to live their dreams. Some try to clutch to the familiar culture of their home lands‚ while others do their best to fit in. In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s short story “Clothes‚” Sumita moves from her home country of India to live with her new husband in California. She experiences culture shock‚ but she eventually discovers her own identity through the American clothes‚ her relationship with Somesh‚ and being widowed. When in India‚ Sumita wears saris‚ the traditional women’s clothing. She loves
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Clothes‚ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni This short story is about a young Indian woman named Sumita‚ her impending arranged marriage and subsequent trip to America‚ which is symbolized by the color and type of her clothes. The author utilizes color symbolism to express the emotional changes that Sumita is going through and how she uses colors to keep her grounded with her Indian beliefs during her transition from girl to bride-to-be to an Indian-American to widow. There are many examples
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Clothes The short story “Clothes” written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni delivers a connection between the clothes a person wears and their identity. The different stages of her life reflect onto the variety of types and colors of clothes she wears. The change she goes through forms her new identity. In the first part of the story‚ we meet Sumita for the first time in her home country India with her friends. She is scheduled to have her very first bride viewing‚ where she is going to meet her future
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Slavery vs. Freedom Indian cultures‚ along with other cultures worldwide‚ have beliefs very different from the American culture. May-Lee Chai and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni portray these extreme differences in their stories‚ "Saving Sourdi" and "Clothes". Indian women live their lives to serve‚ with the hope of being arranged a marriage to a husband who will provide a lifestyle suitable to raising a family‚ while American women are raised to become strong-willed and independent. Individuals
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The short story “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman‚ Sumita‚ and her cultural transition to America that is symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian attire for a woman is a sari and each one has its own purpose. Her clothes also indicate her progression from daughter‚ to wife‚ to woman‚ which is why this story embodies Mordecai Marcus’ description of an initiation story. The story starts off with the bride to be in a yellow
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Cited: September 12‚ 2013. Davis‚ Rocio G. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. June14‚ 2009. Web. September 17‚ 2013. Foderaro‚ Lisaw. The Library Journal. April 23‚ 2012. Web. September 16‚ 2013. Gandhi‚ Indira. The Eternal India. New Delhi: Sterling‚ 1966. Print. Orisini‚ Francesca. Indian Literature: India
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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
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“You Canʼt Go Home Again” is a text written by Tariq Ramadans and was published in the newspaper Time the 24th of December 2001. The text deals with immigration and gives the reader insight in the problems there are between Muslims and Europeans. Muslims The article has a simple message: Europeans and Muslims should live in harmony and peace with each other. This shall be done by the Muslims and the Europeans having a better working relationship; the Europeans must respect and tolerate the traditions
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Would you ever go back to someone who was abusive? In short story “The Bats‚” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni presents a woman who is both a mother and wife who is attempting to manage all the verbal and physical abuse by her husband; she at that point leaves with her daughter‚ who just started to understand her pain‚ to her uncle’s house. But only there‚ the mother would regularly get gazed at and had to listen to whispers of the villagers everyday. She didn’t feel a feeling of belongingness at her
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was born in 1956 in Calcutta‚ India. After spending almost the first two decades of her life in her home town she immigrated to the United States. There she earned her PhD from Berkeley and became a published author. One of the stories Divakaruni wrote was Live Free and Starve. This story deals with the issue of child labor in third world countries. The U.S. House passed a bill that no longer allowed the import of goods to America from factories that forced child labor
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