Brotherless Night

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, rape, and death by suicide.

“Many people have died there [in Jaffna]: some killed by the Sri Lankan Army and the state, some by the Indian Peace Keeping Force, and some by the Tamil separatists, whom you know as the terrorists. Many people, of course, have also lived.”

From the very beginning, Sashi calls into question the actions of all factions involved in the war. This underscores her insistence, in the Prologue, that the definition of the word “terrorist” is not as simple as it initially seems—at least not in a conflict as complicated as the civil war in Sri Lanka. This quote is also notable for the way it ends—not in despair but in hope. Sashi is a survivor, as are many others. In her story, she focuses on people’s lives and the choices they make, and she gives voice to their stories.

“I loved the market, and often chose to help my mother by going there. I could have drawn a map of it as it stood before it burned. I knew where to find everything: the tidy packets of fragrant curry leaves; the sinuous heaps of yellow-green snake gourds, burnished eggplants, long green beans, and hot chillies; toasted cashews; the ground pockmarked with remnants of betel leaf; the betel itself; the king coconuts halved and ready with spoons carved from their shells; the neat rows of uncracked eggs; the dark cannisters of gingelly and coconut oil; the bloody halal meats; the barrels of brown rice, red rice, white rice, lentils, curry powder, and flour; the men yelling, ‘Vadai-vadai-vadai-vadai-vadai-vadai-vadai,’ as they hawked snacks; the beggar who collected coins and scraps of food by a well in a filched metal cup.”

Sashi’s description of the lively market juxtaposes the profusion of life that could be found there with the terror and death brought by the conflict. The sensory descriptions—like the visual images of the “burnished eggplants” and the olfactory images of the “fragrant curry leaves”—help immerse readers in the scene and also highlight Sashi’s affection for the place. The lists of items available for sale convey the abundance and liveliness of the market while also reflecting Sashi’s deep familiarity with it. Her tone as she describes the market “as it stood before it burned” conveys her sense of loss and nostalgia for a vibrant, bountiful past.