Rehana Haque is a well-developed, complex character; she has layers, she has different sides. The reader is allowed the opportunity to watch as Tahmima Anam peels back the layers of this protagonist by telling the story of her coping with national and cultural integration while trying to care for and protect her family, with skilful use of various elements of prose.
Rehana is clever and Anam uses structure to illustrate this. The book is split into sections by months. Each month brings different challenges for Rehana and dealing with each issue brings out her intelligence. In April she asks Sohail to go to his father’s grave to ‘tell him’ that he wants to fight in the war, knowing that this may make him feel guilty and change his mind, then in May, she pickles mangoes on her roof to prevent her sewing group from sewing at her house to ensure that no one finds out about the fact that she is hiding the Major at Shona, and the trend continues throughout the novel.
Additionally, Rehana is level-headed and one can see this through point of view. The story is told from a narrator’s point of view. It Is this point of view that allows the reader to see (in a more or less objective way) how she reacts when Sohail and Joy bring a wounded Major to her house along with Dr. Rajesh. She remains calm and grounded and even joins in to help the major.
Furthermore, Rehana is beneficent. This is brought out through Anam’s manipulation of setting. Rehana agrees to let the Major remain at Shona until he has healed even though she does not know him personally and this puts her in more danger than she was already in. In addition, she goes to Shona every day with meals for the Major and keeps his company, aiding his recovery.
Rehana is also audacious and Anam’s use of language illustrates this. ‘But I’m not ashamed.’… ‘I should not be ashamed; you should be ashamed.’ These are the words she fires at Faiz on page 199 when defending her decision to send Maya to Calcutta to join the muktis. It takes great courage for her to be so frank even though she is in a vulnerable position since she is still looking for a favour from Faiz (Sabeer’s release from prison).
Rehana is a beautifully shaped character and her traits: cleverness, level-headedness, beneficence, audacity and so much more, are what make her such an amiable and real character that pulls the reader in and makes the reader empathise with her. The way Tahmima uses the elements of prose to bring out these traits shows her brilliance.
Word count= 435 words
Shackheil Simmons 