51 pages • 1 hour read
Megha MajumdarA Burning
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Burning Train
The burning train is a crucial plot point because it propels three characters—Jivan, Lovely, and PT Sir—on the fringes of society into the limelight. It is because of the burning train that Jivan’s activities on Facebook are brought to the police’s suspicion, and as the ensuing trial turns Jivan into a national pariah, it provides Lovely and PT Sir with opportunities for success. The burning train also symbolizes several of Majumdar’s larger criticisms, such as government ineptitude, police corruption, an divided public, society’s reliance on scapegoats for institutional problems, and the reality of terrible violence. The burning train haunts every subplot in this novel, symbolizing opportunity for Lovely and PT Sir, but a slow and long imprisonment for Jivan.
Prison
In A Burning prison is both a physical location and a state of mind. Jivan spends all but the first chapter imprisoned with other women of various backgrounds, criminal records, and states of mental health. For most of her imprisonment, Jivan feels hope that she can convince the nation and the courts of her innocence. Thus, although Jivan is separated from her ailing parents, stripped of her freedom, and vilified by her country, she tries to focus on her future instead of the realities of prison. To do so, Jivan must avoid the prison of her mind. She does not tell her mother the truth about prison because she recognizes how impossible it would be to describe prison life to someone who has never experienced it. Instead of resenting that fact, Jivan cloaks herself in hope to protect herself and her family from the true horrors of her experiences. But when Jivan is placed in solitary confinement, her mind becomes a prison as she loses hope, speech, and thought. Meanwhile, although Lovely and PT Sir are not physically in prison, they each grappled with their own metaphorical prisons. For example, Lovely’s body can be a prison when she is unfree to express her true gender, and PT Sir’s ambitions imprison him in a cycle of fraudulent behavior and chronic dissatisfaction.
Social Media
In this novel social media platforms are the means by which characters are vilified and celebrated. Social media is a portal for citizens of developing and developed nations to connect with the outside world. The problem with this media is that it can be biased, false, capricious, and manipulated. Social media is what puts Jivan in prison, but it also makes Lovely’s videos go viral, which brings her success. The reader is constantly asked to weigh the benefits of social media against the risks. Although A Burning focuses on many issues specific to Indian society, Majumdar’s commentary on social media is relevant to readers of any background.
