A Chip of Glass Ruby: Summary

 “A Chip of Glass Ruby” is about an Indian-African Muslim woman named Zanip Bamjee. She lived with her children and her husband in a poor neighborhood, with all the other Indian and black families. Mrs. Bamjee was a political activist who wanted to help everyone in need. One way she helped her community was by making leaflets and protesting against the government. “What’s the difference, Yusuf? We’ve all got the same troubles.” The black community was being taken away form their homes and Mrs. Bamjee wanted to help them because she felt that it might happen to them later on. She would stay up late most of the time to finish making copies of the leaflets. Her eldest son Jimmy also felt the same way about the government and wants to help his community. But Mr. Bamjee, who saw things differently, felt that his wife and Jimmy might get themselves into trouble. He was a food and vegetable vender, trying to make a better living and make things right for his family. But with his son and his wife’s political activity he felt things might not be the same. Girlie, in the other hand felt that her mother is doing the right thing. Mrs. Bamjee was taken away form her house and was put into jail with the other activists. Mr. Bamjee never figured out why he had married his wife. Girlie said to him “It’s because she doesn’t want anybody to be left out”, and at the end Mr. Bamjee realized that “Nobody else is like that”, the way Mrs. Bamjee was. My favorite part is when Mr. Bamjee bought his wife flowers and the best fruits, because he realized at the end that she was different. She cared for her family and wanted everyone to live a better life.

       

      The point of this story is to show us the reader that sometimes people can have a situation where they have to decide from two good things. But we can’t always do two good things at the same time. So sometimes we have to sacrifice one good thing for another. This relates to Mrs. Bamjee because she had two good things to do at the sometime. One was to stay home and take care of her family and the other was to help the black community. Both of them are good things that she wanted to maintain, but at the end she felt that helping her community was the first step in order to help her family, because it can also happen to them later on. She wanted the best for her children and others like them; because she felt that everyone should get an equal opportunity as the whites or upper class.

Question:
1. Was Mrs. Bamjee able to solve the conflict with the government?