Not Logged in.
Book Jacket

Girls Burn Brighter


An extraordinary and heart-rending tale of two girls with all the odds against ...
Summary and Reviews
Excerpt
Reading Guide
Author Biography

Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

Created: 02/27/19

Replies: 11

Posted Feb. 27, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

Savitha and Poornima both have complicated relationships with Mohan. Why do you think they are both drawn to him? Do you find him sympathetic?


Posted Mar. 07, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
barbarao

Join Date: 10/18/12

Posts: 29

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

His small acts of humanity despite being the captor and despite the rapes, I believe, drew both women. Neither woman was used to being seen as anything but a commodity by men. It was something they understood being female. Mohan’s gift of bananas, his brooding, drunken ruminations and lack of brutality were a kindness to Savitha given all her prior experiences with men. Poornima was drawn to his lack of brutality, his poetry, her willingness to throw caution to the wind as hervtime in America neared it’s conclusion. I found him to be a sympathetic character reluctant to be a part of his fathers empire but culturally, unable to break from obedience to his father’s expectations.


Posted Mar. 08, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
celiap

Join Date: 07/27/17

Posts: 57

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

Mohan has his own problems. He is an alcoholic and he suffers from some kind of depression or sadness. He is the only male in this book that offers even a modicum of sympathy and caring to these girls.

I do think that Savitha loves him for a different reason than Poornima. Savitha is in a worse spot than Poornima, at least right now in Seattle. She needs to love at least a little like she loves Poornima. She knows nothing about Poornima's physical nearness to her in Seattle.

Poornima is on a quest and needs Mohan and the information he can provide her. I think she is drawn to him for that reason.


Posted Mar. 08, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
acstrine

Join Date: 02/06/17

Posts: 438

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

I don't know about sympathetic-- Mohan was obviously struggling with the reality of his family's business. He was torn between his American self and the expectations and obligations tied to his Indian culture. I think this struggle was apparent to both girls. He was a "safer" person for Savitha because of his inner turmoil. I think Poormina had changed so much by the time she met Mohan; it wasn't a matter of being drawn to him. She used his weaknesses. This took charge of him to get what she wanted and needed.

His inner struggle and turmoil did allow him to act differently toward both girls than his father and brother, I still found him to be a sorry excuse for a person. He drank alcoholically rather than confront his family and to block out what he knew was wrong. He did "nice" things rather than do the "right" things. And instead of having sex with a girlfriend, he used the girls brought to the US as cleaners and family sex slaves.

I think Poormina's strength forced him to look hard at himself and that was one reason he was so willing to drive across the country looking for Savitha. Poormina taught him about being honorable, respectful, and determined. She made him look hard at himself. Hopefully, he was ashamed and disappointed with what he saw-enough to increase the distance between himself and his family. Maybe one day he will even have the courage to report them.


Posted Mar. 08, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
paulagb

Join Date: 08/16/17

Posts: 173

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

Mohan was the closest thing to kindness either girl had known from a man. He also reacts to them each, in part, like they are almost his equal, an unknown to these girls. Mohan was inately a good person, but too weak to give up wealth and security by defying his father and culture. His alcoholism was his way of dealing with what he was unwilling to change.


Posted Mar. 09, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
vickic

Join Date: 09/15/14

Posts: 84

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

I found him to be a tortured man, aware of the abuses and wrongs committed by his family against the helpless women they used. His drinking seemed to be his way to numb himself to the terrible reality of the lives of the women abused by his family and his own guilt. Savitha and Poornima, I think, recognized his pain and likely its source and needed to use it to help themselves.


Posted Mar. 10, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
renem

Join Date: 12/01/16

Posts: 292

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

I agree with all of you.


Posted Mar. 12, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
scgirl

Join Date: 06/05/18

Posts: 245

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

Of all the men in the story, I feel that Mohan was the one who engenders the most sympathy. He has a lot of baggage to contend with and does this with alcohol and losing himself in sex with the women. He has a daily struggle between family and "social" norms. There is a good person inside him, he is just having some trouble finding it.


Posted Mar. 13, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ColoradoGirl

Join Date: 05/16/16

Posts: 149

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

I agree with you all, Mohan is the one man who shows a bit of kindness to these women. He's certainly not perfect, but I think he knows what he should do.


Posted Mar. 13, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
aileen414

Join Date: 02/23/19

Posts: 8

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

The sad thing is I found Mohan to be one of the more sympathetic male characters. However, that says more about the men in this novel than about Mohan. If taken out of this novel's context he is a sorry excuse for a human being. Yes I understood that his cultural upbringing and family ties made him struggle with the type of person he was and probably led to his alcoholism. However, that is not an excuse to have sex with women held against their wills or knowledgeably participate in sex trafficking.

I think Savitha and Poornima are drawn to Mohan because they see him as sympathetic. These are two women who have survived by reading people around them, specifically men. The way they managed to make it to America relied on reading and manipulating the men they are subservient to.


Posted Mar. 13, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
alwaysdaddygirl's Gravatar
alwaysdaddygirl

Join Date: 09/04/16

Posts: 110

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

I also agree with everyone. I was also wondering if one of the reasons Savitha was drawn to Mohan because in some ways he reminded her of her father. Poornima just wants to find Savitha. She sees Mohan as her way to get to Savitha. Mohan is sympathetic but he is loyal to his family due to cultural traditions.


Posted Mar. 14, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
reene

Join Date: 02/18/15

Posts: 497

RE: Why do you think Savitha and Poornima are both drawn to Mohan? Do you find him sympathetic?

Great discussions and I agree with everyone. I think Mohan is somewhat sympathetic; however he knows the life he is living is wrong and he can't bring himself to leave it. Maybe it is fear, maybe it is greed. He is however the nicest man that both Savitha and Poornima have met. Savitha comes a little bit closer to caring about Mohan and causing him hurt, but she also knows she must escape. Poornima recognizes his drinking problem and plans a way to use him to escape. It is interesting to imagine what will become of him at the end of the novel. He has a major decision to make.


Reply

Please login to post a response.