Lion (Symbol)
Throughout the novel, Lenny is frightened of the lion at the zoo. She has dreams that the animal will get loose at night and eat her in her bed. She describes “the insistent roar of the zoo lion tracking me to whatever point of the world I cannot hide from him in my nightmares.” The lion is a symbol of Lenny’s anxiety. She dreams of it most when her mother and father are fighting or when she is worried what will happen to India. Her fear of the lion shows her state of mind: “I awake every morning to the lion’s roar. He sets about it at the crack of dawn, blighting my dreams.”
Salvation Army marching band (Symbol)
There is a Salvation Army near Lenny’s house. Occasionally a marching band emerges from the gates. Lenny describes it as a “red and white caterpillar.” Later, in her nightmare the marching band “metamorphoses into a single German soldier on a motorcycle.” He chases after Lenny with his black gloves and white hands. In this way, the Salvation Army band symbolizes both British rule in India and the violence and brutality that would occur as the British divide the country. Lenny describes this dream as “the first nightmare that connects me to the pain of others.”
Queen’s Statue (Symbol)
Ayah and her many admirers often gather under the statue of Queen Victoria in Queen’s Park. The statue is described as “impos[ing] the English Raj in the park.” It is a symbol of British colonial rule and the way it held together people of different religions. Once violence begins between religious groups, Ayah and her friends stop meeting in the park.
Electricity (Motif)
Electricity recurs throughout the novel. First there is Lenny’s Electricaunt, who is called that because she moves around quickly and is obsessed with the color blue. Electricity is associated with life-force and energy. At another point, Lenny plays with her cousin who convinces her to put her finger in the electric socket. Lenny is shocked by the AC current and learns not to be so gullible. Considering Cousin’s later sexual attraction for Lenny, electricity also represents a sexual charge. Finally, Hamida, Lenny’s nanny at the end of the novel, is from the countryside and is scared of electricity. Considering her traumatic history of being kidnapped by men, her fear of electricity makes sense considering the other meanings. Her life energy has been damaged by traumatic experiences.
Sickness (Motif)
Sickness has an important place throughout the book. Lenny has been left partly disabled by polio. She spends a lot of time thinking about her damaged feet and legs while visiting doctors. Her sickness also has political undertones, as Colonel Barucha and others blame the British for bringing polio to India. A joke told by Lenny’s father also associates the British with the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. In this way, sickness stands in for the damage caused to India by colonialism. Just as Lenny’s body is deformed and broken by polio, India has also been broken.
Child on a spear (Symbol)
When Ranna is escaping violence by the Sikhs in his village, he sees “a naked child, switching on a spear struck by her shoulders, [and] waved like a flag.” This murdered child is a symbol of the violent side of nationalism. It shows how people are willing to commit terrible atrocities for the sake of their flag and nation. It is also important that the child is a girl, as girls and women faced the most brutality during Partition as rape and kidnapping were used as ways to humiliate the men of the opposing side.
Doll (Symbol)
After Ayah is kidnapped and the violence in Lahore has gotten worse, Lenny goes through all her old dolls in her bedroom. She begins pulling one’s legs apart. She has Adi help her rip apart another, but when the doll splits in half she sees its stuffing on the floor and falls sobbing to her bed. The doll represents the violence of Partition. Lenny tries to replicate this violence to better understand it but is only more disgusted when she sees what she has done.
Parsees coming to India (Allegory)
Colonel Barucha tells a story about when Parsees were first kicked out of Persia 1,300 years before. They sailed to India but waited four days for permission to disembark. Eventually, the Grand Vazir (the main advisor and right-hand-man of the Indian prince) came with a message. He held up “a glass of milk filled to the brim.” This meant “My land is full and prosperous and we don't want outsiders with a different religion and alien ways to disturb the harmony.” The Parsees answered this by stirring a teaspoon of sugar into the milk. The meaning was “The refugees would get absorbed into his country like the sugar in the milk… And with their decency and industry sweeten the lives of his subjects.” The Colonel tells this story as an allegory describing Parsee cleverness and the need to keep up with the times.
