What do you think of Smita's decision in the conclusion of the novel? What do you foresee for the future of Smita and Mohan?

What do you think of Smita's decision in the conclusion of the novel? What do you foresee for the future of Smita and Mohan?

I'll admit I skimmed through the last pages to find out what she was going to do. I'm glad of her decision. I'm glad she respected Meena enough to live up to her commitment to taking Abru. Staying in India might help Smita move on from what she had experienced as a child. I think they may end up together but if not, they will have given it time to know if they are meant to be.

I think it was a brave and dramatic decision to end the book with. If this was real life, I'm not sure I would have wanted this decision, though, for a friend or loved one whose family had gone through so much in India. But for fiction, it was great and left me with the feeling of good things to come.

I know that there was a lot that went through Smita's head while she was sitting in the airport terminal. She really tried to see both sides and be more generous toward India. She didn't make her decision lightly, and she seemed as certain as she could be that it felt right in her heart. Admittedly, it made for a happy ending in a book that was very heartbreaking.

At the same time (and playing devil's advocate here), Smita gave up HER life to stay in India as Mohan asked her to do. Mohan's auntie used "mother's guilt" in an attempt to sway her decision and seemed angry at her when Smita originally left as planned. It seems that Mohan was from a very wealthy, influential family. I find it hard to believe that they could not have pulled strings with the paperwork to allow Abru and even Mohan to travel to the states with Smita. I think it is still the mother who is expected to give up her career for a child- -change her lifestyle to be there for her child. It is understood and accepted that the father will return to his job. It is the woman who is more "inconvenienced" in making relationships work- -how comfortable for Mohan to be able to stay in India, in his home, and at his job while also being able to pursue love. The choice was left up to Smita, but oh how we may have judged her if she had stepped on that plane.

I loved the ending and kept hoping that she would stay. Although I agree with EVERYTHING acstrine said above, I was just so convinced that Mohan was the right person for her. He experienced her impatience, arrogance, and entitled behavior but still fell in love with her. She clearly had been unable to have deep relationships in the US, and much of this was probably because she was so career-oriented (nothing wrong with that) and her early trauma. But I do believe that though aspects of her career may have changed, Mohan would fully support her in continuing to be a journalist, as well as a real partner in raising Abru.

I think Smita had been thinking of staying in India, perhaps not consciously, and made her decision to stay in order to be be with Mohan who gave her moral support and perhaps more will evolve but also to see India as it is today not the picture she had of it from childhood. Also, to live Meena's memory and for Abru.

Of course we would long for a happy ending. Is it? Will Smita survive in a male dominated society even worse that the one in the US. Is it possible the whole family would emigrate to the US. Not likely due to Moham’s status in society.

Smith’s decision was more than just the happy ending we hoped for. She had buried herself in a career that forced her to stay emotionally dispassionate and isolated. India helped her to feel deeply and honestly, about the complexity of India and, as much as she tried to remain untethered, about her own emotional capacity. I didn’t foresee her giving up her career for Moran but allowing herself to explore something she had avoided. Mohan had also made it clear that he would go to America for her. So I foresee an international family, connected to both countries and both families.

Smita seems not to have paid much attention to her heart up to this point in her life, sometimes I suspect never even allowing it to speak. I applaud her action in the novel’s conclusion, which is based on the dictates of her heart. I, like others, hope that this indicates that she will grow in the ability to let her heart have an equal chance with reason in determining her course of action. Living a loving and committed life with her husband and child will, I think, be a big challenge for Smita, but I am rooting for her.

I believe Smita was falling in love with her country again, flaws and all, she was falling in love with her friend Mohan, and she had deep feelings of love for Meena which kept her from not following through and honoring her promise to Meena.
I think Smita and Mohan will raise Abru together and I see them traveling back and forth from America and India as a family!

I was glad to have a happy ending and I was glad to see her honor her promise to Meena to take care of Abru. So much of the book made me sad and angry that the end helped calm that. I do not know if her stay in India will be permanent, I hope so, but she will have difficulties with the customs. She does have feelings for Mohan and Abru. That may be enough. She will also want to continue to be a reporter, that is too much a part of her.

I hope that she keeps her job and continues to report on the injustices she sees. It will be difficult but she is strong and hopefully Mohan will continue to support her. Maybe there is another book here??

At the end, Smita comes to understand that Mohan is able to love completely because he is truly a man of honor much as Abdul had been. On page 318 she reflects that "love is doing the hard thing. Not roses and valentines and walks on the beach, but simply being present, day after ordinary day. The extraordinary romanticism of ordinary life." It is because of this understanding that I would foresee a happy and stable life for them and for their adopted daughter, Abru.

I see the telling sign of a good marriage between Mohan and Smita is the quote in the airport when she thought,
“But Mohan was cut from the same cloth as Mummy and Papa.” She knew he would be still at the airport waiting for her plane to leave and he would always be waiting for her. I think the strength of Meena taught Smita the value of just getting through every day life and grabbing what is important. And at that moment Smita knew Mohan was her importance. They will make it.

I think she had reached the point of her life where her work was no longer going to be the center of her life. It felt organic to me.

Smita was able to make peace with her past while in India and this allowed her to move on in her life. I think she had used her job to avoid close ties and relationships due to her childhood memories of India. She was also able to look at her pastwith more objectivity as an adult visitor to India. I think she was ready to take a chance on a loving relationship with Mohan and Abu.

Everybody loves a happy ending! It's impossible to know whether Smita would be happy living permanently in India, or if not, whether Mohan would be happy in the U.S.,but her decision to stay in India at least for a while indicates that she realizes there is more to live than a career, and that she wants that. There is no question that Smita and Mohan, alone or separately, would be able to offer Abru a better life than her parents, and Meena knew that.

Why does a happy ending mean that the woman gives up everything for the man! That seems so traditional and misogynistic. While I hope one of her motives was a desire to be there to enact change, given the strong cultural and religious biases in India, I don't imagine her having much impact. I was disappointed in the ending. While I appreciated her budding love for Mohan, they hardly knew each other and to give up everything. I don't know it didn't sound realistic. And if it is realistic, then women have a lot more evolving to do.

The Kirkus Review describes the supporting characters of Honor as one-dimensional, albeit in "a graphic parable of contemporary India delivered in broad brush strokes." I believe, however, that Umrigar deliberately describes Mohan as a person who loves India and its traditions, and yet can still feel anger and horror toward Rupal, the village fakir who loudly proclaims Meena a sinner who deserves to be brutally punished. Mohan's ambiguity, in this instance, paints him as Everyman, a flawed human-being who can change and evolve, into the best of what India had to offer."
The romantic ending, in my opinion is the author's hopeful belief in the power of change in Mohan and India.