Aashraf is the tragic protagonist of “Black Cobras.” Her conflict is shaped by the fact that she wants to fight for child support from Yakub, but is obstructed by the repressive religious-social structures that foster The Problem of Gendered Violence in the Family.

Aashraf is a working-class woman who is promptly abandoned by her husband after she gives birth to her third daughter in a row. Mushtaq uses Aashraf’s class status to drive the stakes around her conflict. Regardless of how hard she works, she cannot expect to provide for all three daughters alone, especially when her youngest child, Munni, is born with chronic illness. Munni’s poor health increases the stakes, introducing a sense of urgency to Aashraf’s petition.

Aashraf is initially unsure of how to resolve her issues until she starts working for the wealthy Zulekha Begum. Mushtaq uses the class differences between Aashraf and Zulekha to leverage a subtle critique of wealth. Zulekha’s wealth enables her to study feminist ideas at her leisure, a luxury that isn’t available to Aashraf even though she is living out the kind of situation that would galvanize Zulekha to action. Aashraf is left to face Yakub and the mutawalli alone, which fuels her anxiety. This underscores The Inextricable Link Between Patriarchy and Capitalism by showing how those who are most disadvantaged by capitalism also suffer the worst treatment by the patriarchy. Aashraf is less motivated by Zulekha’s lectures than she is by the idea that she has the power to save Munni’s life.

Aashraf ends the story as a tragic hero because her noble attempts to demand child support end with the undeserved outcome of Munni’s death. This event inspires a sobering insight from Aashraf: The world is too cruel for people like Munni to find happiness. Apart from grief, she feels relief that Munni no longer has to suffer in life, which highlights the injustice of gendered violence and the support it gets from religious institutions as represented by the mutawalli.

Akhila is the antagonist of “A Decision of the Heart.” Although she actively obstructs the peace in Yusuf’s home by antagonizing him and Mehaboob Bi, she is also the character who experiences the most dynamic arc in the story. This arc allows Mushtaq to examine and critique internalized misogyny. 

Akhila’s antagonism is driven by her envy for Mehaboob Bi. She is insecure about her position as Yusuf’s wife, interpreting any act of favor for Mehaboob Bi as a sign that Yusuf is dissatisfied with his marriage. Since she longs to be the exclusive object of Yusuf’s love, she sees Mehaboob Bi as a threat, even though Mehaboob is not actively doing anything to displace Akhila from her position as wife. The position of economic and emotional dependence both Akhila and Mehaboob Bi live in reveals how the subservient position of women in a patriarchal society sometimes conditions women to see one another as competition instead of allies. 

To placate her, Yusuf tries to show that his love for his wife and his mother is equal. Akhila is so exacting, however, that she interprets any imbalance between their personal property as a sign of Yusuf’s favor. For example, Akhila loses her temper over the discovery that Mehaboob Bi gave biscuits to her children, not realizing that the biscuits came from Mehaboob Bi’s nephew, not from Yusuf.

Akhila’s challenge to get Mehaboob Bi remarried drives the resolution of the conflict. It becomes increasingly clear, however, that Akhila didn’t expect Yusuf to follow through with the challenge because she feels remorse for the impending change in their status quo. Ironically, while Yusuf’s resolve to fulfill the challenge signals his love to Akhila, she realizes that he will resent her once Mehaboob Bi is gone. Yusuf’s curse at the end of the story is a comeuppance for Akhila’s antagonism. However, because Akhila has experienced a change of heart and takes responsibility for her actions, her comeuppance is also designed to elicit sympathy from the reader. It implies the strained relationship between them, which Akhila will suffer for the remainder of her life.

Arifa is the protagonist of “High-Heeled Shoe,” who only emerges at the end of the story. For most of the story, Mushtaq follows Nayaz Khan and his conflict with his brother, Mehaboob, and his sister-in-law, Naseema. However, Nayaz is a false protagonist. His motivations and actions do not resolve the conflict, but exacerbate them. Arifa, on the other hand, overcomes the manifestation of the conflict in her life by asserting herself against her husband’s vanity, defying the inextricable link between patriarchy and capitalism.

Arifa is largely a passive character, disappearing into the routine of her domestic life during Mehaboob and Naseema’s visits. Her character starts to become more prominent when Mehaboob starts to resent Nayaz for renovating their childhood home. Arifa’s pregnancy briefly resolves the conflict between the brothers by eliciting Mehaboob’s pity. His resentment does not prevent him from realizing that Arifa is suffering.

Arifa transforms into an active character in the final act of the story. Nayaz buys her high-heeled shoes even though they are ill-fitting because they signal his financial capacity, which is the thing he values most over his relationships with his family members. This underscores the fact that Nayaz never takes Arifa’s thoughts or feelings into consideration, making his generosity toward Arifa an extension of his vanity. Arifa overcomes Nayaz’s vanity by realizing the way the shoes put her pregnancy at risk. Instead of submitting to Nayaz’s control over her, Arifa destroys the newly purchased shoes to (literally) regain her footing and save her child’s life.