Comment on theme

One of the central character relationships in the novel is that of Askar and Misra, and the mixture of conventional and unconventional elements in their relationship allows the novel to examine the consistent and variable tenets of family relationships. Because Askar’s father died in war and his mother died in childbirth, Askar is an orphan from birth. Thus, Misra, the woman who happens to find him, decides to raise him as her own. As the narration states of Askar and Misra, “It was not long before you tasted in Misra a motherliness which reabsorbed you, a motherliness in whose tight, warm embrace you felt joyous” (5). Misra raises Askar for the first eight years of his life, and in that way, they form a deep familial bond that becomes a formative part of Askar’s life despite the fact that they have no actual blood relation.