The Narrator Character Analysis in Kabuliwala

Mini’s father and the story’s unnamed first-person narrator and protagonist. The events of this story largely take place in the narrator’s study and just outside of his house. The narrator describes himself as a “Bengali Babu,” a respectful title that implies that he is financially comfortable, educated, and respected in his hometown of Calcutta, India. The narrator loves his only child, Mini, who is five years old at the beginning of the story. While the narrator’s wife finds Mini’s constant chatter tiring, the narrator loves to listen to his daughter prattle away about all sorts of topics. The narrator is a writer, and is working on his novel when the story starts. The novel is an adventure story, which reflects his own curiosity about different places and people around the world. The narrator has never had the opportunity to leave Calcutta, hence his fascination with such faraway places, though he also admits that he’s a homebody. The narrator is friendly with Rahamat because he enjoys seeing him laughing with Mini when he visits, and because Rahamat tells him stories about life in Afghanistan and what he’s seen on his travels as a fruit vendor, or Kabuliwala. Despite his interest in Rahamat, the narrator is quick to forget him after Rahamat is sent to jail. Years later, when the man shows up unannounced after being released from prison, the narrator tries to get rid of him as fast as possible, thinking of him as a criminal rather than as his daughter’s childhood companion and not wanting to be bothered on Mini’s wedding day. It’s only after Rahamat reveals that he also has a beloved daughter Parvati, back in Afghanistan, that the narrator recognizes that they have far more in common than he originally thought. Having established this personal and emotional connection with him, the narrator gives Rahamat money from Mini’s wedding fund to help him get back to Afghanistan and be reunited with his family.

The Narrator Quotes in Kabuliwala

The Kabuliwala quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator or refer to The Narrator. 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:

My five-year-old daughter Mini can’t stop talking for a minute. […] Her mother often scolds her and makes her shut up, but I can’t do that. When Mini is quiet, it is so unnatural that I cannot bear it. So she’s rather keen on chatting to me.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Mini, The Narrator’s Wife / Mini’s Mother

Page Number and Citation: 113

Explanation and Analysis:

[…] I saw my daughter sitting on a bench in front of the door, nattering unrestrainedly; and the Kabuliwala was sitting at her feet, listening—grinning broadly, and from time to time making comments in his hybrid sort of Bengali. In all her five years of life, Mini had never found so patient a listener, apart from her father.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Mini, Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala”

Page Number and Citation: 115

Explanation and Analysis:

Rahamat would say to Mini, “Little one, don’t ever go off to your śvaśur-bāṛi.’ […] She […] couldn’t clearly understand what Rahamat meant; yet to remain silent and give no reply was wholly against her nature, so she would turn the idea round and say, ‘Are you going to your śvaśur-bāṛi?’ Shaking his huge fist at an imaginary father-in-law Rahamat said, “I’ll settle him!”

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala” (speaker), Mini (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 115

Explanation and Analysis:

I have never been away from Calcutta; precisely because of that, my mind roves all over the world. I seem to be condemned to my house, but I constantly yearn for the world outside. […] At the same time, I am such a rooted sort of individual that whenever I have to leave my familiar spot I practically collapse.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker)

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 116

Explanation and Analysis:

Mini’s mother is very easily alarmed. The slightest noise in the street makes her think that all the world’s drunkards are charging straight at our house. […] She was not too happy about Rahamat the Kabuliwala.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Wife / Mini’s Mother

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 116

Explanation and Analysis:

Mini came straight out with her ‘Are you going to your śvaśur-bāṛi?”

‘Yes, I’m going there now,’ said Rahamat with a smile. But when he saw that his reply had failed to amuse Mini, he brandished his handcuffed fists and said, “I would have killed my śvaśur, but how can I with these on?’

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Mini (speaker), Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala” (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 117

Explanation and Analysis:

Living at home, carrying on day by day with our routine tasks, we gave no thought to how a free-spirited mountain-dweller was passing his years behind prison-walls. […] [Mini] even stopped coming to her father’s study. And I, in a sense, dropped her.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Mini, Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala”

Page Number and Citation: 117

Explanation and Analysis:

I had never confronted a would-be murderer before; I shrank back at the sight of him. I began to feel that on this auspicious morning it would be better to have the man out of the way.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala”

Page Number and Citation: 118

Explanation and Analysis:

Every year Rahamat carried this memento of his daughter in his breast-pocket when he came to sell raisins in Calcutta’s streets: as if the touch of that soft, small, childish hand brought solace to his huge, homesick breast. My eyes swam at the sight of it. I forgot then that he was an Afghan raisin-seller and I was a Bengali Babu. I understood then that he was as I am, that he was a father just as I am a father. The handprint of his little mountain-dwelling Parvati reminded me of my own Mini.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala”, Mini, Parvati

Related Symbols: Parvati’s Handprint

Page Number and Citation: 119

Explanation and Analysis:

Mini now knew the meaning of śvaśur-bāṛi; she couldn’t reply as before—she blushed at Rahamat’s question and looked away. I recalled the day when Mini and the Kabuliwala had first met. My heart ached.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Mini, Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala”

Page Number and Citation: 119

Explanation and Analysis:

Mini left the room, and Rahamat, sighing deeply, sat down on the floor. He suddenly understood clearly that his own daughter would have grown up too since he last saw her, and with her too he would have to become re-acquainted: he would not find her exactly as she was before. Who knew what had happened to her these eight years?

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Rahamat / The “Kabuliwala”, Mini, Parvati

Page Number and Citation: 120

Explanation and Analysis:

The Narrator Character Timeline in Kabuliwala

The timeline below shows where the character The Narrator appears in Kabuliwala. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

The narrator ’s precocious five-year-old daughter, Mini, started talking very young, and now she “can’t stop talking... (full context)

One morning while the narrator is working on the 17th chapter of his book, Mini approaches him and tells him... (full context)

The narrator continues working on his book—an adventure story in which the main characters are escaping from... (full context)

...so she runs away to another part of the house. Not wanting to be rude, the narrator invites the Kabuliwala in and buys something from him while they talk about Afghani politics... (full context)

A few days after the Kabuliwala’s first appearance, the narrator walks out of the house and sees Mini sitting and talking with the Kabuliwala, who... (full context)

Later, when the narrator gets back home, his wife is in the middle of scolding Mini for somehow getting... (full context)

...the Kabuliwala—whose name is Rahamat—involves her eventually having to leave to go to her śvaśur-bāṛi. The narrator notes that while most Bengali girls Mini’s age would know what this means, Mini does... (full context)

The narrator notes that it is “perfect autumn weather,” which makes him think about the “ancient times”... (full context)

The narrator ’s wife is very different from the narrator: she is “very easily alarmed” and is... (full context)

...home. He is busy all day during this time, but never fails to come to the narrator ’s house to see Mini. Even though the sight of Rahamat in his baggy clothes... (full context)

One morning during this time, the narrator is up early and working in his study. He is enjoying the pleasant morning sun... (full context)

The narrator goes outside to ask what happened and, between what the Kabuliwala and the policemen tell... (full context)

The Kabuliwala is sentenced to prison for many years, and the narrator and Mini soon forget him. As she grows up, Mini’s behavior, according to the narrator,... (full context)

Years later, once again during autumn, the narrator and his wife arrange Mini’s marriage. They are terribly sad to think that their “pride... (full context)

The narrator nervously asks the Kabuliwala to leave because they are busy, but as he’s leaving the... (full context)

...with him when he leaves home to sell fruit. With tears brimming in his eyes, the narrator says he “forgot then that he was an Afghan raisin-seller and I a Bengali Babu,”... (full context)

...to her śvaśur-bāṛi, but now that Mini knows what the word means, she is embarrassed. The narrator ’s “heart ache[s].” Mini silently leaves the room. With a great sigh, the Kabuliwala sits... (full context)

The narrator gives the Kabuliwala some money and tells him to go back to Afghanistan, and that... (full context)

The Narrator Character Analysis

The Narrator Quotes in Kabuliwala

Kabuliwala Quotes

The Narrator Character Timeline in Kabuliwala