Iqbal

Iqbal’s first attempt to escape and take down Hussain Khan does not go as he hoped. Since he is from the country, Iqbal feels uncomfortable in the city. He is not used to the bustle, and he does not understand the culture. However, Iqbal is observant and resourceful, and he catches on rather quickly. He finds work by asking merchants if he can help unload items, and he uses the money he earns to purchase himself food, so he does not go hungry. When Iqbal has his first run-in with fellow children on the street, they confront him and tell him to leave. His presence is a threat to the children living and working in that area, and they do not want him taking their jobs. The boys who offer Iqbal a mysterious job also flash a knife at him, and although he does not know what the work entails, he instinctively understands that he does not want to be involved. Although the boys show him a knife and warn him to be careful, Iqbal does not seem to fear them. He asks them for advice on where he can find a place to sleep, and they tell him the streets. He had not realized that he would not be able to find a safe place to sleep while he was in the city.

After the warning, Iqbal’s anxiety increases, and he feels unsafe. His lack of security inspires him to climb onto buses and ride around. In Chapter 4, Iqbal had told Fatima that he wanted to ride a bus. The rides he takes on the buses are distracting, and they ease his fear. However, his anxiety returns after he sleeps in a doorway and is chased away in the morning. The buses act as a symbol of transition, and they deliver Iqbal to a new part of the city. He has a rough start to the morning, is chased away from the doorstep where he spent the night, and works to unload trucks filled with watermelons. He worries about living his life like a “stray dog”—bouncing from place to place and fighting to survive. He begins to recover hope when he learns about the Bonded Liberation Front of Pakistan and a new law that bans bonded labor. However, angry merchants block him from approaching the stage and speaking with the people from the Liberation Front. The merchants benefit from the bonded labor market, so they do not agree with the new law nor with Eshan’s speech. They care more about keeping profits high and costs low than they do about the immorality of forced child labor. The large numbers of people who support the bonded labor market demonstrate the difficulties that Eshan, Iqbal, and the Liberation Front face later in the story as they try to bring down factories that employ the practice.

Iqbal’s experience with the police is an example of dramatic irony: Readers understand the truth of this situation in a way that the child does not. Iqbal was raised to believe that police officers want to help and that they are good people, so he seeks their help when he discovers that Hussain is breaking the law. However, the officers do not want to help Iqbal. They know he is an escaped bonded worker, and they know that Hussain will pay them to get him back and to keep his operation running. The reader is intended to comprehend the officers’ malicious intentions when they tell Iqbal that they will “know what to do” when Iqbal asks if they will arrest Hussain (57). The dramatic irony increases the tension in the plot as the audience understands that Iqbal is doomed to return to his enslaved conditions, although the child believes justice will be served.

Maria’s character drastically changes in Chapters 8-10. Fatima had believed that Maria was deaf and that she might have some other condition that prevented her from speaking or understanding. She and the others learn that Maria can hear and understand when Maria rebels and creates the image of a flag on her carpet while Hussain is away. Her character develops further when she speaks and tells the others that she can read. Maria then helps the bonded children by teaching all of them how to read; when Karim—who is struggling to pick up the letters of the alphabet—complains, Maria argues, “You have to know how to read to ever be free” (59). With this line and with Maria’s actions, the author stresses the important link between freedom and education. Oppressed individuals are deprived of education because it is easier to oppress people who do not understand their rights or who do not have many options. Maria, much like her father, is giving the children a better chance to improve their circumstances, both now and in the future.