51 pages • 1 hour read
Megha MajumdarA Burning
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 46-49Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 46 Summary: “Lovely”
Lovely grows impatient with Mr. Jhunjhunwala after a few weeks of not hearing from him. She calls to ask if there is any progress on her casting, but she interrupts his meeting and annoys him. Mr. Debnath explains that it takes many months, even a whole year, to cast for large films. Already discouraged, Lovely then finds herself alone with her thoughts during a power outage. She cries for Jivan and wonders why Azad has not visited her recently. Lovely reflects on the enormity of the world and how unfair it can be. When the power comes back on and she can charge her phone, Lovely sends a mass message with a video of her acting in Mr. Debnath’s class, still holding on to hope for her future.
The next day Lovely visits a popular tourist site to beg for money in exchange for blessings from a hijra. She runs into Mr. Jhunjhunwala, who excitedly tells her that he saw her testimony at Jivan’s trial, her demo reel, and her video from Mr. Debnath’s class. He says her hijra sisters must have widely shared the video because it’s all over WhatsApp. He has a job for her—a music video producer has specifically requested her. At the shoot, Lovely is thrilled by the production, and though her role as the hijra who blesses a wedding is small, the director is pleased to have her. On the news, commentators debate her role in the trial, and on WhatsApp, her video from Mr. Debnath’s class circulates until she starts receiving messages from people she doesn’t even know.
The next time she walks to Mr. Debnath’s acting class, she is followed by a reporter with a camera. She tells the reporter about her walk, her neighborhood, about how she observes people around her to learn more about life and draw inspiration for her acting. The reporter records Mr. Debnath’s acting class, and Lovely performs a monologue directly into the camera. Minutes after Lovely’s interview airs on television, she starts receiving even more messages. One is from someone who works with legendary filmmaker Sonali Khan, asking Lovely to come in for an audition.
Chapter 47 Summary: “PT Sir”
PT Sir is driving with Bimala Pal when he summons the courage to ask her for more responsibility within the party. He pictures an office job, but Bimala Pal has a different idea. She wants to send PT Sir back to Chalnai to rally support for the party by speaking about how the party can improve the education system there. PT Sir goes to Chalnai to deliver a speech about progressing the schools, but he is thrown off when the audience calls out jeering questions. One man asks if Muslim teachers will be allowed to teach their religion, and PT Sir tries to explain that public schools don’t discriminate against their teachers but that all schools have a set curriculum teachers must adhere to. Wound up by the first question, another man shouts out that a sacred cow was recently killed in the village. The audience grows angry, and PT Sir cannot convince them to relax. They rally together to travel to the house of the man they suspect killed the cow. PT Sir is incredulous as the audience marches away from him. He follows to try and calm the masses down.
Chapter 48 Summary: “Interlude: The Villagers Visit the Beef-Eater”
The villagers break into their Muslim neighbor’s house, certain that if there was a dead cow, it must have been him who did it. The men destroy the house and pee on the neighbor’s prayer mat. They drag the man down to the ground from the rooftop, where he is trying to run away. While some of the men rape his wife, others smash the Muslim man’s skull in. When they search his house for the beef, all they find is chicken.
Chapter 49 Summary: “PT Sir”
PT Sir cannot stop thinking about what he witnessed in the village or how he stood by as the Muslim family was murdered. He is certain the party will be done with him and realizes that he was on his way to a political career before this terrible event. He goes to Bimala Pal’s house to face what he thinks will be his termination from the party. When he arrives, Bimala Pal is busy and believes him to be ill, but he insists on telling her the whole story about the disaster. After he finishes, she tells him that although the story is sad, it’s hardly his fault. Bimala Pal says, “There is nothing to forgive […] In politics, you will see, sometimes it feels that you are in charge of everything and everyone. But we can only guide them, inspire them. At the end of the day, are they our puppets? No” (240). PT Sir is uncomfortable with Bimala Pal’s reaction, and he’s even more uncertain when she tells him that the official party version of the story is that the house collapsed on the Muslim family and killed them. When PT Sir returns home, he is out of sorts. Shocked, appalled, and unsure about what to do next, PT Sir cannot concentrate. Later, in bed with his wife, he finally tells her everything.
Chapters 46-49 Analysis
In a respite from the tragic plot of Jivan’s trial, Lovely finds herself suddenly and swiftly rising to notoriety. Her testimony at Jivan’s trial, her demo reel, and the video of her acting in Mr. Debnath’s class all keep Lovely in people’s minds. Suddenly, she is booking jobs and auditions, and people on the news are talking about her. This is what Lovely has always wanted, and it is an interesting rise in positive action after the power outage that brought Lovely to uncharacteristically low spirits. It is a surprising turn of events, one that Majumdar uses to present several messages. The first is the upside of social media. The same platforms that ruined Jivan’s life change Lovely’s life for the better. Majumdar therefore complicates her own criticism of social media: Social media is not necessarily the villain, but it is unpredictable and capitalizes on short attention spans.
The second message behind Lovely’s sudden popularity is one of perseverance. Lovely never gives up on herself, not even when she feels at her lowest. Her confidence is infectious, and her support system is pure because Lovely’s character is free of negativity. The way people rally to make Lovely’s video go viral is a direct juxtaposition to Jivan’s trial, in which most of her acquaintances turned against her. Majumdar therefore shows that resilience is important, but equally important are your self-perception and the relationships you forge.
The third message is about the random nature of life. While the trial destroyed Jivan’s life, it improved Lovely’s. Even though Lovely isn’t proud of this, she realizes that to keep the ride going, she must essentially forget about Jivan. Jivan’s conversations with a terrorist on Facebook ruined her, but Lovely’s close history with a suspected terrorist wins her sympathy.
PT Sir also experiences significant character development. The disturbing attack on the Muslim family highlights the severity of the prejudice, Islamophobia, and scapegoating in PT Sir’s society. He is right when he reflects that in not helping the Muslim family, he is partly (though perhaps indirectly) responsible for the horrific incident. But PT Sir is even more culpable from a moral standpoint. Though the mob committed direct physical brutality, PT Sir’s words have also enabled violence. His false testimonies have ensured imprisonment and execution for many potentially innocent people, including Jivan. The fact that he did not use his hands to kill a man doesn’t make him better than the rioters. When PT Sir feels uncomfortable with Bimala Pal’s reaction and cover-up plan, the reader is invited to feel sympathy for his difficult situation. However, his wife warned him about this from the very moment he become involved in party politics. Her judgment that politicians lie and play tricks was entirely true. Chapter 49 ends with PT Sir reacquainted with his morals but caught between leaving the party or doubling down and burying any shred of empathy.
