Burnt Shadows

Chapter 9 opens just after Sajjad and his brothers bury their mother, Khadija. Khadija’s last words to Sajjad were, “Keep on living” (103), a ritual Muslim salutation, but one that takes on extra meaning for Sajjad, struggling with being fired and the upheaval of Partition.

Sajjad’s brothers argue over their futures: Altamash, the oldest, wants to move to the new Pakistan; Iqbal, who is having an affair, wants permission to take a second wife or get divorced. As the argument worsens, Sajjad reflects on his “unexpected pain and resentment” over being fired by James (106), in particular the Burtons’ failure to apologize for assuming he assaulted Hiroko. Sajjad has difficulty imagining his future in the midst of political and social unrest. Sajjad announces to the group that he is going to propose marriage to Hiroko and that they will live in New Delhi (as Delhi will be called after the Partition). Sajjad declares that he will not go anywhere that Hiroko isn’t welcomed. Sajjad begins to run away but stops, overwhelmed by the sense he is betraying Khadija and worried that he and Hiroko might grow apart as Elizabeth and James did. Altamash catches up to Sajjad and convinces Sajjad to return home.

Back in Mussoorie, James Burton is about to join Hiroko and Ilse in the family room when he overhears the women talking in German about Sajjad. James heads outside instead, reflecting on the approaching departure from India. James assumes that Hiroko will join him and Elizabeth in London and is grateful that Elizabeth will have a friend. James feels lonely after firing Sajjad but also feels that Sajjad “brought it on himself, of course” (111), and he is uncomfortable with the thought that he genuinely misses the company of his former servant.

Sajjad arrives unexpectedly, and James attempts to resume their friendship, but Sajjad rebukes him for failing to apologize. James tries to justify his actions, saying that social propriety made it impossible to hire Sajjad back or make a meaningful apology, but Sajjad refuses his excuses, saying, “It’s not a question of nation. It’s one of class. You would have apologized if I’d been to Oxford” (113). James, frustrated, strikes a brick wall and hurts his hand. Sajjad asks to see Hiroko, but Hiroko and Elizabeth are already there and overheard most of Sajjad and James’s argument. Elizabeth takes James to tend to his hand, leaving Sajjad and Hiroko alone in the garden.

Sajjad tells Hiroko that his mother died and apologizes for how their last conversation ended. Hiroko forgives him but asks if he has come for “the first available woman” since his mother’s death has interrupted his arranged marriage plans (114). Sajjad asks Hiroko to consider that their relationship would be a betrayal of tradition for him and that neither Hiroko nor Sajjad have seen each other in their “true world.” Sajjad hints at marriage, but Hiroko says that she will never live in a joint-family home, as is Sajjad’s tradition. Sajjad tells Hiroko that he plans to buy his own house in New Delhi and teases marriage again. Hiroko tells Sajjad that she cannot marry him because the long-term effects of the nuclear bomb make both her lifespan and her ability to have children uncertain. Sajjad tells Hiroko that he doesn’t care. Hiroko asks Sajjad if he knows how to kiss a woman and teases that her decision may rest on his answer. 

James and Elizabeth wait in the cottage, wondering where Hiroko and Sajjad are. Elizabeth hints that Sajjad and Hiroko are off making love, which embarrasses James. Elizabeth observes that James is anxious about the social dynamic of a marriage between Sajjad, whom he feels is beneath the Burtons, and Hiroko, whom he sees more as an equal. At James’s insistence, Elizabeth acknowledges her own misgivings about Hiroko and Sajjad’s relationship but notes, “Good men don’t necessarily mean good marriages” (118). James asks Elizabeth for a new start to their marriage when they return to London, and she consoles him. However, Elizabeth secretly plans to leave James after they return to England and to go live with her cousin Willie in New York City.

Hiroko and Sajjad borrow the neighbor Kamran Ali’s car and sneak away from the cottage to find a mosque and get married. Hiroko wants to convert to Islam, not as a true believer but to make things easier with Sajjad’s family by having an Islamic rather than a civil wedding ceremony. Sajjad, admiring her practicality, explains that Hiroko can become a Muslim by repeating the Kalma, a declaration of faith, three times.

Hiroko and Sajjad are married at a local mosque and head into nearby woods to consummate the marriage. Sajjad helps to guide Hiroko through her first sexual encounter, and the couple sees a silver fox at the moment of Sajjad’s climax. Hiroko tells Sajjad that foxes, called kitsune in Japanese, are prominent figures in myth, and that the wisest kitsune are the nine-tailed kyubi. Hiroko tells Sajjad that the fox they saw is a blessing of their marriage. Sajjad performs oral sex on Hiroko, and the couple leave the woods blissfully. 

A few months later, Sajjad stands looking out over the Bosporus River in Istanbul, where he and Hiroko are honeymooning. James counseled Sajjad to take Hiroko away from India until the violence surrounding Partition settled down to avoid putting Hiroko through any more suffering. Sajjad agreed, reluctantly, and Elizabeth arranged for Sajjad and Hiroko to say in Istanbul, at the unoccupied vacation home of a friend.

Hiroko waits for Sajjad at their home in Istanbul, which is in surprising disrepair. Hiroko examines Elizabeth’s wedding gift, a diamond necklace and earrings set that Elizabeth claims belonged to Konrad. In truth, the diamond set was a gift to Elizabeth from James. Hiroko and Sajjad plan to sell the diamonds to buy their future house in New Delhi, where they plan to move when the city is less dangerous for Muslims.

Sajjad arrives home, visibly upset. Sajjad tells Hiroko that they are not allowed to return to Delhi because they left India during Partition. According to the new Indian government, Sajjad is a Muslim who chose to leave and is therefore no longer an Indian citizen. Hiroko tries to soothe her distraught husband in English, Urdu, and Japanese, but Sajjad hears only the sounds of the pigeons of Delhi.