Zehrunisa Husain Character Analysis in Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Abdul’s mother and the true head of the Husain family. Zehrunisa wishes that she could fulfill the role of wife and mother that is expected of Muslim women, but she has been forced to work and take part in the family business due to the ill health of her husband, Karam. Yet despite Zehrunisa’s misgivings, she clearly enjoys some of the freedoms she receives living in the modern-leaning slum of Annawadi. Zehrunisa feels some kinship with the other residents of Annawadi, especially Fatima (who is the only other Muslim woman near her), but she also wants to do better than the poor families who live in the slum. Zehrunisa is shattered by the destruction of her family’s future after Karam, Kehkashan, and Abdul are accused of pushing Fatima to burn herself.

Zehrunisa Husain Quotes in Behind the Beautiful Forevers

The Behind the Beautiful Forevers quotes below are all either spoken by Zehrunisa Husain or refer to Zehrunisa Husain. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Society, Competition, and Social Division Theme Icon

Zehrunisa would go, sighing, to separate the miserable couple, just as she sighed on Eid and other Muslim holidays before inviting them to share her mutton korma. The family of the child-abusing Fatima, the family of the skeezy brothel owner: This was the Muslim fellowship she had in Annawadi.

"It's easy to break a single bamboo stick, but when you bundle the sticks, you can't even bend them," she told her children. "It's the same with family and with the people of our faith. Despite the petty differences, Muslims have to join up in big sufferings, and for Eid."

Related Characters: Zehrunisa Husain

Page Number and Citation: 77

Explanation and Analysis:

Zehrunisa, despite not approving of her fellow Muslims in Annawadi, seeks out their company for the major Muslim holidays. Though Zehrunisa obviously feels competition with the other Muslim families, comparing her own family to the struggles of the others in order to feel better about her own life. Yet Zehrunisa cannot entirely escape the old community of faith, even if India is now supposed to be built on individual achievement. Zherunisa both wants the other Muslim families to fail, because she knows that will make her own family seem better in comparison. But she also wishes that the community of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veni

She was less and less sure she wanted to go to Vasai, less and less sure her husband would live to get there. She wanted a more hygienic home here, in the name of her children's vitality… On the floor she wanted ceramic tiles like the ones advertised on the Beautiful Forever wall - tiles that could be scrubbed clean, instead of broken concrete that harbored filth in each striation. With these small improvements, she thought her children might stay as healthy as children in Annawadi could be.

Related Characters: Karam, Zehrunisa Husain

Related Symbols: The Beautiful Forever Wall

Page Number and Citation: 83

Explanation and Analysis:

Zehrunisa, the mother of the Husain family, begins to argue against her husband Karam, and his plan to move the family to the Muslim suburb of Vasai. Though Zehrunisa previously wished for the “normal” and traditional life of a Muslim wife, in which she would stay inside and care for her children, she now has a taste of the “new” India after living in urban Annawadi for so long. Rather than returning to the old ways, Zehrunisa now wants to start anew for her family in the urban center. She sees ways that her family can have more opportunities here, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequ

"Everyone is jealous of us, fixing our house," Kehkashan explained to an older cousin who'd just arrived from the countryside.
"So let them be jealous," Zehrunisa exclaimed. "Why shouldn’t we live in a better room now that we are doing a little better?"

Related Characters: Kehkashan, Zehrunisa Husain

Page Number and Citation: 86

Explanation and Analysis:

Zehrunisa, the matriarch of the Husain family, decides that her family should use the small savings they have managed to earn to improve their hut in Annawadi, sparking jealousy among the neighbors who feel that the Husains are rubbing their good fortune in their faces. In Annawadi, one person’s success is equated with another’s failure. Zehrunisa revels in this competition, wanting to enjoy this brief moment of feeling better than her neighbors to assure herself that her family really is doing well. The easiest way to experience the new promise of social mobility in India is to have another baseline Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explic

He didn't know if his mother was right about an earlier, peaceful age in which poor people had accepted the fates that their respective gods had written on their foreheads, and in turn treated one another more kindly. He just knew that she didn't really long for companionable misery. She'd known abjectness, loathed its recollection, and raised her son for a modern age of ruthless competition. In this age, some people rose and some people fell, and ever since he was little, she'd made him understand that he had to rise.

Related Characters: Zehrunisa Husain, Abdul Husain

Page Number and Citation: 111

Explanation and Analysis:

With the Husain family garbage business failing and no money to post bail for Karam, Kehkashan, or Abdul, Zehrunisa laments the loss of community support when tragedy strikes. Zehrunisa grew up in a very different India than her children now live in, where there was less chance for social mobility but a greater sense of social cohesion. Though Zehrunisa’s childhood was full of suffering, she at least had a group of people who were of the same social class and caste to suffer with her. The old caste system in India condemned people to live the same lives as their Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dict

Zehrunisa Husain Character Timeline in Behind the Beautiful Forevers

The timeline below shows where the character Zehrunisa Husain appears in Behind the Beautiful Forevers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Permanence, Legacy, and Erasure Theme Icon

Abdul’s mother, Zehrunisa, also disapproves of One Leg because she wears perfume and lipstick. Abdul silently thinks that... (full context)

Opportunity, Corruption, and Inequality Theme Icon

...poor are always seen as guilty in Mumbai. The police officers lead Karam away as Zehrunisa sobs. (full context)

...of night, and he decides to find his mother to ask her what to do. Zehrunisa tells Abdul to turn himself in at the Sahar Police Station. He runs there, hoping... (full context)

...back in time to January 2008, before Fatima burned herself and Abdul turned himself in. Zehrunisa wakes Abdul, telling him to get to work. Obediently, Abdul gets up and enjoys the... (full context)

Zehrunisa comes out of the hut and scolds Mirchi for talking instead of studying. Education is... (full context)

...increases. These riots are specifically orchestrated by politicians from parties like Shiv Sena. Karam and Zehrunisa tell their children that this will all pass and India will be stronger than ever,... (full context)

...Mumbai. Others were not able to work during the riots, like the Husain family’s tenants. Zehrunisa has no sympathy for this family, exaggerating her own family’s poverty. The migrant family leaves,... (full context)

...full week. But then they stop – giving children a welcome respite from staying inside. Zehrunisa watches Mirchi play, trying not to think about how Mirchi has failed 9th grade, Karam... (full context)

Zehrunisa angrily thinks that Fatima’s extramarital affairs have brought improper men to their neighborhood who now... (full context)

Karam returns from two weeks in the hospital, much improved from breathing the clean air. Zehrunisa is happy, though grumbles about the cost when the Husains have so many marriages to... (full context)

Now that Kehkashan has returned to care for the younger kids, Zehrunisa can go with Karam to visit Vasai. Zehrunisa had expected to spend her entire life... (full context)

Zehrunisa senses that Karam’s return from the hospital is a good moment to approach him about... (full context)

...school to help. They cart all the family’s possessions to the street where Karam and Zehrunisa guard them so nothing will be stolen. Other Annawadians pass by, curious to see what... (full context)

Kehkashan grumbles at the obvious jealousy of their neighbors, but Zehrunisa is proud to show off their good standing. Improving the house has obvious health benefits,... (full context)

...even louder as the wall that her hut shares with the Husains begins to shake. Zehrunisa half-heartedly placates her while Abdul continues to ignore her. Fatima gets louder, until Zehrunisa gets... (full context)

Zehrunisa and Fatima each go outside, yelling and shoving each other about the wall. A crowd... (full context)

Fifteen minutes later, a neighbor tells Zehrunisa that Fatima has gone to the Sahar Police Station to accuse Zehrunisa of assault. Kehkashan... (full context)

Asha, at the police station helping police offers fix a government loan, sees Zehrunisa and jumps on the chance to increase her goodwill and influence in Annawadi by solving... (full context)

...to pay for an auto rickshaw, but refuses to go herself. Secretly, Asha thinks that Zehrunisa should have let her help before Fatima became this hysterical. She laughs that the Husains... (full context)

...Abdul will be charged with murder. After what feels like hours of pain, Abdul hears Zehrunisa crying to the receptionist. He tries not to scream but can’t help himself. Eventually, Zehrunisa’s... (full context)

...these bribes, knowing they will have to save money for a lawyer if Fatima dies. Zehrunisa appears periodically to give updates on how much Asha is asking to make this whole... (full context)

...official cause of death, but it is really an infection that kills her. Kehkashan and Zehrunisa, as the only other Muslim women in Annawadi, take over the burial rites, while Zehrunisa... (full context)

...take Abdul’s role but is not as adept at judging the worth of the trash. Zehrunisa is too busy begging her family for Abdul’s bail money to help. She can get... (full context)

Karam is desperate and angry every time Zehrunisa visits him because his health is failing in the crowded cell. To make matters worse,... (full context)

The only choice Zehrunisa felt good about was paying the officers to try Abdul as a child. She thinks... (full context)

The Waghekar family returns to Annawadi, where Asha ignores Zehrunisa’s pleas for legal help and focuses on her own education. To truly transcend her rural... (full context)

A few weeks later, Zehrunisa is allowed to take Abdul home from Dongri as long as Abdul checks in at... (full context)

...only person who will listen is Kalu, freshly returned from working construction with his father. Zehrunisa compliments Kalu on how healthy he looks now (after weeks spent in the country without... (full context)

Zehrunisa is terrified that the police are coming to her house to arrest Abdul for the... (full context)

Sanjay, one of the Annawadians arrested after Kalu’s death, comes sobbing to Zehrunisa with the real story of how Kalu died. Kalu had been attacked by a prominent... (full context)

The section opens with advice from Zehrunisa not to think about terrible lives. The chapter then skips ahead to late September 2008.... (full context)

...a life. When Abdul voiced that thought to his mother, while she was beating him, Zehrunisa told him not to think about terrible lives. Sunil thinks about this later, deciding that... (full context)

One afternoon after the trial, Abdul, Mirchi, Zehrunisa and Karam consider the trash left in the storeroom. They have to sell it now,... (full context)

Voting rights are scattered and often withheld from the poorest minorities in India, such as Zehrunisa and Karam who have tried to register for seven years and been denied. Slum dwellers... (full context)

Zehrunisa pays a Sufi mystic to see if Fatima’s ghost is responsible for dragging out Abdul’s... (full context)

Zehrunisa Husain Character Analysis

Zehrunisa Husain Quotes in Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Chapter 5 Quotes

Chapter 6 Quotes

Chapter 7 Quotes

Zehrunisa Husain Character Timeline in Behind the Beautiful Forevers