Analysis

An analysis of the short story The Jam Maker” by Huma Qureshi shows that it follows a non-chronological plot structure, as the narrative moves between the present and the past. The climax comes when the child narrator attempts to poison her mother and then herself.

The main character in the short story is the unnamed narrator, who looks back at an episode from her childhood which affected her greatly. The narrator’s mother and father are also important characters, as they both influenced the narrator in different ways. The parents had opposing views of integration.

The physical setting is an unnamed village in Britain. There is a clear contrast between the village where the narrator’s family lives and the town with many Indian immigrants where the narrator’s mother feels like she can be herself.

The story is told from the point of view of a first-person narrator. The narrator tells a story from her childhood from the perspective of her adult self. She deliberately holds back the information that she tried to kill her mother until the ending.

The style of language in lines 98-109 is poetic and descriptive. The narrator uses words with positive meanings to describe the jam and her job, which contrast with how she really thinks about it. The short story relies heavily on symbolism, which mainly points to the narrator’s feelings of guilt and her need to punish herself. 

You can read a more detailed analysis on the following pages.