Ram Karan

The central character in An Obedient Father is Ram Karan, a corrupt official who works for the supervisor of Delhi’s physical education program. Ram is an older, heavyset man; he describes himself as “too fat to fold my legs and so [I] usually sat with them open in a V” (14). Throughout the novel, Ram is alternately aggressive and pathetic. Much of the novel centers on his rape of his daughter, Anita. Although he is clearly capable of horrific and disgusting assaults on children, Ram also feels a distinct sense of shame and guilt after these violations. In addition to his child molestation, Ram negotiates political bribes on behalf of his employer, Mr. Gupta. These bribes allow Ram to see himself, however fleetingly, as “ruthless and powerful” (26).

Ram grows up in Beri, a “village of a hundred, mostly Brahmin families living in one-room mud homes” (74). His father...