Dina Dalali

Mistry develops a great deal of back-story in A Fine Balance but the story’s representation of poverty is an association with ignorance, disease, laziness, and criminal behavior; progress is inevitably followed by the encroachment of poverty. Dina Dalali is the most developed character to represent this mind-set. Her efforts to maintain her independence essentially force her to invite Om and Ishvar into her home. The majority of the first half is Dina equating caste prejudice against the impoverished untouchable with the stain of filth and deviant behavior. She locks them in when she leaves, sets aside an entire set of dishes for their personal use, chastises Maneck to maintain distance, and is always aware of their odor, which further emphasizes their nasty habits—smoking bedis and the urine smell in the bathroom reveals the poor diet. When explaining her actions to Maneck, she admits her private fear that they will quit or take her contracts. These fears are the underlying motives for her to treating them harshly and with suspicion.
Dina’s prejudice and underlying fears recalls the justification of civilians during the Holocaust in Germany and Poland. Without Maneck’s presence, Dina would be more like the rent collector, Ibrahim. She would have continued to act and conform to the current political climate in order to protect her own interests.