How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
This decision, however, made a hole in him, a vacancy in a vital inner chamber, leaving him vulnerable to women and history. (1.1.5)
This is super weird. Women and history? What do they have in common? Do you know?
Quote #2
'You, or what? You want me to walk naked in front of strange men.' (He has told her to come out of purdah.) He says, 'Your shirt covers you from neck to wrist to knee. Your loose pajamas hide you down to and including your ankles. What we have left are your feet and face. Wife, are your face and feet obscene?' But she wails, 'They will see more than that! They will see my deep-deep shame!' (1.2.46)
Let's define a few words. Purdah is the practice of women veiling themselves when in the presence of men or in public. It is practiced in Iran, the Islamic world, and India. In India, Muslim women often wear a burqa or Niqab to veil themselves, while Hindu women would wear something called a Ghoonghat or dupatta. The pajamas that Aadam Aziz refers to are probably Shalwar kameez that Naseem is wearing. As you can tell from looking at the pictures, she's basically totally covered in her Shalwar, but she clings so much to tradition that she feels ashamed.
Quote #3
His parting shot: 'Forget about being a good Kashmiri girl. Start thinking about being a modern Indian woman.' (1.2.50)
What is the difference between being a good Kashmiri girl and being a modern Indian woman? The difference between girl and woman is pretty basic—a woman is a mature adult, a girl is an immature child. Good is defined with tradition, but modern concerns itself with the future. And being an Indian woman instead of a Kashmiri one would make her part of the struggle for independence, which she is currently oblivious of.
Quote #4
Aadam Aziz had always insisted that his daughters be permitted to have male friends. (1.4.8)
We can see how well that worked out for him.
Quote #5
Nowadays, the cities are full of modern, fashionable, dupatta-less misses; but back then the old men clicked their tongues in sorrow, because a woman without a dupatta was a woman without honour, and why had Emerald Bibi chosen to leave her honour at home? (1.4.45)
Okay, we're not going to bombard you with pictures this time, but it's worth noting that the dupatta is traditionally considered a symbol of a woman's honor and virtue. Considering that in traditional Muslim houses women were often not allowed to go outside on their own, nearly all the women in the novel break the gender roles.
Quote #6
Women have always been the ones to change my life: Mary Pereira, Evie Burns, Jamila Singer, Parvati-the-witch must answer for who I am; and the Widow, who I'm keeping for the end; and after the end, Padma, my goddess of dung. Women have fixed me all right, but perhaps they were never central-perhaps the place which they should have filled, the hole in the centre of me which was my inheritance from my grandfather Aadam Aziz, was occupied for too long by my voices. Or perhaps-one must consider all possibilities-they always made me a little afraid. (2.13.67)
Why would Saleem be afraid of women?
Quote #7
Yes, I had taught my mother a lesson; and after the Sabarmati affair she never saw her Nadir-Qasim in the flesh, never again, not as long as she lived; but, deprived of him, she fell victim to the fate of all women in our family, namely the curse of growing old before her time; she began to shrink, and her hobble became more pronounced, and there was the emptiness of age in her eyes. (2.18.56)
Saleem says that all the women in his family grow old before their time, but what about Naseem? She gets bigger and more robust as Dr. Aziz gets older and older. He's got a selective memory, we guess.
Quote #8
'Women have made me; and also unmade. From Reverend Mother to the Widow, and even beyond, I have been at the mercy of the so-called (erroneously, in my opinion!) gentler sex. It is, perhaps, a matter of connection: is not Mother India, Bharat-Mata, commonly thought of as female? And, as you know, there's no escape from her.' (3.28.2)
Why is there no escaping from Mother India? We have the feeling that Saleem is referring to Indira Gandhi, but what do you think?
Quote #9
How are we to understand my too-many women? [...] Maya-Shakti mothers, but also 'muffles consciousness in its dream-web'. Too-many-women: are they all aspects of Devi, the goddess-who is Shakti, who slew the buffalo-demon, who defeated the ogre Mahisha, who is Kali Durga Chandi Chamunda Uma Sati and Parvati... and who, when active, is coloured red? 'I don't know about that,' Padma brings me down to earth, 'They are just women, that's all.' (3.28.20)
Bet you didn't think clothes about women would need this much explaining. Maya is Sanskrit for illusion, but it doesn't just mean fake or unreal. It refers to the world that we live in, which is true but not the truth. That's where the whole "muffles consciousness in its dream web" comes from. Shakti is the goddess that represents all creation and all change. All of the other goddesses are avatars (or other versions) of Maya-Shakti. So Saleem is saying that maybe there are so many women in his life because, while he wants to preserve and make things stay the same, women represent change and creation. What a mouthful.
Quote #10
Amid the wholly-female workforce of Braganza Pickles, beneath the saffron-and-green winking of neon Mumbadevi, I choose mangoes tomatoes limes from the women who come at dawn with baskets on their heads. Mary, with her ancient hatred of 'the mens', admits no males except myself into her new, comfortable universe. (3.30.74)
It's kind of funny that when Saleem has no future, he's surrounded by women who represent the future, change, and creation to him.