Cereus Blooms At Night

In the present day, Tyler and Mala enjoy frequent visits from Ambrose and Otoh. Some days, Otoh comes to call without his father, and he and Tyler spend time alone together. Tyler notes that while their conversations do not always center on Miss Ramchandin, for this narrative, he “will dwell mainly on those discussions concerning her” (123). During one such conversation, Otoh relates to Tyler that he feels protective toward Mala, and he resents his father for not doing more for her and allowing her to end up in her current state. He explains: “It’s as if I wanted to redeem my father’s name, to rescue her and be the Romeo he never was” (125). This confession makes Tyler appreciate Otoh even more, although he admits that he does not have the same feelings about Ambrose. Tyler likes Ambrose and enjoys that he acknowledges and tacitly encourages Otoh and Tyler’s relationship.

The narrative flashes back. Mala lived wordlessly and alone in her house, collecting the decaying bodies of insects, lizards, and other living things that chose to die in her yard. She filled a pail with their carcasses, which, though small, create a very strong odor. She took the pail into the house, taking a well-worn path through a precarious wall of furniture with an almost imperceptible entrance, down a set of stairs, and through a locked door into the basement sewing room. The odor of decay increased as she got closer to this room, and she covered her nose and mouth to block out the stench. Upon entering the room, she was greeted by hundreds of white moths, which gathered everywhere one might step. Mala set to work hanging the bodies she collected on a wall of specimens, ostensibly the source of the odor permeating the room.

After completing this task, Mala returned to her veranda, where she noticed the sun reflected off of the railing just so, evoking the day that Sarah and Lavinia left. Reminded of the day that led to years of trauma, Mala began to panic and disassociate. She used a jar of hot pepper sauce that was left to ferment in the sun to keep herself grounded in the present, shoving her mouth and nose into the jar until it burned and brought her to tears.

It was the night that the cereus flowers would finally come into full bloom. Mala was sitting in her yard, taking in the moon’s bright light while Otoh walked toward the park with one of his admirers, a woman named Mavis. Catching the scent of the cereus blossoms, Otoh stopped by Mala’s yard and tried to convince Mavis that they should enter the yard and take in the moon and lush scents rather than continue to the park. Mavis was reluctant, especially since it was Mala’s yard. She told Otoh that she was one of the children who tormented Mala, and she believed many of the old rumors that circulated about Mala and her family. Any attraction Otoh felt toward Mavis quickly dissipated and transformed into anger. Meanwhile, Mala observed her cereus flowers slowly open and fill the air with their sweet, heavy scent. Moths flocked to them to drink their nectar, and Mala happily fell asleep in her yard. The air was so rich with the smell that even neighbors “in deep sleep stirred, suddenly restless” (138).

The alternating narrative moves back to Otoh and his companion. The two returned to Otoh’s room, but since Otoh no longer felt any desire for her, the two slept next to each other without having intercourse. Mavis left before Otoh awoke, and Otoh decided to finally make himself known to Mala. He dressed in clothes like the ones his father would have worn when he and Mala knew each other. He also brought out an old gramophone, which his mother found damaged and he subsequently repaired. His father told him that he and Mala used to dance, and Otoh assumed this would be a reliable way to connect with her in the present. As he left the house on his mission, his father told him he looked familiar, recognizing the image of himself in his son.

Simultaneously, Mala awoke in her yard and began to remember Pohpoh, whom she knew was her younger self but also viewed as a separate, external figure. She recalled or imagined Pohpoh leaving the house in the middle of the night, traveling secretly down the streets, and reveling in the freedom not available to her while living with her father. In reflecting on young Pohpoh, Mala mused that she wished they “could have been best friends” (173).

On Otoh’s way to Mala’s house, a car driven by a man stopped to inquire where he was going. The driver offered to give him a ride and suggested they spend time together after Otoh finished his errand. Otoh, sensing his intentions, responded that he was courting the woman he was visiting, rebuffing the man’s advances. The driver was flustered and embarrassed, quickly stating that he only intended to bring Otoh on an outing or to the movies with his family.

This section of the novel contains one component of the climax or reveal that the narrative has been building toward. Otoh entered Mala’s yard with trepidation and excitement and explored the wild, overgrown exterior of her home. He was so overcome by the sheer number of plants, insects, and overgrowth that he nearly missed Mala, asleep at the base of a mudra tree.

The narrative switches to Mala’s perspective. She returned to her ruminations on young Pohpoh’s adventures through Paradise at night. Her journeys involved entering the houses of wealthier Paradise residents. Pohpoh did not steal anything on these excursions or disturb the families living in the houses; her goal was to move through the house undetected and make her way outside through the front door. She used a stopwatch to keep track of her time, hoping to make it in two minutes or less.

While reminiscing, she was interrupted by Otoh’s arrival, whom she mistook for Ambrose. Otoh played one of the records he brought for the gramophone, and as he predicted, Mala was drawn to him. The two started to dance, and he elected not to tell her that he was actually Ambrose’s son. Mala looked up at Otoh in the middle of their dance to assure him: “He can’t hurt you now, Ambrose. Come, come” (161). She had Otoh follow her into the house and down the path toward the sewing room in the basement. What Otoh witnesses in the basement, resting under a sheet on a high bed, unsettled him so much that once he and Mala returned to the kitchen, he fled from the house at the first opportunity. Running panicked into the street, he collapsed, and various neighbors came out to check on him. He tried to explain that he found a body in Mala’s house, but his message became confused and twisted, to the point that people thought robbers broke into Mala’s house and killed her. The police were notified to investigate.

In response to overhearing the turn of events at Mala’s house, Ambrose truly awoke for the first time in years. He also abandoned the use of his wheelchair, left his house, and walked in the direction of the excitement. He located his son, who was distraught. With the police involved, Otoh was concerned about the trouble that he caused for Mala. The police, in the meantime, investigated the property in search of evidence. They detected the scent of decay and found Mala sitting out in her yard, feeling abandoned and betrayed by Otoh/Ambrose’s sudden departure. The police weren’t sure if she was capable of talking with them, but she begrudgingly led them through the house and down to the same room. There, they discovered the heavily decayed body of Chandin Ramchandin. The police told Mala they would need to take her into custody. Mala imagined that young Pohpoh was beside her the whole time, and eventually, she told Pohpoh to run. She escaped, finally free.

Otoh was distraught by the way events played out and felt very guilty about his part in them. Realizing that Mala’s house would be overtaken by police and nosy Paradise residents, he returned later that night to burn it down. He returned to his father, who was watching the smoke, and revealed that he saved clippings from several cereus plants.