BRAC University

SOC EMB101

Of Blood and Fire-the Untold Story of
Bangladesh's War of Independence - Book Report
‘Of Blood and Fire-the Untold Story of Bangladesh’s War of Independence’ is a novel based on the events
taken place during the period of the war of independence of Bangladesh . Basically it is a diary writing of the
famous author Jahanara Imam . The novel mostly focuses on the day to day events taken place during that
period. The author had lost her son ‘Rumi’ and her husband ‘Sharif’ during that period due to the events.
The story excilently shows the Bangali peoples participation and enthusiasm towards the independence war .
The novel contains a good picture about the events during that time in Dhaka city and the sector-2 which is
quite an evidence of the brutality of the Pakistani army and the heroic resistance by the liberation force . It
can also be reffered as a evidence of anti liberation East -Pakistan groups(like-Rajakar,Al-Bodor ,Bihari etc
). Because the author tried her best to collect the authentic information available at that time,as she stated-“I
like to see all the newspapers everyday. It is the only way to extract the truth from various sources. “
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As the novel is written as diary by the author so the story moves forward by the dates . The author started to
entry her writing from 1st of March . From the the begining the author seemed to be well conscious about
the facts of Bangladesh liberation movement and it’s legal cause and background . Her story rotates around
her family and they were not less conscious about the facts of liberation movement . The author and her
husband ‘Sharif’ had two sons named ‘Rumi’ and ‘Jami’ . Rumi was just admitted to a engineering college
in Illinois, America during that time and Jami was a student of class ten .
Rumi was so much politically conscious and broad minded than his age on the other hand Jami was as a
younger version of Rumi. From the start of the diary entries we can see that in the days of early march,1971
the movement of independence of Bangladesh was a common demand of the people of East Pakistan. As the
movement proceeded more people from every sector of the society started to participate willingly. At that
time definately it wasn’t a political movement rather than a mass people’s dream of living freely.
Like Rumi said-“Things are no longer confined to any party, Mother. Now the fire has spread everywhere.
(Of Blood and Fire-2nd ed:. Page-10) ,Which he quoted from great poet Tagore. On the 3rd march, when
Sheikh Mujib announced the launching of the non