Are there examples in Poornima's story when she does take what she isn't supposed to? How does she exercise control over her own life?

On her wedding night, Poornima remembers a story from childhood, when she stole a candy and her mother told her to never take what isn't hers. She reflects, "Don't you see, Amma, if only I had taken the things I wasn't meant to take. If only I'd had the courage." Are there examples after this moment in her story when she does take what she isn't supposed to? How does she exercise control over her own life?

There are a few instances where she takes what is not hers like the money from her husband so she may escape the persecution. But when told outright that those things do not belong to you, she does not dare to take them like the food even though she was starving. Fear...always fear. It controls too many lives.

The most outstanding time was when she decided to leave her husband's home and she took the money and the few bangle bracelets that were in the cabinet. She finally takes control of her own life when she leaves him and heads to the station. When she is brought to the house, she realizes what is about to happen and speaks up for herself, convincing the owner that she knows how to do the books. He begins to trust her and she enrolls in English classes because she has made a plan for her life.

She takes things that aren’t hers when it is necessary such as when she flees her marriage and return to her home. The parameters are so cruel and controlling that taking things lets it be a “no turning back” situation.

There are several examples: Poornima takes Savitha's side when she is raped by her father, she takes joy in a movie, and she takes the accounting papers and teachers herself math. But once she is burned by her husband and his mother, Poornima takes control and sets her own course for her life. First, she takes the money and the jewelry. She asserts herself with Guru, becoming his accountant and eventually a shepherd. She works to educate herself. Every part of her life after her marriage is methodical and razor focused. She has one purpose- -finding Savitha!

The very best things Poornima took though were Mohan's excuses and his unwillingness to go against his family. She used his own poem against him as a call to action. She "took" her place as his equal.

I also remember when she talked back to her mother-in-law, wondering if the hand condition was genetic and whether it was the husband's fault that she wasn't pregnant. I think it's a vicious cycle as I'm guessing the mother-in-law was treated terribly when she was a new bride, so she continues the cycle and is terrible to Poornima. I cheered for Poornima that she didn't just accept her fate and become completely subservient and lose herself.

From birth Poornima is marinated in a sauce that leaves her believing that she is entitled to nothing, not even her own life. I wept at her father’s admission that he could have as easily killed her as save her when she was a toddler. So as soon as she determined that she could prepare to leave her husband she took something that in her mind didn’t belong to her - her life. It was a monumentally gutsy step but it gave her the confidence to take each subsequent step.