52 pages • 1 hour read
The Space Between Us
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Character Analysis
Bhima
Bhima is a 65-year-old Hindu woman and protagonist of the novel. She works as a domestic worker in a wealthy, Parsi household. She can’t read and is uneducated. Bhima’s husband, Gopal, left her when her children were still young, taking their son Amit with him. Bhima single-handedly raised her daughter, Pooja. When Pooja and her husband died, Bhima took responsibility for their then-seven-year-old daughter, Maya. The novel begins with a 17-year-old Maya pregnant and dropping out of college, presenting Bhima with the novel’s central conflict: discovering who the father is and resolving the situation so Maya can have a good future.
Bhima’s life is one of hardship and woe. She feels abandoned and betrayed by everyone she has ever loved, between Gopal and Amit leaving her, Pooja and Raju dying, and Maya’s present circumstances. The closest relationship in Bhima’s life is with Sera, her employer. Bhima confides in Sera about her life’s troubles, and she feels indebted to the woman who has, in Bhima’s eyes, stood by her and helped her out on every occasion. Bhima, in turn, takes care of Sera, guarding her secret about Feroz’s abuse, even nursing her back to health after Feroz injures her, and even urging her to stop tolerating Feroz’s behavior.
Bhima’s relationship with Sera is not an equal one and the class divide between them cannot be bridged for a genuine friendship. Bhima envies Sera’s daughter’s pregnancy, while Maya is forced to hide and eventually end hers due to social shame. Bhima’s feelings for the Dubash family are a complex mix of affection, obligation, agitation, and subservience. She never questions the discriminatory ways in which Sera treats her, such as insisting Bhima use different utensils and not use the furniture in the house. Bhima’s upbringing and India’s Social Fabric of Class, Caste, Gender, and Religion have inculcated her with rampant caste and class-based discrimination meted out to domestic workers (see: Background). Rather than question these attitudes and behaviors, Bhima feels gratitude toward Sera and her family, immediately tamping down any negativity she feels toward them the moment it arises. When the truth comes out that Viraf, Sera’s son-in-law, assaulted Maya, Bhima is let go without hesitation. By the end of the novel, Bhima learns to let go of the idea that she deserves her own exploitation and feels a sense of freedom in losing her employer. Bhima decides to live for Maya, rather than living for subservience to the Dubash family.
Sera Dubash
Sera Dubash is a middle-aged Parsi woman. She is the deuteragonist of the novel. Wealthy, educated, and cultured, she is Bhima’s employer. Sera was married for years to Feroz Dubash, who was abusive. After Feroz’s death, Sera’s only daughter, Dinaz, and her husband, Viraf, moved in with her.
Sera is internally inconsistent, suggesting that the worldview of the educated elite is flawed. She is worldly and well-read, raised by her gentle, sensible parents, Jehroo and Jehangir Sethna. However, she tolerates her abusive husband for years, confiding in no one except Bhima. She wishes her mother had intervened or looked more closely to see the truth about her marriage to Feroz. Her experiences with Banu as a mother-in-law leave Sera equally distant from her own daughter when Sera senses friction between Viraf and Dinaz. Sera turns away from Viraf’s disloyalty in the same way her mother ignored Feroz’s abuse. Sera is hailed by the others in her upper-class community as a saint for treating Bhima better than anyone treats their domestic workers; Bhima almost feels like family to Sera. Despite this, Sera acknowledges that there are things she cannot allow Bhima to do, such as use the furniture in the house, or the same utensils as the rest of the household. Dinaz points out this hypocrisy, and while Sera is aware of it, even feeling guilty on occasion, she cannot bring herself to change her ways.
Despite the care and concern she feels for Bhima and Maya, there is a deep-seated class-based conditioning that influences how Sera acts toward them. She pities Bhima and is quick to provide assistance wherever she can; she pays for Bhima’s train tickets to Delhi and cab fare to Maya’s college; she takes responsibility for Maya’s education; and she even has Feroz intervene at the government hospital to help save Gopal’s life. Sera cannot see Bhima separately from the role she fulfills in Sera’s household. She reduces Bhima to the status of a tool that has a very specific utility.
While the novel provides closure for Bhima’s narrative, Sera is left without closure. The narrative does not disclose if Sera remains in denial about Viraf’s actions, or tells Dinaz the truth. Umrigar uses flashbacks and anecdotes to detail Sera’s history of tolerating problematic situations and her proclivity to maintain the status quo in her personal and social lives, suggesting that Sera is crucial in allowing the status quo of gendered violence to continue in her household.
Maya Phedke
Maya Phedke is Bhima’s 17-year-old granddaughter. She is Pooja’s only child and was orphaned when her parents passed away. Maya was seven when they died. Since then, she has been raised by Bhima. Maya is an intelligent girl, with Sera recognizing this early on and sponsoring her education.
Despite social pressure and shame, Maya refuses to disclose the name of her child’s father. She is headstrong, obstinate, and feels no obligation to the status quo much like Dinaz. Maya’s affection for the Dubash family is deeply tainted by her encounter with Viraf, as she sees Sera and her family for what they are—privileged people, with the power to exploit those like herself and her grandmother. Maya can help Bhima see this, too, as she questions why Bhima would first place blame on her own granddaughter, rather than pointing a finger at a member of Sera’s family.
Maya represents the hope that Bhima feels for the future. This hope first manifests in the responsibility and reason to live that Maya provides after Pooja’s death. Bhima is propelled forward by the belief that Maya must lead a better life than her, guaranteed by her education. Maya’s tragedy and the response of Sera shocks Bhima free from the obligation she feels toward the status quo.
Dinaz
Dinaz is Sera’s only daughter. She has a strong sense of justice and is unafraid of questioning the status quo, as she unhesitatingly calls out Sera’s hypocrisy and double standards in the way she treats Bhima. Bhima feels a deep affection for Dinaz, whom she has practically raised. Dinaz likewise reciprocates affection toward both Bhima and Maya. Unlike Sera, she does not feel a sense of revulsion or distance when interacting with Bhima, and often encourages Sera to truly treat Bhima like the family she claims Bhima is. Dinaz represents a younger, more progressive generation of thought, where a more egalitarian conception of society breaks through the social fabric made by older generations.
Despite Dinaz’s sense of justice and fair nature, she remains a product of her privileged background. Dinaz is married to Viraf, and as the book begins, she is pregnant with their child. Unbeknownst to Dinaz, Viraf has a one-time affair with Maya, leading to the novel’s central conflict. Throughout the book, Dinaz and Maya’s pregnancies are juxtaposed against each other to display the difference in circumstance, power, and eventual outcome. Dinaz is not in a position to be exploited by men with more class status than herself, while Maya is forced to work as a domestic worker, opening her up to abuse by men like Viraf. Pregnancy is planned and welcomed for somebody in Dinaz’s social class, while somebody like Maya has an unplanned pregnancy and faces shame and social ostracization.
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By Thrity Umrigar
