How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Sandalwood paste smeared her swelling hips, under her hips were dark painted shadows which gave them sensuous depth, the nipples were tipped with red.
I released her. She stood there before me panting, with her hair shaken loose and coiling about her shoulders.
"Guard your tongue," I said, "or it will be the worse for you."
She said nothing for a moment, while she rearranged her garments, recovering herself a little; then once again that maddening, insulting half-smile curved her lips.
"And for you," she said, with knives in her voice, "and for your precious husband." (11.27)
Ruku and Kunthi are in a battle over who has greater power. Kunthi’s sexuality is far more powerful than Ruku’s – not only is she more beautiful than Ruku, but her body paint and nakedness seem to assert her ownership of her own body as a sexual creature. Ruku, by contrast, rests on the power of her status as an honorable married woman and mother. Kunthi represents woman’s power as an object of sexual desire, while Ruku is a powerful figure of the domestic woman. That’s also why Kunthi specifically threatens Ruku’s family life, talking about her husband. Everyone might know Kunthi is a prostitute, so her sexual power (and social inferiority) are certain, but Ruku’s power as a family woman might be more compromised by Kunthi’s knowledge, both about Ruku’s visits to Kenny and also about Nathan’s fathering of Kunthi’s children.
Quote #5
When a whole week had passed thus, the tannery officials called a meeting to announce that those who did not return to work would be replaced. My sons came home from that meeting even more silent, if possible, than they had been in the past. This was the test, and it failed. The next morning the tannery had its full complement again, most of them workers who had gone back, the remainder men who were only too glad to obtain employment. (12.20)
Power is often not aligned with principles. Ruku’s sons have chosen to use what they think is their bargaining power to stand up against the tannery. In the end, the tannery gets its power from people whose needs compromise their principles. For the poor, the power of conviction has no chance against the power of necessity.
Quote #6
So we stood and argued and begged, and in the end Sivaji agreed to wait. He took the money and turned to go, then he hesitated and said, a little wistfully: "What I do I must, for I must think of my own…. I do not wish to be hard. May you prosper."
"May you prosper too," I whispered, hardly able to speak, for his words had left me defenseless. (13.69)
The power of human kindness sometimes shines through even in the darkest moments of practical reality. Sivaji has to do his job, and Ruku and Nathan condemn him for his acceptance of the cruelty his job requires. When they see Sivaji as just an agent of a remote power, they can hate him, but when he shows kindness and empathy, he reminds them that he too is just a guy struggling to make ends meet. Power is a chain, and it’s easy to resent those that are right above you until you remember they too are just below someone else.