Brief Summary of Book
In the book Homeless Bird, written by Gloria Whelan, There is a girl named Koly who is the main character of the book, is a very well learned girl. In the book Koly had an arranged marriage to a sickly boy named Hari. Hari had a sister named Chandra and Koly became friends with her. Then Hari died. After he died Chandra had her arranged marriage and was off never to return. Then Koly’s Sass took her to the place of the widows then Sass tricked her and Koly was left alone. After that a boy named Raji, who drove a rickshaw, brought her to a place with other windows and a woman named Maa Kamala who got the widows jobs. Raji and Koly became good friends and then Raji moved away. At work a girl named Mala invited her over to her room and secretly gave her lassi, which is a drug, and got sick. Soon after work the next day Raji came back to ask Koly to marry him. It to Koly a long time to think then he made a room for her to quilt and embroider and that touched her heart and finally Koly said yes.
Koly knows a lot of ways to make the best of of bad situations. For example, on page 24, Koly thinks of a way to help Hari out of a very bad situation by giving him honey and ginger to make him feel better like her maa used to do. So most of the time Koly likes to help other people as well as she likes to help herself. Another example for getting the best of a bad situation is, on page 69, when Sass wanted the earring for Chandra’s wedding but it was the only pride she had left. This was the only pride left because Sass already took the sari her maa made for her wedding and gave it to Chandra for her wedding. That was a way of making the best for herself instead of someone else.
There are many themes in this book. One could be independence. An example of this on pages 72-74. Koly was working independently on the quilt that she was making for Chandra before she left for her wedding. Another theme could be courage. On pages 160-161. Koly had the courage to disobey Maa Kamala and go to Mala’s room where she got what she deserved later for being disobedient. Even though there are several themes of the book, I think having hope would be the most important. I think this because Koly had used hope throughout the whole book and it helped her a lot. Having hope did not only help Koly but made her see her surroundings better.
Gloria Whelan used a lot of comparisons in this book. For example, on page 20-21,
“ As I lay there in the strange house, I felt like a newly caged animal that rushes about looking for the open door that isn’t there.” In this comparison Koly is comparing herself to a newly caged animal that is trying hard to find a way out.
Another example is on page, 120-121,
“Enough of your miserable tales, you wallow like pigs in mud. That is all in the past now.” In this passage Maa Kamala is comparing Koly to a pig that wallows in mud because she is talking about her miserable tales of the past.