The father

The father is outgoing and loving

The narrator’s father appears only briefly in the short story “The Jam Maker” by Huma Qureshi, but he has a great influence over the narrator’s early years.

The father is an Indian immigrant who came to Britain to work, along with his wife, and moved to a traditional English village. (It does not say in the text whether their daughter was born in Britain or India). The father is a doctor and is very well-respected in the community, despite being “an outsider” (l. 29). 

Unlike the narrator’s mother, the father is easy-going and sociable. He is affectionate towards his wife, as he kisses her, buys her gifts, and recites poetry to her. However, it should be noted from the scene where she buys her a mini-skirt (ll. 39-43), that he tries to get her to take up Western habits and adopt a Western identity. However, the mother does not seem interested in doing so.

The father loves ...