Brick Lane

The effect of the letter is powerful. Nazneen looks upon it as a talisman. Nazneen packs the girls’ things, realizing “there was no escape” and she would not be on the plane when it leaves the following day. She goes through the apartment and finds Chanu’s address book with the address of Mrs. Islam. 

She prepares to confront Mrs. Islam, who magically shows up at her door with her two henchmen sons, Son Number One and Son Number Two, who present a gift for the girls from his mother’s ominous black bag: two sets of ankle bells. Nazneen begins to present her case, firmly declaring the debt has been paid with excess and Mrs. Islam distorts her numbers with evil manipulations. Nazneen stands her ground. Then comes the violence, the cricket bat shattering the showcases with the clay figures. Nazneen stands up to Mrs. Islam by producing her numerical figures and declaring the debt has been repaid with interest. Taken aback by this display of rational power from her submissive friend, Mrs. Islam responds with manipulation, revealing that she knows about her love affair and threatens to tell Nazneen’s husband. Nazneen counters her threat by insisting her husband knows everything and inviting her to confront him. This shifts the energy because “the impossible happened.” Mrs. Islam is surprised. Nazneen takes power and insists that she swear on the Koran and then incredibly, Son Number Two suggest they leave, adding: “They paid too much anyway.” Mrs. Islam crumbles in the face of the truth uttered by her flesh and blood. She attacks her son like a cornered animal. She is breaking down by the time they get her through the door. Nazneen starts to clean up and then suddenly, feels profoundly at peace. She realizes that God provided a way, “and I found it.”

Nazneen navigates the city to meet Karim on October 26. She then tells him the flight is tomorrow and that she is not going. He is happy and brings up their wedding. She says she doesn’t want to marry him and they need to stop. She realizes he is relieved to hear this. In parting, she says they “made each other up”.

In the heated tension of time ticking away, Nazneen has one last confrontation. This is Dr. Azad, whom she runs into on her way to give support to Razia. She asks him why he lent money to her husband for his departure and he simply replies it is because he is a very good friend.

On the tense morning of October 27, the day of the march colliding with the scheduled departure, there is a gathering in the courtyard the estate. The immigrants are joined by a group of white people from the Workers United Front wanting to bring the immigrants into a global worker’s movement. When the courtyard clears, Chanu goes out to buy soap samples. Nazneen has a dream of her husband baby-sized. She is interrupted by her daughter Bibi, who says her sister ran away.

Bibi tells her mother that Shahana plans to elope with her boyfriend. Nazneen encounters the Questioner on her search to find her daughter and runs straight into a riot. She is pulled out of danger into a doorway by the Questioner, who demands to know what she is doing. She says she is looking for Shahana. He helps her get to the café. It is closed and he tells her to go home and she persists and finds two small figures holding hands and calls to her daughter.

At home, Chanu is watching the riot on television. The passions of the day bring husband and wife into physical intimacy. He tells her that he has achieved what matters, a family that makes him “as strong as any man alive” and asks if she is coming to Bangladesh. He is shattered when she says no. He says he can’t stay; she replies that she can’t leave with him. They cling to another, finally mourning all that was denied between them by the hopes, dreams, and preparations of the past. From this space of uncertainty they tell the girls their compromise. He will return home to start a business and the family will join him later.

March 2002. Razia and Nazneen are working in their garment business, not just sewing but embarking on a new challenge of creating designs. Nazneen says they can pay extra for designs and Razia replies that if Nazneen makes designs, she will sell them. She has news of Mrs. Islam dying from a mysterious illness.

In the aftermath of the riot, a Tower Hamlet’s Task Force is created to look into Youth Deprivation and Social Cohesion. Nazneen hears from a young organizer that Karim went to Bangladesh and she is invited to join his new political group. Her husband writes regularly about his business selling soap back home and offers to send money, which Nazneen refuses. He reports that he has seen Hasina, who is working with a respectable family and appears unbroken.

A song comes on the radio, with a woman’s voice singing a song of liberation: “You make me want to shout.” Nazneen turns it up and dances to the song, her entire body surging with life as she takes deep breaths and flicks her legs over her head. The phone rings; it is Chanu reporting that her sister ran off with the cook and wants to know why she does these things. “She doesn’t want to give up,” Nazneen replies. He suggests they visit on a holiday.

Nazneen takes her girls on a new adventure to the ice skating rink.