Summary
Despite the negative feedback surrounding Karim’s monologue as Anwar, he begins to workshop building a character based off of Changez. He spends time with Changez and asks him divisive questions in order to gather more material, which is a bit dishonest considering that Changez genuinely misses Karim’s friendship ever since he moved from the suburbs. Karim describes his investigation of Changez as his “first moral dilemma.” He thinks that the character he is developing (named Tariq) is essential to his practice, but he understands that it will most likely be met with criticism. He vows to walk out of the rehearsal room if he is not praised for his performance.
Meanwhile, Karim’s relationship with Eleanor intensifies. He finds himself feeling so devoted to her, and he is concerned to realize that he has lost control over his emotions. One day after rehearsal, Pyke drives Karim to the metro. During their car ride, Pyke explains his open relationship with his wife, Marlene. He goes on and on to Karim about all of his sexual escapades and his adventures as a swinger with his wife. As they near the metro, Pyke tells Karim that Marlene is eager to sleep with Karim. Although Karim is not entirely interested in the offer, he feels he has little choice. Pyke invites Karim and Eleanor to his house that weekend.
Pyke tells Karim that Eleanor was very depressed after her previous boyfriend died. Karim is shocked, since Eleanor never mentioned this significant event to him before. However, he conceals his shock from Pyke to cover up his unawareness. When Karim returns to his house, he finds himself frustrated by Haroon. He realizes that his father lacks any basic ability to cook or take care of the house, and he wonders how he has made it so far in life while lacking these basic skills.
When Karim arrives at Pyke’s home, he is surprised by its grandeur. Pyke is exposed as being wealthy and privileged, and not nearly as radical as his persona would suggest. Before Pyke and Marlene emerge from their bedroom, Karim asks Eleanor about the death of her ex-boyfriend. She grows visibly upset and explains that she doesn’t trust Karim enough to explain her loss to him. Karim is hurt, and he finds himself unable to truly focus on his later conversation with Pyke and Marlene. It becomes increasingly clear that Pyke has only invited Eleanor and Karim over, despite his claim that he was hosting a larger dinner party.
When Eleanor goes into the garden with Pyke, Karim sees it as an opportunity to ask Marlene about what happened to Gene, Eleanor’s ex-boyfriend. Marlene explains that Gene was never given lead roles due to his Blackness, and he was subject to incessant police interrogation. After being turned down for an important acting role, he overdosed and was found by Eleanor. Marlene quickly changes the subject, asking Karim for a kiss. The two couples begin to fondle one another drunkenly.
That summer, the rehearsals pause so that Pyke can teach a course in the U.S. Eleanor gets hired to help Karim work on Eva’s new house, and the two spend their time off going to experimental theater shows. Karim visits Anwar, who is quite literally decaying. He and Jeeta express their dissatisfaction with Changez, and they worry about never having grandchildren and about the future of the store. One afternoon, Changez and his girlfriend Shinko are walking down the street after visiting a sex shop. They are spotted by Anwar, who chases after them and threatens to hit Changez with his walking stick. Changez retaliates, and smacks Anwar on the head with a bright pink sex toy. He is knocked unconscious and recovers in intensive care for a week. Changez is interviewed by the police, and he’s at risk of facing an assault charge.
Haroon refuses to visit Anwar while he is hospitalized. Shortly after his hospitalization, he dies from heart failure. At the funeral service, Haroon grips Karim tightly, almost as if he were a child. Following the service, Karim visits the home of Jamila and Changez. Jamila is saddened by her father’s untimely death, explaining that she wishes they had time to build a relationship as adults. However, she surprisingly doesn’t blame her husband for his role in Anwar’s death. Jamila announces to Changez and Karim that she wants to move from their current apartment and live in a communal home with her friends in Peckham. Although she initially wants to go alone, Changez throws a fit. She explains that she is willing to take Changez with her, so long as he gets a job and is able to pay his own way.
Changez adjusts quite well to his life in the anarchist communal house. He is entertained by the women who walk around nude, and he enjoys being surrounded by so many people. One evening, while walking around South London, Changez is violently attacked and called a variety of racist slurs. This attack moves Karim to begin getting more involved politically, and he plans to accompany Jamila on a march against anti-Asian hate. Meanwhile, Karim spies on Eleanor one afternoon and realizes that she is having an affair with Pyke.
Eleanor and Karim break up, and the two perform in Pyke’s play. Karim is shocked to see his mother and father in the audience behaving amicably towards one another. Karim’s performance is a hit, and he is praised by his friends and family. After the show, Karim sees Changez. He worries about Changez criticizing his performance, but Changez gives Karim a rave review. He soon tells Karim that Jamila is pregnant with the baby of another person that lives in their commune. Meanwhile, Jamila is frustrated that Karim forgot to show up to the Anti-Asian hate protest. Later that evening, Karim is followed by a young woman who admired the evening’s performance and has developed a crush on him. The two run into Heater, who threatens to beat up Karim following his split from Eleanor. Karim fights back, breaking Heater’s nose.
Analysis
Karim’s foray into the acting world causes him a variety of difficulties with his relationships. Although acting is his profession, the boundary separating the professional and the personal is easily blurred. This gray area is underscored by Karim’s relationship with Eleanor, a fellow actor. Like many artists, Karim draws inspiration from his quotidian life. However, his performance as Changez, particularly drawing upon his friend’s disabilities and foreignness, verges on the edge of mockery. Although Karim acknowledges that he is faced with a moral dilemma in his decision to make a character based on Changez, he ultimately chooses to invest in his burgeoning career instead of treating his friendship respectfully.
The blurred line between the professional and the personal is further exemplified by Karim’s relationship with Pyke. After Pyke opens up to Karim about his open relationship with his wife, he clearly suggests that Karim have sex with Marlene. Karim is put in an uncomfortable position. Although he is intrigued by the proposal, he feels as though he cannot say no since Pyke is his boss. When he and Eleanor go over to Pyke’s house, these power dynamics are particularly evident. Karim is made uncomfortable by Pyke’s sexual behavior, and he feels like he is expected to perform in a certain manner because the stakes are so high. At one point during the encounter, Karim even explains that he feels taken advantage of but is unable to truly speak his mind for fear of getting booted from the production.
When Karim learns of the death of Eleanor’s previous boyfriend, he begins to think about some of the reasons behind her depressive and insecure behavior. Karim also begins to feel insecure about his own relationship with Eleanor, and he doesn’t understand why she would withhold such an essential piece of information. In this way, the author demonstrates the vulnerabilities of falling in love and the weight that trauma carries in relationships. Ultimately, Karim’s insecurities spiral following the couple’s orgy with Pyke and his wife. The fact that Eleanor and Karim are never truly able to connect and speak about Eleanor’s boyfriend’s death foreshadows the dissolution of their relationship.
At Pyke’s house, Karim pushes Marlene to divulge the details of Eleanor’s ex-boyfriend. His story is concerning, and it underscores some of the issues that Karim himself has been experiencing in the theater world. Eleanor’s ex-boyfriend was Black, and he experienced a level of racism as an actor that proved to be insurmountable. Although Eleanor contended that he was one of the most talented actors she had known, he was never cast in roles that showcased his talent. He was always cast as a thug, or other roles that were “intended” to be played by a Black man. Countless rejections and industry prejudice were some of the contributing factors that led him to eventually kill himself. Karim himself has only been cast as Indian characters in his (albeit brief) career. Perhaps the anecdote about Eleanor’s ex will function as a warning for Karim, and he will work to push the boundaries of the industry’s racist standards.
In this section, we see both Karim and Changez attack the “male guardians” of their romantic partners. Changez accidentally kills Anwar when he hits him over the head with a sex toy, and Karim kicks Heater in the nose after he is pursued by him from a bar. In these instances, we see how masculinity functions in the novel. Anwar and Heater both feel entitled to protect the women in their life, (Jamila and Eleanor, respectively) yet they lack an understanding of what these women truly want and the adversities that they face. Anwar getting hit over the head with a sex toy by his son-in-law is particularly ironic, and it can be interpreted as his archaic desire for an arranged marriage quite literally slapping him in the face.
