Shame

The three sisters decide to sequester themselves inside their family home after one of them becomes pregnant. This decision is motivated by shame, in the sense that they seek to evenly distribute the shame among themselves and therefore escape the full judgment of society. The only connection that remains between the three sisters and the outside world is a “dumbwaiter” that they pay a local artisan to install. The dumbwaiter is a machine designed to lift items—food, drinks, or supplies—between the various stories of the mansion; with the aid of this device, the three sisters can keep themselves alive without ever needing to make contact with the outside world. The dumbwaiter is the one symbolic bond between themselves and society, deliberately obscuring who or what is on the other side and reducing their relationship with the rest of the world to a machine of pure exchange. The dumbwaiter symbolizes the sisters’ rejection of society, showing the bare minimum to which they wish to reduce their social interaction. Even the platform of exchange is mechanized and dehumanized, to the point where they see no one else except their sons until Raza and Bilquis arrive at their home. The dumbwaiter symbolizes the social connections between the world and the three sisters.