Religious Discrimination

One of the most prevalent dynamics in the novel is the discrimination that the Christian minority in Pakistan faces at the hands of the Muslim majority; the novel portrays this discrimination with a sense of injustice that is based in the arbitrary and senseless nature of the discrimination and its repercussions. The novel introduces this overarching dynamic with a specific emphasis on the evil and dehumanizing nature of its origins. For example, when Helen is threatened by a young man wielding a knife, the man says, “Christians have black blood” (23) and that he wishes to cut Helen in order to see it. The symbolism of this idea of black blood indicates the idea that Muslims view Christians as evil and subhuman, and thus Muslims feel justified in their discrimination, mistreatment, and violence against them. Through the establishment and portrayal of this dynamic, the novel seeks...