• plight/ predicament of women during the riots
• violence begets more violence
• Explores social and psychological space born out of the abyss of partition violence perpetrated by men but women and children were the worst sufferers
• total collapse of moral values

THEMES : revenge, religious identity, objectification of women, violence

L2: tone is dark, gruesome, dehumanising people

• "heap"- the daughter is again a heap, that's all that is left of women after all the abuse, after the violence
• endless cycle of revenge and violence
• violence to their chastity - chastity was a symbol of the honour of the community

• he's absolutely confused, expressionless - numb

• they knew each other, this is what the riots and the violence did, made them mindless

• animalistic imagery
• metaphor

• he's come to his senses

• sword is a symbol of religious identity
• religion becomes the main cause for the violence

• as a father he felt helpless, he felt he had failed
• this is a sort of war he is waging on behalf of his daughter's honour
• "small breasts pointing upwards" - repeated image shows the guilt, grief, anger revenge and his failure to protect his daughter's honour = nothing more traumatising to a father than to see his daughter in a state like this

• "embedded" - forceful penetration
• juxtaposition - "nails and soft skin"
• she's completely innocent and yet entirely helpless
• "violent jerk" - moment of realisation

• "ravaged" - the girl is being completely destroyed, devastated by Qasim
• animal gone berserk - human beings turned completely beastly during the partition - there was no mercy

• dehumanising Qasim - wild beast

• religious identity
• sh'es nervous "dry lips"

• his speech, his actions everything is exuding madness and a thirst of revenge, he's blinded by rage

• imagery, violence
• smashing the wood to pulps

• language is a part of the religious identity as well

• foreshadowing

• consonants - continuation of h shows continuation of his madness

• he's been reduced to lunacy

• heat, rage, anger

• shows the extent of his anguish - he feels its better to die than bear such pain

• deserted place shows consequence of the communal riots
• they are draining the life out of places - people are dying, fleeing, hiding

• confused, lost state of mind - his rage is driving him crazy till the point where he's completely unaware

• animalistic imagery
• he's like a beast, a predator
• complete dehumanisation of human beings - men are predators and women are prey

• simile
• in a revengeful state
• "scream" "rushed" "swinging" - verbs convey the intensity of his will, the sheer violence of his actions

• the name means innocence
• it's irony
• urdu word - religious identity

• religious identity

• he is slightly satisfied
• there is a lot of heat imagery "boiling oil" and "molten lava" - oil burns are far more painful than the water

• gruesome, horrifying imagery
• macabre death
• simile "uprooted tree"

• similie
• lava is uncontrollable, extremely hot and reduces everything it comes into contact with to ashes - such is the impact of his rage

• repetition of Sharifan
• "lying dead in a heap" - visual imagery, "heap" is often associated with objects
• dehumanising the girl
• women are the symbol of the entire community's honour - targeting the woman means targeting the community

• mental anguish has surpassed his physical pain, ironic

• objectifying - there was such a big distance between her, her identity and her father who couldn't save her
• she'd been stripped of everything, of her identity