35 pages • 1 hour read
Fatima Farheen MirzaA Place for Us
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3, Sections 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3, Section 1 Summary
Back in the present, Amira asks Amar to meet her privately in one of the hotel courtyards a bit later. While members of both families give speeches about the bride and groom, Amar continues to avoid his family by drinking at the hotel bar. Huda and Hadia finally manage to track him down so that he can meet Tariq, and although the young men only have a brief conversation, they get along touchingly well. Even after Amar excuses himself, Tariq tells Hadia and Huda that he likes their brother a great deal. While Amar is waiting to see if he can spot Amira, he meets an old man who knew his paternal grandfather and knew how hard Amar’s grandfather’s death was on Rafiq. Amar cannot help but think of his experience mourning Abbas. He offers the old man some tea, which the old man requests much sweeter than his family permits him to have. Amar goes off to get the tea, hoping that his father might catch sight of the old man.
Part 3, Section 2 Summary
Amar and Amira meet in the courtyard and finally catch up in earnest. Amar tells her that he was not in India with his mother’s sister as his parents had claimed during the past three years, but that he had moved to Los Angeles and worked odd jobs while struggling with addiction. Amira is relieved to hear that someone helped him get clean, and she makes him promise not to relapse. However, the reunion takes a difficult turn when Amira tells Amar that it was Layla who told Seema about their relationship and made Seema convince Amira to break up with him. Amira also tells Amar that she is studying psychology and preparing to attend graduate school, and that she is engaged to a good man. She tells him she is happy, and she promises not to betray any of his confidences.
Heartbroken, Amar goes back to the festivities and angrily confronts his mother. He calls her a hypocrite for interfering in his relationship with Amira but then allowing Hadia to choose her own husband and throw a decadent wedding. Huda breaks up the confrontation and remains behind to talk to Amar, comforting him. Once Huda is gone, Amar leaves the hotel premises to find a convenience store, where he purchases more alcohol.
Part 3, Section 3 Summary
When it is time for the family photograph, Layla asks Rafiq to find Amar and bring him inside. Rafiq finds Amar in the courtyard where Amar fought with Layla, and he embraces Amar when he realizes Amar is crying. Rafiq and Amar have a conversation that seems conciliatory, with Rafiq insisting that he will wait as long after his death as it takes for Amar to reach heaven too—but when Amar says he’s far too drunk to come in for the photo, Rafiq agrees. After making sure Amar has money for a cab to get somewhere safe for the night, Rafiq goes back inside and tells Layla he couldn’t find Amar anywhere. His motivation seems to be a desire to spare her and the girls the pain of seeing Amar like that again.
Later, Hadia and Huda escape to a bathroom to open the wedding gift from Amar. Hadia is surprised by what she finds inside. It’s her watch, the one passed from her grandfather to her father to her. The girls speculate if this gift is Amar’s way of saying goodbye. Eventually, they return to the festivities.
Part 3, Sections 1-3 Analysis
The central theme of this section concerns the dire consequences and repercussions of even the best intentions. Amira broke up with Amar because she believed her family’s concerns were correct, that she would not have a safe or secure life if she married an alcoholic who might be cruel to her. Similarly, Layla thought she was doing her son a favor, ensuring that he would remain focused on his studies, when she informed Seema of his relationship with Amira. Years later, it is evident that Layla’s actions constitute a betrayal in Amar’s eyes. Even Rafiq’s decision to tell Layla that he did not find Amar falls in line with this theme; Rafiq only desires to shield his son and his wife and daughters from the continual pain that comes from contact with one another.
By this point, we have a much fuller picture of what each individual is like in thought and action. Rafiq is not at all as the earlier parts of the novel made him out to be; his anger is always specific and directed, and even understandable from the perspective of a parent. Layla is an unfailingly dutiful mother, but she is also subject to intense personal setbacks and grief—during which times she relies on her husband and community to help care for her children. As parents, Rafiq and Layla support their children’s aspirations as best they can, even if they don’t fully understand; Hadia goes off to medical school, and Huda is training to become a teacher. Even Hadia’s choice to marry Tariq is left largely in her hands. It is their dealings with Amar, whose choices never seem to be sufficient or cause for their approval, that go wrong despite their best efforts. Their actions—most notably having Seema prompt Amira to break up with him—affect his life to an astonishingly detrimental degree, even though they believe they are doing what’s best for both Amar and Amira.
The settings of Part 3 are largely dominated by domestic interiors, residential spaces, and communal spots such as schools, parks, and the local mosque. The characters’ world is still closed in on itself, although the young people bring external influence back with them (to both positive and negative effect) from school and other points unknown.
