Reunification

As Mohan drives Smita from the airport to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, she “look[s] out of the car window onto the streets of a city she had once loved, a city she’d spend the last twenty years trying to forget” (12). Mumbai is where a traumatic event took place that forever changed her family, which she herself caused through an innocent if thoughtless act. Now, she needs redemption to reconcile her past and present. Although Smita spent her formative years in Mumbai, when she returns, she is out of her element. Her Hindi is out of practice, she dresses and behaves like a Westerner, and she mistakes the educated, privileged Mohan for a driver. She later wonders how fellow journalist Shannon Carpenter was able to make friends after only three years in India (54). Smita even tries to impress former neighbor Pushpa Auntie, who alerted their Hindu neighbors to her family’s location decades ago. Translator Nandini judges her for being a native-born Indian who requires help with Hindi, and when Mohan suggests Smita try a taste of home, she cries.

Due to unresolved trauma, Smita acts deceptive: She deflects Mohan’s questions by bringing up other topics. She begins to see parallels between her life and Meena’s, the latter having been subjected to communal hatred for being a woman who dared to love, but doesn’t truly reflect until Mohan confronts her about her past. It is only by revealing her secret that she can accept what happened to her family and seek redemption. Smita initially believes she is cleansed of responsibility, in part because of Mohan’s anger on her behalf, but she must also accept India as her home.

Old India/New India

The concepts of old India and new India do not necessarily refer to a historical period or place, but an ideology. Old India is a nostalgic, conservative way of viewing the world, in which traditions are preserved. New India embraces “modernity” (secularism, casual relationships, etc.), framing traditions as outdated or in need of revamping. This dichotomy of old India/new India dates back to the period of nationalism, when Indian people were fighting British colonial rule. Some believed the way forward was to embrace new India, while others combined Indian independence and traditional (typically Hindu) values. Others promoted extreme views of culture and religion. The novel shows the dichotomy of old India/new India through resurgences of communal hatred and violence. Abdul’s desire for a new Hindustan led by his half-Muslim, half-Hindu daughter, Abru, is shown as possible at the end of the novel, with the new family created by Smita, Mohan, and Abru.

Smita and Mohan’s trip from cosmopolitan Mumbai to rural villages shows the dichotomy between city life and the countryside. Women like Smita feel this shift most acutely: She is accustomed to not only the privileges of the upper class in urban India but also those afforded to American women. She is an independent Indian American woman with a high-paying career, but when she arrives in India, she is infantilized. This is because of Smita’s difficulty communicating in Hindi and driving in Mumbai. It is also because her return after 20 years evokes adolescent memories. She suffers many missteps with translator Nandini and Mohan, even endangering herself by insulting the mob of men who stoned Meena. This mob represents the worst of old India: They rule women through misogynistic interpretations of culture and religion and are quick to answer leaders who perpetuate communal violence though the “buzzwords” of “God, Country, Religion, Honor” (67).

Men like Abdul offer a more unifying vision for India’s future: They would like to return the slogan “Jai Hind” (“long live India”) to its former meaning of national unity rather than its corrupted form. Women like Smita wish to take the slogan from “the mouths of these animals [the Hindu men at the courthouse] who have turned it into a ‘communal taunt’ and return it to its original meaning as a ‘patriotic cheer’” (249-50). Thus, children like Abru will restore “honor” to their country as “[ambassadors] of this new nation,” new India (96). While Smita initially believes Abru “had become a symbol of the old, timeless India” (160), her and Mohan’s adoption prevents this from happening. As Smita and Mohan’s adopted daughter, Abru becomes what Abdul dreamed, “the heir to a new, modern India” (160)—the child of a Hindu father and a Muslim-born mother, who will experience (and perhaps bridge) yet another world in America.