Kusum (Granny), Ashok, Pinky, and
Dharam
Other Characters Who Greatly Affect the Life of Balram Halwai
KUSUM (AKA GRANNY)
•
Throughout the story, it seems that Kusum tries to play the role, or at least facilitate,
Dharma in the lives of her family. She especially tells Balram what she believes it is right
for him to do. For example she:
• Decides when it is right for Balram to be taken out of school to work to support his
family (even against the wishes of his dead parents).
• Tells Balram it is the right thing for him to send all of his earnings home to help
support his family.
• Decides when it is right for Balram, and his other siblings, to become married.
• Supports Ashok’s family in having Balram take the blame for Pinky’s car accident.
•
Are Kusum’s actions just a product of her upbringing and beliefs? Or is what she makes
her family do really just selfish and cruel?
FAMILY IN THE BHAGAVAD GITA
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In chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita,
Krishna explains that a person needs
to be free “from the chains of
attachments; even from a selfish
attachment to one’s children, wife, or
home” (v. 9).
•
So, even if Granny’s actions were ‘out
of love’, her attachment and actions
are selfish, not selfless.
ASHOK
•
Ashok seems to be the liberal thinker in his family. He has traveled to America, which has
somewhat broadened his horizons. He tries to treat Balram differently than their castes
would normally require. For example:
• When he finds out about Balram’s living conditions, he offers to pay for better
accommodations.
• Sometimes he has regular conversations with Balram, similar to how friends would
speak to one another.
• When he finds out Balram has TB, he offers to pay for whatever treatment he needs
for the disease.
• The night he finds out Balram has TB, he asks Balram to take him somewhere to eat
where Balram would eat, and he has Balram order their meal.
ASHOK (CONT.)
•
Even though Ashok has tried to be a ‘better man’ if you will, he still is a product of his
family and upbringing. For example:
• He still does his father and brother’s bidding by taking money to politicians and
bribing them in order to avoid paying income taxes, even though he doesn’t like it,
and thinks it’s wrong.
• He still allowed Balram to take the blame for Pinky’s car accident, even though he
knew that Pinky was the one who had hit the child.
PINKY
•
Pinky has even higher ideals and beliefs than Ashok when it comes to how people should
act and be treated. For example:
• Even though he was only a servant in their household, she told Balram all the things
he did that made him disgusting, and that he should clean up.
• She sincerely felt bad that Balram almost had to go to prison for a car accident that
she had caused.
DHARAM
•
Dharam is Balram’s nephew, who comes to live with him because Kusum sent him by bus
to live with him, and hopefully learn to be a driver. Balram uses the innocence of Dharam
to get away with some of his sneaking and planning. I think Dharam affects Balram’s life
in a few important ways including:
• Dharam is an almost naïvely innocent character. Dharam doesn’t know much about
the ways of the world yet, and Balram uses this to his advantage.
• If Dharam hadn’t been around for Balram to take to the zoo, and if he hadn’t asked to
stay a little longer, Balram may not have seen the white tiger there, and may not
have had the revelation that he really was ready to bust out the cage.
• Balram used Dharam to figure out exactly how he was going to kill Ashok.