The Home and the World

“It was my woman’s heart, which must worship in order to love” 

When the novel begins, a woman’s identity is rooted in the devotion she can show to others. For Bimala, obeisance is something to aspire to. There appear to be no gray areas or degrees of love. Love is interchangeable with worship. 

“Purity, they imagined, was only becoming in those on whom fortune had not smiled. It is the moon which has room or stains, not the stars”

Sandip preaches greed and acquisition. Nikhil believes that there is more to a person than things, which can be acquired or lost. There is a sense that Nikhil would be the same person if he were the richest man in the world or the poorest.

“But my husband would not give me any opportunity for worship. That was his greatness. They are cowards who claim absolute devotion from their wives as their right; that is a humiliation for both” 

Bimala admires Nikhil for his awareness that devotion must be earned, not bestowed. Ironically, it is this passivity in him that casts Sandip in a favorable light when he enters her life.