Cracking India Character Analysis

In Cracking India, Lenny is shown very attached to Ayah, and consequently, with all her suitors from distinct cultures: the Faletti’s Hotel cook, the Government House greenskeeper, the butcher, Sharbat Khan, and the zoo assistant, but primarily with Masseur and Ice-Candy man, both of them Muslims. Through Lenny’s perspective of Ayah and her suitors, we happen to see the harmonious cooperation among Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh cultures. Life previously Partition seems to be peaceful and the cultural and religious differences are left separately. Lenny goes everywhere with Ayah, being present even in the more intimate moments with her suitors, and that allows her to learn from Ayah’s experiences: “I learn of human needs, frailties, cruelties, and
From the very first moment, Godmother has recounted a fundamental pillar in Lenny’s life: “The magnitude of her tenderness and the concentration of her attention are narcotic. I involve no one else.”. Moreover, Roda is outlined as a very dominant and respected character, and she proves to be so sooner or later of the novel, by eventually extraditing Ayah from the Hira Mandi and restoring her to her family in Amritsar. In fact, Godmom is the strongest portrayal of female power in the novel. She dares to challenge Ice-Candy man, inquiring his manhood and even threatening him with destruction. She makes him realize the crime he has done to Ayah: “you grant her to be despoiled by butchers, drunks, and goondas you have permitted your wife to be disgraced! Destroyed her propriety! Lived off her womanhood”, she makes him burst into tears and feel sorry for himself. Furthermore, she decides to go with Lenny to his home in the Hira Mandi to see Ayah’s condition by themselves and decisively defy patriarchal strength by defeating Ice-Candy man. Thus, by having Ayah re-established to her family, even though her forced companion, Ice-Candy man, does not support it, corroborates: “the patriarchal binary of strength is precisely subverted.” Thus, in spite of being in a war situation, where women are seen as indifferent subjects that must be preserved from the enemy, we can see how
We see a society where sexual objectification and exploitation of women is part of the system. A society where inexperienced girls like Papoo are mistreated and married off to old men. A society where women are not seen as individuals but as bodies men can enjoy. A society in which inexperienced boys like Cousin see as normal the violation of women and make fun of it because it is the example they have been given. A society in which men like Imam Din, “the-Catcher-in the-kitchen”, have a status of respect. A society where women are accused of being women, blamed for being kidnapped and raped, and blamed for bringing disgrace to their