Chapters 3 & 4

Summary: Chapter 3, Two Families

Archie Jones and Clara Bowden get married on February 14, 1975, in a registry office. The only witnesses are Samad Miah Iqbal, Archie’s friend from the war, and Samad’s wife, Alsana. Archie and Clara’s other friends and relatives all decline their invitations. Three months later, Clara and Archie move into a house in Willesden Green. It is nicer than any place Clara has ever been. Clara does not love Archie, but she knows he is a good man, so she decides to be grateful for her new life. 

Soon after the wedding, Archie goes back to his bachelor routine. He spends most of his spare time with Samad at a pub called O’Connell’s. Samad and Alsana have moved four blocks away from Archie and Clara. The Iqbals have worked hard to buy their house. Samad is a waiter at his cousin Ardashir’s restaurant. Alsana works at home, sewing black plastic costumes for a sex shop called Domination.

After Samad buys the new house, he asks his cousin for a raise. Ardashir turns him down. As a result, Samad and Alsana have a huge fight. Alsana rips her clothes to shreds, piles them on the floor, puts on an overcoat, and leaves the house. As she stomps through the neighborhood, she admits to herself how nice it is. Alsana sees Clara and Archie carrying boxes into their house. Clara reminds Alsana that the Iqbals are invited to dinner that night. Alsana reveals to Clara that she is pregnant.

Summary: Chapter 4, Three Coming

Clara Bowden Jones calls her husband Archie at his office to inform him that she is pregnant. Archie dashes out to buy cigars, but he can find only Indian sweets. His office mates turn them down. Mr. Hero, Archie’s boss, calls Archie into his office and explains that some people are uncomfortable with Archie’s Black wife, so Archie is not on the list for the next company dinner. 

Because Clara and Alsana are both young and pregnant, and because their husbands have a mutual appreciation society, the two women become friends. Another woman in their group is Alsana’s niece Neena. When the three women eat lunch together in Kilburn Park, in a way they represent six people, since Clara is expecting a girl and Alsana is expecting twin boys. The women discuss baby names. Neena and Alsana have their usual disagreement about Alsana’s arranged marriage to Samad. Neena argues for a modern marriage of open communication. Alsana maintains that silence is the best recipe for family life and admits that she does not want to know many things about her husband. 

Neena asks how Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones met each other, but neither Alsana nor Clara knows. Clara admires the image of Archie as a young soldier, but Alsana is skeptical because the men do not have medals or even photos of their wartime experience. Alsana and Clara confront the reality that their children will have old fathers whose personalities are dull and whose lives are limited. 

Analysis: Chapters 3 & 4

In the third chapter, the reader meets Archie’s best friend and foil, Samad Miah Iqbal. Their wives, Clara Bowden Jones and Alsana Begum, also meet each other and begin the long multicultural friendship that will affect all the characters and events in the story. Archie and Samad are in their late forties. Clara and Alsana are in their early twenties. The couples have contrasting personalities, within their marriages as well as with the other couples. Samad and Alsana are Muslims of Bengali origin. They have an arranged marriage. Samad is devout and Alsana is not. Samad is controlling, and Alsana is perpetually angry. Their marriage is based on constant arguments and occasional physical fights. On the other hand, Clara is friendly and self-confident, while Archie seems somewhat dull and emotionally detached. However, Clara recognizes Archie as a good man. Both Archie and Clara just try to get along and make the best life they can for themselves. 

The third chapter also establishes the novel’s setting, an area of northwest London called Willesden Green. The area is mostly Irish, but now (in 1975) has substantial numbers of immigrants from former British colonies, such as Bangladesh and Jamaica. Racism is a normal part of this multicultural world. Hortense Bowden is horrified when her daughter Clara marries a white man. Archie’s co-workers regard him with suspicion because of his Black wife and his friendships with Indians. Simply because of their interracial marriage, Archie and Clara aren’t invited to the next company dinner. 

Chapters 3 and 4 show the Jones and Iqbal families adapting to Willesden Green and assimilating to life in England. Samad Bashir, unable to find better work, is a waiter at the Palace, an Indian restaurant run by his distant cousin, Ardashir Mukhul. The job is humiliating for Samad, even more so when he forces himself to ask his cousin for a raise and his request is turned down. In the course of this painful interview, the reader learns that Ardashir is the brother-in-law of Mo Hussein-Ishmael, the halal butcher. By such details, the narrator builds awareness that Samad and Alsana Iqbal belong to a wide family network. Alsana works at home on her sewing machine. Clara works part-time supervising a youth group. As always, the narrator supplies details that add satiric twists to the facts. The costumes Alsana makes are for a sex shop. Clara’s youth group resembles a ska and roots band. 

The fourth chapter shifts attention to the friendship between Clara and Alsana. Alsana must overcome anti-Black prejudices to pursue the friendship, which deepens when the women become pregnant at the same time. Alsana and Clara acquire a frequent companion, Neena Begum, Alsana’s niece, who is about Clara’s age. Neena, who believes in women’s rights and modern, open marriages, shares feminist literature with Clara. The wives and husbands pair off, in terms of age as well as gender. Chapter 4 ends with a discussion between Clara and Alsana about their husbands’ experiences in World War II, a hint to the reader that the plot will depend on their wartime bonding.