The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Sharma, Akhil. An Obedient Father. Norton, 2000.

Akhil Sharma’s novel An Obedient Father is written primarily from the first-person perspective. Although Ram Karan narrates a majority of the novel, several chapters are told from the viewpoint of his daughter, Anita. The final chapter is written from the third-person limited perspective. Sharma utilizes the past tense throughout the novel.

Ram Karan is a corrupt official who works for Mr. Gupta, an education supervisor. He lives in Delhi with his widowed daughter, Anita, and his eight-year-old granddaughter, Asha. Along with his co-worker Mr. Mishra, Ram visits the principal of Asha’s school and receives a bribe from him. Ram later visits a temple to secure a pundit for his wife’s death anniversary, but the pundit is away. That night, Ram takes Asha to Mr. Gupta’s son’s wedding reception. Ram becomes drunk and embarrasses himself in front of other officials. When he returns home, he rubs his penis against Asha’s back. Anita interrupts him.

In Chapter 2, the narrative briefly jumps forward in time. Anita reflects on her father’s death. She thinks about her dead husband, Rajinder, and recalls their arranged marriage. Anita discusses a time when her father was in the hospital. During this period, she expresses strong hatred for him; Ram raped her when she was a child. After returning home from the hospital, she feels love for Rajinder.

Ashamed of his behavior with Asha, Ram goes to the village where he grew up in order to find the pundit. As he travels, he reflects on his childhood. During the partition of India, Ram witnesses horrific violence against Muslims. His mother dies of pneumonia. While in the military, Ram has sex with a child prostitute. He continues to visit prostitutes—although not children—during his marriage to Radha. Their first child dies in infancy. They eventually have three more children: Anita, Kusum, and Rajesh. When Anita is twelve, Ram begins to inappropriately touch her. His assaults intensify, and he eventually rapes her multiple times. One night, Radha catches him in bed with Anita. Radha forbids Anita from telling anyone about the assaults. In the present, Ram visits his village and collapses from the heat. He encounters his estranged brother; they reconcile.

Back in Delhi, Ram learns that Rajiv Gandhi, the former prime minister, has been assassinated. On his way to the temple, Ram saves a Sikh family from an angry mob. At home, Ram and various guests discuss the country’s political situation. Gandhi’s party, Congress, is competing against the Hindu nationalist BJP. The family holds the ceremony for Radha’s death anniversary. Later that afternoon, Anita confronts Ram over his rape of her. She worries that he will do the same to Asha.

Mr. Gupta tells Ram that the BJP has recruited him to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Ram is shocked, as both he and Mr. Gupta are members of the Congress Party. Mr. Gupta plans on using Congress funds to finance his campaign. Ram visits a gangster, Mr. Maurya, for help in Mr. Gupta’s efforts. He attends a prayer for Mr. Gupta hosted by the BJP, where he receives an expensive shawl as a gift. That evening, Ram agrees to pay Anita a substantial amount in exchange for a return to their normal life. He promises to leave her the apartment when he dies, and he gives her the shawl.

In order to raise more money, Mr. Gupta tells Ram to sell some of the property owned by the education department. Ram plans on closing a school and selling the land. A man from the Congress Party taps Ram’s phone and threatens to kill him for stealing from the party. In the subsequent days, Ram often brings home gifts for Asha. Without Anita’s knowledge, he begins to visit Asha during her lunch breaks. Every night, he confesses his political crimes to Anita.

The tax authorities raid Mr. Gupta’s house. They find money that Mr. Gupta’s son, Ajay, had collected by pretending the funds were for his father’s campaign. Mr. Gupta appears to grow desperate; Ram prepares to betray him. Ajay’s body is soon found. Ram approaches Mr. Maurya and asks him to secure his protection from the Congress Party in exchange for seven lakhs. Ram and Anita attend Ajay’s funeral, where Ram pays five lakhs for BJP protection. The BJP then withdraw their sponsorship of Mr. Gupta; Ram tells Mr. Gupta that he was forced to give his money away.

The tax authorities raid Ram’s home but find nothing. Mr. Gupta is kidnapped and killed. Anita soon discovers that Ram has been having lunch with Asha. She explicitly warns Asha that Ram wants to rape her. Anita then travels to various relatives’ homes in Delhi and tells them that her father raped her. The relatives bemoan the situation but do not offer to take in Anita and Asha.

Ram begins to stay almost exclusively in his bedroom. During the day, Anita locks him in the room from the outside. She throws away his medicine and cooks him rich, unhealthy meals. Ram survives a heart attack and curses his daughter; he becomes manic and wild.

Several years after Ram’s death, Kusum visits Delhi to consider adopting 14-year-old Asha. Asha is rebellious and rude. She is often the victim of sexualized comments and attacks. Kusum’s husband, a white American named Ben, is struck by the corruption and petty fights that he observes in India. Anita and Kusum argue about their divergent lives; after Ram’s rape of Anita, Kusum was sent to live with other relatives. She became a successful professional in the United States. At the end of the novel, Kusum adopts Asha and brings her to America.