Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
Set in India in the early 1980s
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
The tone is depressing, curious, and melancholy. For instance, the narrators “My Only Gods” and “Bahu” are unhappy with how the patriarchal society treats women.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Bahu, and the antagonist is Mr. Srivastava.
Major Conflict
There is a major conflict between Indian women and the conventional rules of the patriarchal society.
Climax
The climax comes when Indian women protest and demand their rights. The situation slowly changes, and they start gaining recognition and better treatment from men.
Foreshadowing
Viewing women as objects without feelings foreshadowed ongoing protests by women to demand their rights.
Understatement
There is an understatement when Indian men say women are objects without feelings.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
The echoes and titular sounds of the ghosts in the story "When Anklets Tinkle" depicts a sense of hearing. The author writes, "For two nights in succession, he had heard the tinkle of anklets and the clinking of bangles in Rao's barsati. Once he had heard the strange high-pitched sound of the ghost's laugh. It could not be borne."
Paradox
The main paradox is in the story "Bahu," where the husband is a poster boy who does not comprehend his responsibilities as a man. Bahu's husband is a paradoxical character who allows his entire family to control his wife. Her in-laws stress Bahu, but her husband is comfortable with such interference in his marriage.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between Bahu’s desire to attend the wedding and her mother’s expression to take her to Samaj at the hill.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The ghosts in the story “When Anklets Tinkle” are personified when they converse with the characters.
