Iqbal

Fatima is the narrator and a protagonist, and her character serves multiple roles. As the narrator, she retells the events as she perceives them. Her goal is to spread the stories of the children enslaved in the bonded labor market of Pakistan. Fatima also serves as a connection between Iqbal’s story and the reader. She uses sensory language and vivid descriptions to draw the reader in and help them relate to the children in the bonded labor market. The personal tone of the story and the tragic nature of Fatima’s backstory are intended to generate empathy in the reader.

Fatima also serves as a foil, or contrast, to Iqbal. Fatima is similar to Karim in that she has a strong sense of self-preservation. She works hard and does not complain, making her a favorite of Hussain, and she is too scared to truly attempt an escape. She has no place to go, and the unfamiliar sounds of the city intensify her fear. She is not a natural leader, and when Iqbal is in the Tomb, Fatima follows Salman’s lead. After meeting Iqbal and after she is freed, Fatima becomes less passive, though her passivity remains one of her primary traits throughout the story.

Fatima and Iqbal become fast friends and share similar backstories and similar hopes for the future. However, Fatima’s submissive and docile personality contrasts with Iqbal’s outspoken and active nature. Her passivity also helps distinguish Iqbal as the primary protagonist.

Iqbal is a protagonist, and his defining character traits are his bravery, his goodness, and his naivety. Fatima describes Iqbal’s fear, which he admits to feeling when he and the others are shot at during the Liberation Front’s visit to a brick factory, but Iqbal does not let fear stand in the way of his mission. He has empathy for the children and adults who are enslaved in bonded labor conditions, and he has a strong drive to fight for what is right and to bring wrongdoers to justice. The combination of his bravery, his empathy, and his sense of right and wrong frames Iqbal’s goodness.

Iqbal’s weakness is his naivety. He does not understand how deeply corruption is engrained in his community or the lengths to which people will go to protect their profits. He reveals his naivety when he assumes the police officers will help him and again when he delivers a speech and announces the names of people involved in the bonded labor market. He does not see the danger in his words. While he is visiting his family, Iqbal starts avoiding company and going out on his own, not understanding the dangers of his isolation. Iqbal’s bravery and his naivety lead to his death, which is a symbol of The Power of Corruption.

Hussain Khan is the main antagonist, and he stands as a symbol of oppression. He is described as “fat, with a black beard and small eyes” and as having oily hands that “left a greasy mark on whatever he touched” (12). Hussain’s description is intended to evoke feelings of disgust and dislike in the reader. Hussain is controlling and abusive, and he threatens and mistreats the children he enslaves. He maintains his authority by manipulating the children and by creating competitive conditions to keep them from uniting.

Although he is aggressive and controlling, Hussain is also vulnerable and insecure. He is forced to confront his vulnerability when Iqbal destroys the blue Bukhara, an action that reveals the children’s power to disrupt Hussain’s income and embarrass him in front of customers. When the children stand up to Hussain after he tries to send Maria to the Tomb, he backs down. He sustains his power by holding the children in abusive circumstances, keeping them in fear and disunity, but he also knows that his business depends on their work. This scene of resistance against Maria’s confinement demonstrates the power that an oppressed majority can exert by uniting against its oppressor.

Maria is a dynamic character. She begins as a shy young girl who does not speak. She is given the name “Maria” by the other children in the factory, and she follows Fatima “like a shadow” (18). The bonded children think Maria is deaf and that she might have other conditions that make her unable to understand what is happening around her. However, when Maria changes her carpet by creating the image of a kite in it, Fatima realizes she was wrong about her: Maria can hear and understand.

Maria’s story comes to light when she finally speaks and tells the children that she can read. Maria loved her father, and she felt broken and depressed when she was bonded to Hussain. She quit speaking and reading as coping mechanisms to deal with her unfortunate circumstances.

Iqbal brings hope back into Maria’s life, and she begins to rebel alongside him. She changes her carpet as a message to both Hussain and to Fatima, and she finds her voice again when she sees the opportunity to help the bonded children to escape by teaching them to read.

When Iqbal is killed, Maria is sad but maintains a positive outlook. She understands that although Iqbal is gone, his mission lives on through them and through the children they can save. She takes it upon herself to follow Iqbal’s intended path. She, like Iqbal, is driven by intense empathy and a strong desire to help others.

At 17, Karim is the oldest of the bonded children. He can no longer create carpets because his hands are too large to make the tiny knots. Instead of using him to make carpets, Hussain uses Karim to supervise the children. By doing so, Hussain lightens his own load.

Karim is protective of his position in the carpet factory because he has nowhere else to go. He does not have a home to return to, and he does not want to end up working in worse conditions, such as in the brickmaking industry. Karim’s fear makes him easily controlled, and it drives him to help Hussain oppress the other bonded children.

Karim is a flat character who does not change after he is freed from the carpet factory. Rather than forging ahead to make a new life for himself, Karim takes on small jobs at the Liberation Front’s headquarters to earn his keep. He does not show interest in helping the mission; rather, he wants to protect himself. His defining characteristic is his insecurity, and it drives his actions.

Salman is only 10 years old, but he seems older “because he was so hard and tough” (18). He has a rugged appearance and pitted skin because he spent three years working in a brick factory. He refuses to discuss life in the brick factory, which Fatima and Iqbal understand once they learn how deplorable the conditions in that industry are.

Fatima finds Salman difficult, and she does not always agree with him. He shows disrespect for women when he complains that his mother was too paranoid while he describes his past. After his time working in a brick factory, Salman became tougher and braver, and he does not let much get to him. However, he is angry when Iqbal says the children will never pay back their debts and earn their freedom. His anger at Iqbal and his description of his time in the Tomb reveal that his tough image is a façade.

Eshan Khan is both a flat character and a hero. He is described as “a tall, thin man who gave the impression of force and determination” (64). He is well-groomed, and he wears “immaculate white clothes” (64), which symbolize his inherent goodness. He is compassionate and outspoken in his fight to end the bonded labor market in Pakistan.

Eshan becomes both a hero and a father figure when he saves the children from Hussain’s carpet factory. He has the resources to persecute Hussain, free the children, and return them to their families. Fatima, Maria, and Iqbal view Eshan as a father figure. Neither Fatima nor Maria has a living father, and they come to see the man who saved them from enslaved conditions as family. Iqbal’s father is alive, but Iqbal chooses to stay with Eshan and help the Liberation Front. Eshan is his role model, and Eshan takes on a paternal role as he guides Iqbal but also allows him room to make his own choices.