Brick Lane

Razia gets a job in a garment factory only to lose it when it closes down. Nazneen’s home cottage industry comes at a steep price, as Mrs. Islam arrives to demand payment. When she leaves, Nazneen confronts her husband directly about the debt, only to be told it isn’t her concern.

Karim, the middleman between Nazneen’s sewing and his uncle’s garment business, gradually takes over the space in Nazneen`s home during his frequent visits to deliver materials and pick up the finished product. Little by little, she crosses boundaries: first by making him tea, then allowing him to pray before her, which leads to them committing the sin of a woman joining a man in prayer. This intimacy extends to his inviting her to a planning meeting on the estate, declaring they need some older women.

The internal struggle between erotic love and morality is externalized in the Islamic war over the female body. Nazneen understands something huge is happening on the estate, but not having the political language, she only can speak of penetration of boundaries – “men are writing leaflets and pushing them through doors.