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Allusions
Foil
Explanation and Analysis—The Narrator and His Wife:
In “Kabuliwala,” the narrator’s wife acts as a foil for him, meaning that the way in which she differs from him highlights important qualities of his character. In particular, the wife’s nervousness about Rahamat’s closeness with their daughter Mini—as well as her general lack of interest in other places and cultures (such as Rahamat’s native Afghanistan)—highlights the narrator’s worldliness, open-heartedness and ability to connect with people across difference.
This key difference between the narrator and his wife comes across in the following passage, as they argue about Rahamat’s relationship with their daughter:
[My wife] was not too happy about Rahamat the Kabuliwallah. She repeatedly told me to keep a close eye on him. If I tried to laugh off her suspicions, she would launch into a succession of questions: ‘So do people’s children never go missing? And is there no slavery in Afghanistan? Is it completely impossible for a huge Afghan to kidnap a little child?’ I had to admit that it was not impossible, but I found it hard to believe. […] I still saw nothing wrong in letting Rahamat come to our house.
The narrator describes how his wife “repeatedly” told him to keep an eye on Rahamat when he was with Mini and would launch into a series of xenophobic questions about Afghanistan if he minimized her suspicions about the kind kabuliwala. The narrator’s insistence that there was “nothing wrong” in welcoming Rahamat into their home captures how open-hearted the man is, and how easy it is for him to recognize Rahamat’s humanity, despite their ethnic and class differences.
Related Themes:
