The Storyteller's Secret

The fact that Amisha doesn’t wear a bindi symbolizes her desire to escape the gender-restrictive society she lives in, and her willingness to transcend her culture. Wearing a bindi would mark Amisha as a devoted wife, but she “forgets” (138) to wear one, suggesting that she doesn’t completely agree with the village’s expectations of her. She is comfortable with asserting her identity in small, rebellious ways.

This motif not only connects the two protagonists of the novel—Amisha and Jaya—connecting their stories of feminine and feminist strength.

Amisha’s creative energy and writing ability drive her to the English school, where she develops a relationship with Stephen and goes on to write stories in English. Her stories reflect her desire for freedom from the submissive, patriarchy-controlled life that she lives. Furthermore, her ability to write in her native tongue and English by the end of the narrative allows her character to reconcile the warring sides of colonialism as well as her separation between from Stephen.

Jaya’s relationship with writing is different—she begins the novel as a journalist, having grown up in a time when choosing this path is not a rebellion against tradition but simply one of the many options open to her.