How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Yes, of course, darling," Ira cried, and all the guilt of her efforts to have an abortion was in her voice. "I would not lose you for anything. Why do you have to ask?" (22.9)
Ruku is adding commentary here – she knows she would’ve traded Ira for a boy, so she can be less forgiving and gentle in her harsh (but honest) assessment of Ira’s position. The love for the child is immaterial to Ruku – the important thing is that Ira’s womanhood has left her in a particular societal position, and an abortion would’ve been preferable to being a marked woman who is also the single mother of an albino.
Quote #8
Ira and I did what we could; but the land is mistress to man, not to woman: the heavy work needed is beyond her strength. (23.1)
While cultural values dominate much of how women are viewed in the novel, Ruku brings up a physical reality here. It’s not society, but biology, that limits Ruku and Ira when it comes to the land. While social strictures are regrettable, some of a woman’s limitations are simply insurmountable.
Quote #9
The doctor meanwhile was approaching. Under the thin shirt I saw the figure of a woman and I whispered hastily to my husband: "Be careful—it is a woman." Nathan turned bewildered eyes on me. "The trousers—" he began, but there was no time to say more and he stopped short, confused and stammering. (25.47)
Ruku is as surprised as Nathan at the high position of this woman in their society. Here Ruku reveals that she buys into all the cultural norms about what women can and should aspire to be. A woman doctor is an aberration, and Ruku sees her as an alien creature, one to be feared (hence her warning to Nathan).