Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

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.