Major Characters In Six Metres Of Pavement By Farzana Doctor

Does telling someone about your problems make you feel better? Talking about your problems with others is hard, as it shows your vulnerable side towards them. However, when you do, you are sharing your life, creating a connection of the past, and easing the emotions. This is evident in the novel, Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor, where the main character, Ismail Boxwala, is closed off from others. Ismail had a dreadful past, as his little daughter, Zubi Boxwala died due to Ismail leaving her in the car on a hot day at work. This triggered his wife to unfortunately leaving him. Similarly, Celia, a 50 year old woman living across from Ismail, mourns the death of her husband and mother. Alongside these main characters, minor characters …show more content…
In the beginning of the novel, Celia faced the shock of the death of her husband, Jose. Throughout her mourning period, she hallucinated images of her husband and “her lungs flooded with something dark and burdensome and her eyes welled with tears....By now, a widow for over a year, she was used to this force rising up in her, was well acquainted with its spontaneous and pushy nature. She expected her tears to flow without any prodding at all, and, knowing there was nothing she could do to stop them, she waited for the storm to pass”(132). Her mind restricted her freedom as the thought of her husband stopped her from being her natural self. However, near the end, Celia hallucinated for the last time where, she explained that “Jose stood, his right arm waving elegantly, his wrist flicking gently open. He mouthed the word, Go. He pointed towards Ismail with his eyebrows. It’s okay. Celia go! Go! And then he disappeared”(301). This shows that now she has the ability to move on and find her new love, Ismail. Her mind had loosened up and came to terms, ending her mourning and marking a new start to her life. Furthermore, the main idea is portrayed when Celia`s state of mourning disrupted her social life as it affected her friendships and her culture. She reached the point where “Eventually, she stopped picking up the phone or answering the door, and now there were too many stale calls between she and her old friends. She attended church less often to avoid their sad glances and inquires. It was only seven city blocks that separated Celia from her friends, but it felt like a hundred miles”(110). At this state, she has not come to terms and thus lost the opportunity of a normal life. However, when she came to terms, “She noticed a subtle transformation within her body. THere was an almost