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In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s story titled “Clothes”, part of the collection titled Arranged Marriage, she tells the story of Sumita, an Indian woman placed into an arranged marriage with Somesh Sen. Young and nervous, Sumita journeys across the world to live with her new husband in California. Sumita’s story does not solely focus on her marriage, but also displays the evolution of her confidence and strength. She takes a lesser traveled path to self-discovery, facing hardships of moving to a new country, leaving her family and joining a new one, to becoming a widow. More than just garments, Sumita’s saris and American clothing are key in helping Sumita transition from girlhood to womanhood, to warrior- helping her gain confidence and strength down the path of self-discovery.
In the beginning, the saris reflect the early Sumita, not too confident in herself, or her
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Marking her appearance as a widow, Samita wears a borrowed, white sari, “the color of endings”(29). This white sari reveals the events that she did not have control over. It marks what has happened to her. While lying on the floor in her sari, thinking about the women's lake and her near drowning experience, she reclaims her future. Not wanting to conform to the cultural expectation to stay with the husband's family, knowing that she must not be a “dove with cut-off wings”, Sumita transitions to a warrior (33). She demonstrates the confidence, and strength that she has gained on her path toward self-discovery. At the end of the story, she says that she is “readying [her]self for the arguments of the coming weeks, the remonstrations” (33). Complete confidence and strength is displayed by Sumita in her decision to not go back to India. She is preparing herself to fight her own battles, and to survive to get what she wants: her Great
Before finding out about her biological parents, Asha acts very immaturely and inconsiderately. The first example portraying Asha's unsophisticated behaviour takes place while Asha has a disagreement with her parents because of her poor grades. After her mother offers to helps, she replies, “'I don't need a tutor, and I definitely don't want your help,' Asha says choosing her words to sting her mother'” (Gowda, 150). Here, Asha is deliberately trying to hurt her mother's feelings and is acting very inconsiderately. Also, the fact that she is yelling at her mother, even though her mother is only offering to help, showcases her immaturity.
Traditions control how one talks and interacts with others in one’s environment. In Bengali society, a strict code of conduct is upheld, with dishonor and isolation as a penalty for straying. Family honor is a central part to Bengali culture, and can determine both the financial and social standing of a family. Usha’s family poses no different, each member wearing the traditional dress of their home country, and Usha’s parents diligently imposing those values on their daughter. Those traditions, the very thing her [Usha] life revolved around, were holding her back from her new life as an American. Her mother in particular held those traditions above her. For example, when Aparna makes Usha wear the traditional attire called “shalwar kameez” to Pranab Kaku and Deborah’s Thanksgiving event. Usha feels isolated from Deborah’s family [Americans] due to this saying, “I was furious with my mother for making a scene before we left the house and forcing me to wear a shalwar kameez. I knew they [Deborah’s siblings] assumed, from my clothing, that I had more in common with the other Bengalis than with them” (Lahiri ...
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon emphasizes the importance of community and the common good. When the Taliban took over, women’s rights completely disappeared. Women could no longer work, go out in public without a mabram, or male relative, or be treated by male doctors. In response, Kamila Sidiqi found purpose in aiding the people in her community, who were suppressed by Taliban rule.
Kothari employs a mixture of narrative and description in her work to garner the reader’s emotional investment. The essay is presented in seventeen vignettes of differing lengths, a unique presentation that makes the reader feel like they are reading directly from Kothari’s journal. The writer places emphasis on both her description of food and resulting reaction as she describes her experiences visiting India with her parents: “Someone hands me a plate of aloo tikki, fried potato patties filled with mashed channa dal and served with a sweet and a sour chutney. The channa, mixed with hot chilies and spices, burns my tongue and throat” (Kothari). She also uses precise descriptions of herself: “I have inherited brown eyes, black hair, a long nose with a crooked bridge, and soft teeth
Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, places Jane Austen’s emphasis of equality in marriage within an intercultural context, where the difference in culture is the source of social tension. As West meets East, American tycoon William Darcy sparks cultural conflict with his presumption of Indian girls’ “simple” and traditional characteristics and of their ready subordination to American men. Parallel to Elizabeth’s assertion of her father and Darcy’s equal class standing, Lalita’s fierce rebuttal of Darcy’s assumption highlights his ignorance of the Indian culture, especially his inability to understa...
In the short story, “Clothes” written by Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi, Sumita, a young Indian woman, experiences the transitions of her marital relationship. Before the ‘bride-viewing’, when the groom picks out his bride from a group of women, Sumita performs a purifying ritual in a lake with the help of her friends. She is chosen by Somesh Sen, the visiting groom, and moves with him to his home in California. Initially afraid of her new husband, she eventually grows to love him as she learns about the American culture. As she slowly adjusts to her new environment, Sumita eventually fears herself becoming westernized, such as trying on clothes that she would never wear in India, and tries to hold on to her traditional Indian ways.
In the short story “Clothes”, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells a story of a young Indian women, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America after her arranged marriage to Somesh, an Indian man that lives in America. Somesh is co-owner to a 7-eleven store in California which he is very invested in. Throughout the story, he is always working at his store in hopes of making extra money towards his and Sumita’s future. His late nights working at the store later leads to Somesh’s tragic death. Upon analysis of all of the events that occur and Somesh’s death, I’ve come to realize that Sumita is torn between two diverse cultures and also that the American dream is not always what it is set out to be. This dream everyone longs for
Clothing in the Victorian era was constantly changing. Three of the most common fabrics used, were cotton, flax, and silk. Women’s clothing was changing more often than men’s and different materials were used for each gender. Victorian clothing was different for each social class; to say nothing of, types of clothing and materials also differed by gender.
Nanda, Serena. Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of India. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub., 1990. Print.
As we compare the traditional women versus modern women, we perceive differences and similarities. Prachi fights for a belief system that controls her meanwhile Ruhi struggles with self-identity and depends on the beauty pageant to empower her as an Indian woman. Prachi defends Hinduism but at the same time, is Hinduism that restrains her from becoming “modern.” Ruhi on the other hand considers herself a very modern girl and she values freedom therefor the pageant is a road to liberation for her. Both girls struggle in distinct ways but their goal is similar, to shape their countries future.
Once chosen as the perfect wife Sumita has to take a plane ride to the United States. Sumita chose to wear a blue sari because to her it represented the color of possibility and it also matched the color of the sky to which she was traveling in. Her mother on the other hand wanted to wear red. Red in her belief is supposed to give luck to married women. [married women in India, their responsibilities] They compromised and found one that was blue with red trim to satisfy both arguments.
People clinging to the sides of a train is a common sight in both Pakistan and India, and as one could imagine, they are clinging for their lives, for if they let go, they will fall off the train and quite likely be killed. She compares her desire to hold on to the henna, which represents the Indian aspect of her identity, and the Indian identity she discovered in the bazaar, to holding on desperately for your life on a fast train. This illustrates to the reader how desperately she wants to keep this experience and her newfound identity. Moniza Alvi employs a wide variety of techniques, from end-stopped lines and formatting in structure, to rhyme, tone, and even imagery and language to attempt to explore the vast concept of identity. She successfully manages to explore the concept of identity, and conveys to the reader the meaningful message that discovering your true identity is dearly valued and highly significant.
Ramamoorthy, P. “My Life is My Own: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s Women” Feminism and Recent Fiction in English Ed. Sushila Singh. New Delhi: Prestige, 1991.
Clothing has always been an important part of society, with evidence from the earliest human civilizations. In history, climate, religion and political factors played a role in the fabrication, styling and even color of the garments that people wore. Today, the fashion industry is multi-faceted, and while climate and religion are still some factors in how we dress, there are many more influences in what we choose to wear. Time and time again, designers reference historical styles and push them into modern trends. Subcultures illustrate how a particular way of dressing can transform into a lifestyle. Ethnic fashion ties in with a specific culture’s values and beliefs. By looking at clothing in other societies around the world, as well as the many global subcultures, we can learn a lot about the depth and complexity of the members that make this world colorful and diverse.
Garg in ‘Hari Bindi’ discusses the story of a common woman and made it extraordinary by the active force she was experiencing in herself to live her life. The husband of the protagonist symbolises the power and control of patriarchy that had restricted her life in such a way