How To Divakaruni's Short Story Clothes

What we wear defines who we are; our clothes are our identity. In the short story “Clothes,” Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells the story of an Indian woman named Sumita, whose clothes, Indian and American, mean everything to her. They define who she is and show the different sides of her. Her saris mean a lot to her because they are the only connection she has to her family and friends when she moves to America. Her American clothes hold a great sense of meaning to her because they represent her new life. While Sumita’s Indian clothes symbolize her home back in India before her marriage, her American clothes symbolize her new home in America and the changes to come.
Sumita’s clothes show the differences in her lifestyle in India and America.
Each of her saris represents something different at home. When she is struggling to find hope on the plane to America she says, “I grope for something to hold on to, something beautiful and talismanic from my old life. And then I remember. Somewhere down under me, low in the belly of the plane, inside my new brown case which is stacked in the dark with a hundred others, are my saris” (277). They remind Sumita of her childhood and all her friends back at home. Meanwhile, the T-shirt she tries on secretly in her bedroom is “sunrise-orange-- the color, I decide, of joy, of my new American life” (277). This shows how she expects her new life to bring in joyous changes. She also compares her skirt and blouse, as she says in the passage, to the color of seeds. She says, “I want to stand behind the counter in the cream-and-brown skirt set (color of earth, color of seeds) and ring up purchases” (278). This symbolizes new growth and beginnings for her new American
Her saris show her traditional values and how valuable her culture is to her. When she starts to think differently in America she says to herself, “Mita, … you’re growing westernized” (278). Sumita’s American clothes show her independence and rebellious behavior. She rebels against her culture and secretly tries on American clothes. They stuff a “towel at the bottom of the door so no light will shine through,” because they were scared of anyone finding out that she is trying on American clothes (277). After Sumita’s husband, Somesh, dies and she decides not to go back to India with her in-laws, she imagines herself wearing a “blouse and skirt the color of almonds” (281). This symbolizes that Sumita has decided to stay in America and change her life for the better, instead of going back to India with her in-laws and spending the rest of her life serving them. She also compares her blouse and skirt to the “color of earth, color of seeds,” which shows how her new American life is growing into a beautiful bosom