Iqbal

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2001

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-10

Chapters 11-15

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

Fatima is one of 14 children who are forced to make decorative carpets for Hussain Khan. Hussain’s carpet factory is located outside of a city in Pakistan called Lahore. The children were sold as collateral by their families, who were forced, for different reasons, to borrow money. The children’s work is intended to pay off the families’ debts.

The carpets are made in a building on Hussain’s property. Each morning, Hussain Khan’s wife brings food to the children in the early morning, and the children eat and talk about their dreams. Fatima learned from her grandmother that dreams come from heaven, and anyone can receive any type of dream. She was also taught that not receiving dreams is a bad sign, and that “it’s like not receiving the warmth of someone who is thinking of us even if they are far away” (10). Fatima no longer dreams, and she thinks the others have stopped dreaming as well, but to ease the loneliness they all feel, they make up dreams to share with each other. Fatima, who has been at the factory for three years, has also lost the memories of her family and her life before she was bonded.

After they eat, the children take turns in the bathroom. The “numskulls,” or the children who are chained to their workstations because of their poor work performance, are first in line to use the restroom. In the bathroom is a small window high on the wall. Each morning, Fatima tries to reach the window and escape, but she cannot reach it. She does not know where she would go if she escaped, and she assumes that she would be caught and put in an old cistern called the Tomb, where the children who misbehave are sent as punishment. Fatima has never been in the Tomb, which makes the other children jealous, and they accuse her of being the enslaver’s “pet.”

Hussain’s wife signals the start of work at sunrise by clapping three times. Each child has their own station with a slate that has their names and lines that represent their debts. Once work begins, the children are not allowed to talk. They must focus on tying their knots and ensuring the pattern is correct. Fatima listens to the unfamiliar sounds of the city while she works. The children are allowed one break for a small lunch, and they work unsupervised in the afternoon.

At the end of the day, Hussain comes to each station to measure the completed work and judge whether it meets his quality standards. He erases one line from the slate of each child whose work is deemed acceptable, but it seems like the number of lines never changes. If Hussain is unhappy with a child’s work, he does not erase any lines.

Chapter 2 Summary

Iqbal arrives in early summer while Fatima is busy making a carpet. She imagines that the beams of light she sees shining on her work are clashing swords and thinks of the two movies that Karim saw and described to the other workers. At 17, Karim is no longer able to make the carpets because his “fingers had grown too thick and awkward to make the thin, delicate knots” (15), so he supervises the work of the other children. Fatima has never been to the movies or watched TV, but she has heard Hussain’s television and seen the flashing of the lights through the window. Karim claims that he peeked in the window before, but Fatima does not believe him. She thinks he is scared to get kicked out of the factory because he has no family to go back to and nowhere else to go.

As she is refocusing on her job, the enslaver enters with a short, skinny boy—Iqbal. She feels there is something different about this sad but unafraid boy. The new bonded child is shackled to his workstation, and Hussain recites his standard speech about Iqbal’s station and his slate, but Iqbal already knows what to expect. Iqbal is a skilled carpetmaker, and he works efficiently on one of the most difficult patterns.

Chapter 3 Summary

When Hussain and his wife go to bed, Alì guards the door while Karim, Salman, and Maria go with Fatima to meet Iqbal. Alì whistles that the coast is clear, so Iqbal can tell his story. Iqbal’s father was a poor farmer, and Iqbal does not think it is fair that his family struggles while the enslaver reaps the rewards of his father’s hard work. Salman interrupts and says his father used to complain about his enslaver, and Karim argues that it is “wrong to curse our masters” (20).

Iqbal continues his story and explains that his brother contracted a severe illness. Iqbal’s father sought medical treatment for his ill son, but he needed to borrow money for the medicine. Iqbal’s father planned to send one of his daughters, but Iqbal spoke up and said that he should be sent.

Karim says that Iqbal will pay back the debt quickly with how skilled he is, but Iqbal argues that “the debt is never erased” (21). Salman disagrees and calls Iqbal “mean.” Iqbal asks if anyone has ever seen someone pay off their debt, and they all say no. Before they can continue talking, Alì whistles a warning, and they all creep back to their own spots. When the danger of being caught passes, Fatima returns to ask what Iqbal meant by saying that they will never get away from the factory. He tells her that they will escape together someday.

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

The early chapters introduce the main characters, the setting, and the conflict. Fatima, a bonded child who was sold by her family, narrates the events. Although she is the narrator and a protagonist, the plot centers on Iqbal, who is a protagonist and the namesake of the story. Fatima narrates the events from a limited perspective, as she sees them, and she does not presume to know Iqbal’s thoughts or feelings. Although her accounts regarding Iqbal are secondhand, Fatima presents an honest account of what she is seeing and feeling. However, she is not always reliable, as when she observes that Iqbal is chained but claims she does not know why.

The majority of Iqbal is set on Hussain’s carpet factory. The setting is a critical factor because it reveals the unethical treatment the children experience while they are bonded. The factory is described as having a “tin roof and a dirt floor, so it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter” (9). In the back of the building sits a “Turkish toilet,” or a toilet in the floor that a person squats over instead of sits on, and the children must pass through a “filthy curtain” to use the restroom. The building is portrayed as uncomfortable, dirty, and unsanitary. The children have no basic liberties and are allowed to use the bathroom only during certain times, such as after breakfast. Every aspect of their lives is controlled and monitored by Hussain Khan and his wife. The children who struggle the most are chained to their workstations all day and all night, except when they are allowed to go to the restroom. Hussain uses this as a method to motivate the children to work harder and to complain less. Fatima is one of the best workers—she never complains, and she focuses on her job. Thus, she is Hussain Khan’s favorite. However, Fatima does not like to admit that she is favored, and she has nightmares about it. Her inability to accept her role demonstrates the idea that she feels ashamed. She is not seeking favoritism; rather, her submission is a survival method. By following the rules and submitting to her oppressor, Fatima avoids harsher treatment.

The story’s conflict is rooted in the oppression and the enslavement of the children. They live in deplorable conditions and are treated with cruelty, but they hold onto the hope that they will pay back their families’ debts and earn their freedom, though none has seen it happen. When Iqbal arrives, he sows a seed of doubt in all their minds when he tells them that they will never pay off their debts. The children were sold to help their families, and they believed they could do so and return home. Iqbal, however, discovered the truth, and he realizes that what the enslavers are doing is evil. By presenting this idea to the other bonded children, he takes the first step in uniting them against Hussain, and he introduces the theme of Coming Together to Escape Oppression.