In 1958 the air was still sour with the stench of the slaughters that had occurred eleven years earlier when the British ran like dogs and India cracked. The blade that slashed the map also partitioned the bodies of the people, etching fear in their bellies and revenge in their hearts. Ten million people migrated. Lines and lines of Hindus from the Indus River Valley, in what would later be designated “Pakistan,” packed their lorries, rode bullocks, and walked, to cross the border into India. Lines and lines of Muslims from India carried all that they owned to be part of the new Islamic nation. Rioting occurred first in Calcutta and then spread to Punjab. The refugees scouted the routes to avoid one another in the passing. If a trainful of Hindus was murdered by Muslims from Lahore (and they were), then a trainful of Muslims would be murdered by Sikhs and Hindus from Amritsar (and they were). Entire families were butchered and their body parts were delivered by horseback to their villages. The people emptied baskets of breasts and pails of penises onto the ground—even the stubs of baby penises with scrotums like tiny figs. The soil was soaked with all the lost futures, and when it was done, when the trauma finally subsided to abide in the bodies of the people, they had to plant seeds in, and eat the fruit of, the same earth. Sikhs and Muslims alike knew the taste of each other’s blood well, and they kept to their own.
Kulraj and Nafeesa in London. Romeo and Juliet in Verona. A Muslim and a Sikh in Pakistan. All of history conspired against them, but no matter. They would find a new way.
MY SISTERS MADE OF LIGHT READING GUIDE
The questions and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your reading of Jacqueline St. Joan’s My Sisters Made of Light, a drama set inside Pakistan’s human rights movement, 1957 to 1994. My Sisters Made of Light follows three generations of a Pakistani family as they make their way through life in the political, social, and religious maze that is their motherland. This novel pulls readers into the fascinating, heartbreaking, and often terrifying world of honor crimes against women in Pakistan through the life and family history of Ujala, a dedicated teacher. When Ujala decides to follow the path for which her mother has prepared her, she goes a little crazy before she pushes aside fears for her own safety to help other women escape from the impossible situations.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
How does St. Joan’s use of alternating Ujala’s first-person narrative with the narrator’s third-person narrative from 1958 (when her parents met) and 1983 (when her mother died) affect your response to, and involvement with, the characters?
Nafeesa says she wants to return to Pakistan from London to say goodbye to Jameel. Her Aunt Najma opposes this and urges Nafeesa and Kulraj to stay in London. Why does Nafeesa insist? Why does Kulraj comply with her wishes? Are they brave or foolish to return? Why?
Nafeesa never tells her children about what happened to her in Shalimar Garden even though Kulraj thinks they are old enough to know. Would you tell your children? Why does Jabril Kazzaz agree that they should not be told even as adults? Do you think these children as adults may have “known” what happened on some deeper level? Why or why not?
Which sister--Reshma, Ujala, Faisa, or Meena--is most complex? Who is most straightforward? Which was your favorite and why?
Do you think that major male characters—Kulraj Singh, Jabril Kazzaz, Amir-- are “too good?” How will they manage to go on without the women in the family?
What image would you use to describe the structure of the novel as it moves around in time? A tree? A river? A circle? Did you find its non-chronological structure satisfying? Disturbing? Didn’t notice?
What does Rahima Mai’s response to both Yusuf’s bribe and to the escape plan reveal about her character? Is Rahima Mai better off without Ujala in her life?
What is the significance of the fact that Ujala decides to carry a gun?
How has reading this book affected the way you think about Muslims as a group? About Islam as a religion? Did you notice other religions in the novel?
What do the author’s Acknowledgements at the end of the book tell you about her? About Pakistan? As an outsider, is she qualified to write such a story?
How did you use the map of Paksitan and the Family Tree throughout your reading of My Sisters Made of Light?
One reviewer writes: “In her writing, St. Joan comes much closer to Kristof [Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times columnist] than she does to [Stieg] Larsson, [author of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo] though with a healthy dash of Harriet Beecher Stowe.” What do you think this reviewer means? Do you agree?
How does the novel affect your response to the social and political conditions in Pakistan? Do you find yourself being more understanding or more judgmental of Pakistanis and/or their leaders?
Were you unsympathetic to any of the honor crime victims—Bilquis? Khanum? Chanda? Nafeesa? Others?
Is Reshma, the oldest sister, an admirable character? What major factor changes her attitude in the course of the story?
Ujala recounts a conversation she had with Lia Chee: “American empire?” Lia said. She did not like to hear me call her country by the term the rest of the world used. “Now you sound like a fundie.” “Just a turn of phrase,” I said, “but ‘empire’ does signify something. You know what I mean?” Do you know what she means? How did you, as an American, react to Ujala’s calling America an “empire?”
Which visual images in the novel are the most memorable for you? Why?
How does My Sisters Made of Light highlight the conflict between the conservative and the liberal elements in Pakistani society? What role do class, religion, and ethnicity play in honor crimes?
Is My Sisters Made of Light a love story? a hero's journey? a social commentary? a political novel?
What do you find most disturbing/satisfying about the novel's denouement? If you find yourself imagining an alternate ending, what would that ending be?
What meaning, if any, do you find in the book’s title?
A Novel by Jacqueline St. Joan--finalist, 2011 Colorado Book Award-Literary Fiction; Winner, 2013 Morrow Lectureship
"I started reading My Sisters Made of Light and could not put it down. It is a powerful story, well-presented, well-researched, and written with passion. The labor of duty became a labor of love. I read voraciously but have not come across a work which deals so effectively and skillfully with the cultural fault lines of Pakistani society." —S. Akhtar Ehtisham, author of A Medical Doctor Examines Life on Three Continents: A Pakistani View
Press 53, Winston-Salem, NC, 2010
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