The Storyteller's Secret

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Part 11: “Amisha”Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 11, Chapter 38 Summary

Amisha is torn with guilt over her recent relations with Stephen, but reuniting with Deepak reminds Amisha of her submissive, dependent, and voiceless position. With Stephen, Amisha feels “worthy and capable” (289), but with Deepak she only sees gendered restrictions. Still, Amisha feels fierce love for her children, for whom she would sacrifice everything.

Deepak finds Neema’s final story on Amisha’s desk and confronts Amisha about her teaching practices at the school. Deepak is ashamed by Amisha’s nonconformity. He forbids Amisha to continue teaching at the school. The next morning, Amisha sends Ravi to explain to Stephen that she can no longer teach per Deepak’s orders: “the decision [rests] in Deepak’s hands” (292) as he is male and head of the household. Amisha and Stephen begin a daily correspondence using Ravi as their messenger.

Two weeks after Deepak’s decision, Amisha notices a group of people clustered. The villagers surround a group of Englishmen in uniform, including Stephen, holding Indian teenagers in custody. The teenagers were protesting the British occupation of India and showing their support for Gandhi. The Englishmen were brought in to stop the demonstrations. When the soldiers try to take the teenage protesters away, the villagers stop them. A full-scale riot soon breaks out. Stephen notices Amisha in the crowd just as she gathers her son and flees.

Part 11, Chapter 39 Summary

It has been several weeks since Amisha last spoke with Stephen, but their daily letters have grown longer and more intimate. Amisha struggles to reconcile the Stephen she knows from the Stephen that is a soldier for the British regime. Stephen’s letters question his purpose in India: “Though he didn’t apologize for his actions, Amisha could detect his regret and confusion” (296).

Deepak hears that Stephen is leaving the school after requesting a transfer to the military’s front lines in Europe. Ravi promises to watch the children in his home so that Amisha can go see Stephen.

Amisha goes to Stephen’s house full of worry, love, and confusion: “She had nothing to give him to make him stay, to show him she loved him” (299). Stephen explains that his decision to leave India rests in the conflict of interest he feels about his role in the village. They embrace and Amisha decides to no longer “belong to those who had claimed ownership of her” (301) and instead give her love to Stephen. They have sex and Amisha spends the night with Stephen.

Part 11, Chapter 40 Summary

Once Stephen leaves India, Amisha receives a notice from the school officially barring her from teaching there. It quickly becomes evident that Amisha is pregnant with Stephen’s child. Amisha confides only in Ravi. When Deepak returns home, Amisha tells him that she is ready for another child. She manipulates him into sex and later into believing that the child she carries is his; she does this so that the child will grow up under the influence of Deepak’s reputable name and not be subjected to abandonment. She wishes for the child to “see Deepak as its true father” (305) with all traces of Stephen forever erased.

Part 11, Chapter 41 Summary

Stephen unexpectedly visits with Amisha is six months pregnant. “The sight of Stephen made her legs buckle, and her eyes welled up with tears” (307). Overcome with emotion, the two embrace, which leads Stephen to realize Amisha’s pregnancy concealed beneath her sari. Amisha has resolved to keep her family together for the children’s sake. She tells Stephen that the child is Deepak’s.

Despite this, Amisha desperately tries to convince Stephen that she loves him, saying that his love is her “salvation,” but that being with him would mean separating herself from her sons. Amisha says, “I cannot choose you over them” (309) after Stephen begs her to run away with him. She presents to him a collection of stories, sacrificing her creativity for the sake of her family. She explains: “You have my heart, Stephen [...] and without it, I have no tales to tell” (310).

As Stephen leaves, Amisha reflects on the nature of fate and how little she was able to influence the course of her life. In parting, Stephen says, “I would give anything for this child to be mine” (310).

Part 11 Analysis

As tensions over colonial rule deepen, Stephen’s position in the community comes under question. Though he respects the village’s people and loves Amisha, his sense of honor and duty to his country is stronger than his concern for Indian independence. This is exemplified in the riot scene, in which Stephen arrests a group of teenage Gandhi activists per “the laws of the British Empire” (294). Despite his inner conflict, he and the other British soldiers use physical violence to quell the village crowd. However, he sees that his sense of duty directly contradicts Amisha’s love for Gandhi’s teachings. He expresses his ambivalence only to her: “In a letter following the riot, Stephen spoke about his place in the country and his purpose. Though he didn’t apologize for his actions, Amisha could detect his regret and confusion” (296). Still, although his emotions may indicate confusion and regret, Stephen’s actions are wholly decided by his sense of duty.

Stephen’s confusion does not factor into the pair’s intimacy. The sense of personal independence that Amisha gains from Stephen—”She refused to belong to those who had claimed ownership of her” (301)—is too tempting for Amisha to ignore. They consummate their relationship despite Stephen’s loyalty to his imperialistic country. Ironically, Amisha’s sense of personal independence comes from a man who represents the opposite of her country’s colonial independence.

Motherhood and familial obligations transcend Amisha’s personal desires. Just as Stephen’s sense of loyalty and duty prevent him from fully renouncing imperialism, Amisha’s culture of familial duty weighs more heavily on her decisions that her personal need for Stephen’s love. Still, Amisha draws on the strength of her unborn child to cope with being separated from Stephen: “Their love has been powerful enough to create life, and that life was their bond” (306).

Amisha’s understanding of herself is deeply intertwined with her ability to write stories with endings different from her lived experience: “But this tale had only one possible conclusion, and she was helpless to reverse it, powerless to alter its predetermined course” (310). Amisha’s gives up writing when she accepts the fact that her resources and ability to choose a life’s path outside of cultural expectations could never coincide with her definition of motherhood.