Subverting Eden in the First Chapter of 'Shame' Megha Ghosh College

The first chapter of ‘Shame’ refers to the Garden of Eden, and does so in a manner with implications for the entire narrative. One may interpret the Shakil household as a subversion of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, Eve encounters a crafty serpent who convinces her to eat the tree’s forbidden fruit, assuring her that she will not suffer if she does so. In the Islamic tradition, the Quran says that Adam and his wife are in Paradise where they may eat what is provided, except that they may not eat from one particular tree, should they be considered Zalimun (wrongdoers).[24] Surah Ibrahim describes the forbidden tree as an evil tree that is forbidden for guidance. In the Shakil household, Mr.Shakil isolates his three daughters from the rest of the world; their ‘virtual education’ result in their forming vague notions about sexuality is a subversion of the forbidden fruit. In their sexual endeavor, the sisters end up in forming distorted ideas about the male body and they furthermore explore each other’s bodies, bringing in incestuous and homosexual overtones in the narrative.

The four poster mahogany bed of the dying father of the three sisters has been compared to the Garden of Eden with its “columns carved serpents coiled upwards...