64 pages • 2-hour read
Heart Lamp: Selected Stories
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse, suicidal ideation, death, and animal death.
Family House
Family houses and properties figure prominently in a number of Mushtaq’s stories. Generally, they function as ironic symbols for false security and disagreement, revealing how the home can become a site of conflict.
In “Stone Slabs for Shaista Mahal,” Shaista’s large house represents the comfortable trappings of her lifestyle. Its majesty turns Shaista into an aspirational figure for Zeenat, but Zeenat eventually learns that this comfort is illusory, perpetuating Shaista’s repression in a discriminatory household. Similarly, in “Heart Lamp,” Mehrun returns to her family home, expecting that her family will welcome her and support her attempt to escape her husband’s abuse. Instead, she is met with rejection as her family moves quickly to return her to Inayat’s house.
The house in “A Decision of the Heart” becomes a symbol for the conflict between Akhila and Mehaboob Bi when Yusuf bisects it to cater to their differing needs. Yusuf assumes that this will resolve the problem, but it merely exacerbates it by giving himself a place to escape to when he can no longer stand Akhila’s antagonism. Similarly, the renovations of the ancestral house in “High-Heeled Shoe” drives the conflict between siblings Nayaz and Mehaboob Khan because they have differing interpretations to what the house’s renovation means. In “A Taste of Heaven,” Saadat likewise fears that his wife, Shameem, will kick his elderly aunt out of the house if she loses her temper with her. This speaks less of Shameem’s temper than it does of Saadat’s failure to understand the reasons behind Shameem’s behavior. Mushtaq depicts houses in this way to show how familial bonds do not guarantee affinity or peace. Rather, families must work to maintain their integrity, lest they let their houses fall.
Heart
The heart is a recurring symbol for hope in a hopeless world. It features in the title story of the collection, suggesting that Mushtaq’s stories are all about the ways in which people show resilience against overwhelming odds. In the title story, Mehrun believes that the lamp in her heart has gone out, suggesting that she has nothing left to live for. She nearly dies by self-immolation, only to be saved by her daughter, Salma, who urges Mehrun to live for her children. Applied to the other stories, the hearts of various characters show that they have something to live for. In some cases, learning what is in a character’s heart emboldens another character to act nobly.
For instance, in “A Decision of the Heart,” Mehaboob Bi remembers Yusuf’s favorite childhood story, in which an army chief is asked to deliver his mother’s heart to a wicked but beautiful queen. This story emboldens Mehaboob Bi to accept her new marriage arrangement by reminding her to sacrifice herself for Yusuf’s joy, even though it angers her to know that he acted behind her back. Similarly, in “Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord!” the narrator finds consolation in her mother’s death when she learns that her mother died with her heart intact and her eyes open, as if ready to be received into heaven. This inspires the narrator to live on in spite of the mindless cruelty of the world around her.
In “Soft Whispers,” Mushtaq encourages the reader to keep striving for purity of heart. Safiya’s grandmother gives her this advice, though it is inscrutable in the context of her oblique dialogue with Jaffar Baba. It is only when Safiya gazes upon the still-beating heart of the dead sparrow that she is filled with the desire to protect the sparrow’s eggs, feeling deep remorse for suddenly destroying them when crowded by the other children. Throughout the collection, then, the heart becomes a symbol of hope and the seat of conscience.
Luxury Goods
Luxury goods are a prominent motif for The Inextricable Link Between Patriarchy and Capitalism. Several characters covet luxury goods because they view them as symbols of status and power. Mushtaq’s feminist lens extends the motif to the status of women in society, since they are also often treated like property by their husbands.
This is precisely how Arifa is treated by Nayaz Khan in “High-Heeled Shoe.” Nayaz yearns to possess the shoes, if only to make Arifa wear them as a sign of his financial capability. He never considers the possibility that the shoes do not fit Arifa’s feet and that she does not even want them. Eventually, Arifa shatters them to save her pregnancy, signifying her resolve to break out of the aspirations of Nayaz’s vanity.
Similarly, Shaziya covets luxury goods, which undermine her purposes for going on Hajj in “The Shroud.” A key moment in the story sees her choosing to buy a beautiful carpet in Mecca, despite her husband Subhan’s clear instruction to avoid shopping until after the Hajj is done. The carpet and the shroud at the store are meant to be comparable objects, yet Shaziya chooses to take the carpet and leave the shroud behind because the latter is too heavy for her convenience. Ironically, she forces Subhan to take on the physical burden of her indulgence by making him carry the carpet back to their accommodations.
Mushtaq also uses the contrast between simple goods and luxury goods to underscore the needlessness of the latter. In “Red Lungi,” Razia’s children wear highly decorated lungis, which stand in contrast to the simple red cloth that Arif wears during his quick recovery. Similarly, “Soft Whispers” draws a contrast between the frock that Safiya’s grandmother has tailored for her and the frock that Safiya’s father purchases and brings to the village. The former item, though hastily made, is made from material that Saifya’s grandmother has kept among her treasured belongings. The reason Safiya values this frock over the one her father has bought her is because she values the personalized quality of the tailored frock, even if it is imperfect.
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