Previous
Chapter 43
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Covenant of Water, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Inheritance and Intergenerational Fate
Healing and Purpose
Grief and Survival
Women’s Agency, Education, and Ambition
Caste and Class
Parental Love and Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
Philipose returns to Parambil as rice prices skyrocket after Rangoon falls and the British seize local stocks for the army. Famine reaches Travancore, and starving families begin arriving at Parambil’s door. One man begs for rice water to keep his wife and baby alive; another tells of his sister-in-law drowning herself and two children. Philipose and Shamuel use the family’s brass vessel to cook kappa gruel with bananas and coconut oil and hand out leaf packets of food, careful not to attract a crowd too big to feed.
The British seizure of local rice stocks for military use creates artificial scarcity that transforms into mass starvation. The desperate arrivals at Parambil’s door make the famine visceral. Philipose and Shamuel’s use of the family brass vessel to cook kappa gruel establishes their response as drawing on Parambil’s own resources rather than waiting for government intervention.
Active
Themes
At a family gathering, Kora, an estate manager, mocks Philipose for buying a radio when Parambil has no electricity. Uplift Master needles Kora about not knowing that Trivandrum is already being electrified, and Kora leaves in embarrassment. Still, Philipose cannot shake Kora’s words, or the starving faces he sees daily. He and Uplift Master build a shed by the boat jetty, borrow wedding cauldrons, and recruit Sultan Pattar to cook. Pattar prepares a daily meal of kappa, thoren, pickle, and salt, directing village children to help cook and serve.
Kora’s mockery of Philipose attacks his judgment, implying that he is prone to impractical dreaming instead of sensible planning. Though Uplift Master defends the use of a radio, it’s clear that Kora’s words have an impact on Philipose, especially as he looks around and considers the struggle and hardship surrounding him.
Active
Themes
On the first day they feed 200 people. A Manorama reporter visits, praises the effort, and publishes Philipose’s photograph, sparking donations and inspiring other villages to open Feeding Centers. Philipose begins writing “Unfictions,” mixing real stories with invention, and wins first prize in a Manorama short story contest with “The Plavu Man.” Over the next year he publishes several more pieces, including “Why No Self-Respecting Rat Works at the Secretariat,” which angers government clerks but wins him more readers.
Active
Themes
One night, Joppan visits, congratulates Philipose, and warns that famine will return unless social change breaks the cycle of poverty. Weeks later, Joppan marries a woman named Ammini, and Big Ammachi gifts the couple brass vessels, money, and a house plot. After more than a year of petitions, electricity finally reaches Parambil. Philipose switches on his radio, fills the room with news and music, and feels justified for buying it. That night, Philipose tells Big Ammachi to contact Aniyan, the local marriage broker: he is ready to ask for Elsie’s hand.
Active
Themes
Get the entire The Covenant of Water LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
