70 pages • 2 hours read
Amal Unbound
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Chapters 37-46Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 37 Summary
Asif, the young male teacher at the literacy center, assumes that Amal wants to learn to read. When he understands that Amal is educated and that Jawad is using her as “window dressing,” he insists that the villagers still need the center. Amal warns that people will not come because they are frightened of Jawad. Though Asif declares that the center’s funding comes from the government, Amal knows the villagers do not care. Asif pulls out a computer and Amal watches with alacrity. Asif notices her interest and begins to teach her computer basics. He offers to find educational software for future visits. Amal is thrilled to be learning again.
Chapter 38 Summary
Amal helps Fatima read a simple book that Amal borrowed from the literacy center. Fatima is proud of her progress. Amal feels that by teaching Fatima to read, Amal is helping her mentally escape the estate. Two different police officers arrive and inquire after Jawad. Nasreen insists she does not know Jawad’s whereabouts, but she will give him their message. Upset, Nasreen hurries to make phone calls after the men leave.
Chapter 39 Summary
Asif instructs Amal on how to take an online test based on short reading passages. Amal reads one section about larger animals chasing smaller animals until the smallest animal, an ant, turns on the largest, an elephant. Amal angrily insists that this scenario of a “balance of power” (192) is untrue. She shares her circumstances with Asif and declares that those with the most power, like Jawad, are always in control, while the little people are powerless. Asif urges her to have hope. Even in small villages people are challenging those in power. He shows her a news headline indicating that Jawad is being investigated in the disappearance of a local diplomat’s son. Amal remains skeptical.
Chapter 40 Summary
Amal, Nabila, and Bilal gossip about the absent Jawad and wonder what kind of trouble he is in. Mumtaz puts a stop to their whispering just as Jawad and Khan Sahib enter the home. Nasreen is relieved to see them. The men tell Nasreen not to worry about the police visit, the missing boy she has been reading about in the paper, or their business. Khan assures her Jawad had nothing to do with the disappearance of the diplomat’s son. He claims the boy visited Jawad, then got drunk and played cards with the locals, refused to pay them, then disappeared. Khan suggests that the boy’s “mouthing off” probably got him in trouble. Amal realizes that Khan and Jawad are fallible.
Chapter 41 Summary
Tired after the extra work of rushing a meal for Khan Sahib, Amal catches her breath outside in the servants’ veranda. She overhears Jawad and Khan talking about the missing boy. Jawad admits to having the boy killed because he disrespected Jawad. He entrusted one of his men to bury the body nearby. Khan wants the body moved after the federal investigation peters out. Amal is appalled at the deadly extent of the Khan’s wickedness. She worries what would happen to Fozia and her family if Shaukat cannot pay their debt. As Amal turns to leave, she finds Nabila behind her, and wonders what she heard.
Chapter 42 Summary
Nabila meets Bilal and Amal in the library after Jawad and Khan leave. Nabila hands Amal the key to Jawad’s filing cabinets where he stores his debt collection records. Nabila wants Amal to look for her cousin’s name, her one kindly relative. Bilal tries to dissuade Nabila, but Amal finds the name and discovers he had borrowed money from Jawad. His body was found in the fields nearby after coming to visit Nabila. Jawad had him killed. Amal wants to tell someone what they overheard about the diplomat’s son but realizes no one will believe them. Bilal, however, has more information and knows where the body was buried. Amal promises to get the information to Asif, whose father is a lawyer.
Chapter 43 Summary
On her next visit to the literacy center, Amal tells Asif everything and asks for his help. Asif agrees to help, but worries that Amal could be in danger if Jawad finds out the information came from her. Amal thinks of all the people already hurt by Jawad and declares she is willing to take that risk. Asif says that Amal is brave.
Chapter 44 Summary
Almost a week after she tells Asif about Jawad, Amal waits anxiously for something to happen, but life goes on as normal. Fatima’s reading progresses and she plans to write and illustrate her own book—with Amal’s help. Jawad and Nasreen are discussing potential brides over breakfast, when three police officers arrive. They handcuff Jawad and comment that Khan has already been brought in for questioning. The officers ignore Nasreen’s screams and entreaties as they take Jawad away.
Chapter 45 Summary
Although Amal’s circumstances have not changed—she is still a servant—other things at the estate are different. Jawad and Khan are in prison and slated for trial. Amal is glad their evil ways are stopped but is sad to see Nasreen grieve. Headlines in the news report the “uprooting of the status quo” (216). Other servants, like Ghulam, worry about their futures. Amal realizes that even change for the good can have unforeseen consequences. Amal is proud that she and two other servants brought the powerful Khan men to justice.
Chapter 46 Summary
Amal’s heart sinks when she learns Nasreen is moving to Islamabad, which will put Amal even farther away from her own family. But Nasreen announces that she is letting most of the servants go—including Amal. Her debt is forgiven. Fatima will go to Hamid’s home where a wife and children wait for him. Nabila plans to return to her old village and live with her cousin’s wife. Amal urges both girls to stay in touch with her and to utilize the literacy center. Amal happily walks home, thinking of all the possibilities that are open to her now that she is free.
Chapters 37-46 Analysis
Injustices are righted in this final section, as all of Saeed’s themes unite and come to fruition. Amal is free to return to her family. Amal also shows it is possible to enact change that rectifies inequities in gender and social class.
Education is the key to change and the force behind social progress. Asif is the epitome of a devoted educator. He enthusiastically teaches to Amal’s interest in computers when he learns she can already read. Calling her “a fellow teacher” (185) warms Amal’s heart. Asif shows Amal that she can carry on her dream of teaching despite the restrictions of her servitude by making a difference in the life of Fatima. Asif gives Amal both hope and new skills. Although the literacy center means nothing more to the Khan family than a stepping stone to reelection—“a publicity stunt” (182)—it ironically proves a key to Amal’s success at bringing Jawad and Khan to justice by connecting Amal to the larger contemporary world. Asif helps foster the seed of change in Amal’s mind. Teaching her about the immediacy of email and availability of information on the Internet gives Amal access to the world beyond the Khan estate and her small village. By showing her the web article about the police investigation into Jawad, Asif introduces Amal to the idea of political resistance.
Amal is deeply sensitive to the imbalance of power, as shown by her angry response to the innocuous children’s story Asif has her read. Amal has grown up being the ant in the story–the smallest creature in the power hierarchy—while the elephant, the biggest, represents Jawad. Amal’s outlook is fatalistic until Asif points out that people are rising up to challenge feudalism and power inequity: “people all around the country are fighting the status quo” (194).
Although convinced of the “absolute power” the Khans wield over the villagers, she takes Asif’s words to heart, and thanks to her hopeful nature, Amal sees that the Khans’ influence is slipping. The police visit at nighttime, something Nasreen hotly remarks that until now, “they would never dare” (188). Jawad’s hubris proves his undoing. He has demonstrated multiple times he is unable to shrug off perceived disrespect, and he kills the diplomat’s son to maintain the family’s reputation. Jawad is arrogantly confident in his ability to control the situation, never dreaming that people far below his social stature, whom he abuses and treats dismissively, could bring about his downfall.
The dissolution of the Khan estate creates new family ties and strengthens old ones, revealing again the invaluable bonds of family. Fatima will become part of Hamid’s family, as valued as one of his children. Nabila will live with the wife of her late cousin. Amal, free at last, will return to her loving family. Initially controlled and devalued, all three girls now leave free and empowered. Even Nasreen benefits from her husband’s incarceration. Freed of his controlling classist beliefs and gender dominance, Nasreen plans to visit her sister’s family. She worries her sister will not accept her, but Amal comforts, “It’s never too late to see your family,” espousing the deep-seated knowledge family will always accept you (222).
Finally, the novel’s cover illustration by Shehzil Malik deserves attention for its depiction of the story’s themes. The cover art is a useful predictor of what might happen in the novel, and important to examine after reading. There is evidence of Amal’s hope and struggle in the illustrations. Two hands, their palms facing outward, are bound at the wrists with thorny green rose vine, symbolizing Amal’s indentured servitude. The red rose on the right hand is mirrored by a henna rose on the left, suggesting the motherly connection between Amma and Nasreen and their love of roses and gardening, though Nasreen is as bound in her way as Amal. The roses also refer to nature’s power to help transcend imprisonment. The hennaed rose, especially, speaks to the comfort of memory. Images of a book, clouds, the sun, and a bird also represent the freedom of mind and spirit conferred through education and nature.
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