The Widows of Malabar Hill

Parts 4 and 5 chart the rise and fall of Perveen’s failed marriage to Cyrus. Massey uses the imagery of traditional feminine pursuits to highlight Perveen’s feelings. In Parsi culture, households stencil lime powder and chalk at the doorways to greet guests: “The custom endured as a way of showing welcome—and also the accomplishments of the household’s women” (176). While Perveen enjoyed doing this in Bombay, in Calcutta, it is “nothing but a chore. It felt like making an elegant frame to go around the ugly picture that her life had become” (176). She imagines designing the images with “a blackish gray [chalk] like the ashes from dirty fires on the Calcutta streets” (176). The colorful designs present the image of a happy household but conceal the dysfunction and deterioration within. Perveen also imagines the weaving her mother-in-law does as “unseen threads that had spun around her, creating an unbreakable trap” (183). When she finally leaves the Sodawalla house, she deliberately steps on the chalk, “smearing her delicate powdered designs into dust” (194). Here, Massey demonstrates that she is breaking out of the frame of her unhappy life and refusing to play along with Sodawalla’s image any longer.

In these sections, Massey underscores The Struggle for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in a domestic context. Perveen was raised in a home that valued her intellect and is surprised to marry into a family that sees her as a source of children and free labor. She tells her mother-in-law that her mother said, “There would always be someone who could cook for me—but never somebody who could study for me” (149). Behnoush disagrees with this and thinks that cooking and cleaning should be a woman’s primary duties as a dedicated spouse. While Perveen is used to struggling for gender equality outside her home, it comes as a shock when she is condescended to and abused in her new household. Naively, when she and Cyrus first married, she imagined that the rules would mean “nothing to the two of them, as they were bound together in a relationship like no one else’s” (138). Instead, Cyrus is neglectful, unfaithful, and abusive, and Perveen quickly learns she is also subject to extreme scrutiny and punishment from Behnoush.

Throughout the novel, there is a recurring motif of jewelry representing a woman’s worth. Since jewelry is a common wedding gift, it allows women to establish personal wealth and some security. When Perveen flees the Sodawalla household, she leaves her wedding jewelry: “[She] removed the ivory bangles, laying them out on the bureau. She would let her in-laws keep the expensive shackles” (190). The precious gifts, intended to show how much her new family values her, are figurative “shackles” here. Perveen understands that her new household is not truly a home for her. Rather, it is a trap so that her in-laws can exploit her family for money.

This section also explores the theme of The Impact of Cultural and Religious Traditions on Individual Lives. Perveen is a devout Parsi and was raised to honor her culture, especially in following its principle of good works. She is shocked to see that her in-laws follow what she deems as archaic rules of forcing menstruating women into isolation. While they seem to care little for Perveen’s good words or deeds, they care excessively about forcing Perveen into isolation and strict obedience. This stark difference in cultural and religious values is another nail in the coffin of her already unhappy marriage.