Genre
Drama, Satire
Setting and Context
Delhi, Kashmir, 1960s to present day
Narrator and Point of View
Omniscient narrator, multiple POV
Tone and Mood
Tone is usually satirical, mood changes with every event
Protagonist and Antagonist
Anjum is the protagonist; the society that doesn't accept her as she is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
Major conflict comes as Tilo is patriotic and finds it difficult to empathize with Musa
Climax
Maximum tension is reached as Tilo is arrested with an enemy of the state and is in fear of being killed.
Foreshadowing
Tilo being happy that the baby wasn’t hers foreshadows that she had an abortion.
Understatement
Tilo's stories of Kashmir understates the terror in the valley.
Allusions
Allusions to the birth of Jesus are made as appearance of baby Udaya is described.
Imagery
The most powerful imagery of coexistence of many sections of society living in Delhi in a short distance.
Paradox
It is paradoxical in nature that Anjum who chose to dress as a woman for her choice (even though her body was male) decides to dress her adoptive daughter Zainab as a boy against her wish.
Parallelism
Reciting of Kalma by Hazrat Sarmad and Saddam Hussein when asked by Aurangzeb and Anjum respectively.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
In Urdu, everything has a gender and is thus personified.
