Love and Sacrifice

Throughout the novel, the author thematically correlates love and sacrifice through Smita and Meena’s narratives. At the beginning of the novel, Smita returns to India to support her friend Shannon. While Smita had promised herself that she would never go back to India after her family fled, she sets aside her own fear to ensure that Shannon does not “have to undergo surgery alone in a strange country” (9). Smita’s love for her friend supersedes her fear of returning to Mumbai and she willingly faces the city of her deepest trauma. Her decision sets the impetus for her understanding of love and individuality and the fact that she cannot act in a loving and supportive way without sacrificing her own comfort.

In Meena’s narrative, she sacrifices her bodily safety to pursue her relationship with Abdul. Meena continues to talk to Abdul and...