Honor

In Indian scholar Gayatri Spivak’s essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” she argues that marginalized characters are often unable to express themselves, too often spoken for by elites. In Honor, how do Meena’s monologues overcome this problem? Or do you believe Meena is not truly a subaltern character authentically voicing her personhood? Support your argument with examples from the text.

Smita accuses lawyer Anjali of taking advantage of Meena, but a similar accusation could be made against her journalism. Do you think Meena has been taken advantage of, or are her relationships with Anjali and Smita examples of female solidarity?

Because of the incident in her past, Smita has cut herself off from her Indian identity. Explore her journey of recovering this identity from the waiter in the café identifying her as the entire country of America (54) to realizing in the end that Mumbai is home (320).