Introduction

Literature is a work of art especially with strong imaginative and aesthetic appeal by

means of genres like poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, and short stories. It plays a vital role in

the development of written form and it views make the people civilized. It represents the culture

and tradition of a people. From the writings of ancient civilizations such as Egypt and China to

Greek philosophy and poetry, from the epics of Homer to the plays of William Shakespeare from

Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte to Maya Angelou works of literature give insight and context

to all the world’s societies. It is merely the reflecting of society. Language is essential in

literature and it is a tool to communicate to the society. Language is a key to human lifestyle.

Literature has deep rooted relation with the society. Literature is used as a tool to throw light on

violence faced by people. Like the saying pen is mightier than the sword, many writers use

literature as a power to rejenuvate the society.

The Age of Modernism emerges in literature in the 20th century. The major literary movements

of the 20th century are Modernism (1900-1940) and Post modernism (1960-1990). In this period

some new narrative techniques has been introduced like impressionism and stream of

consciousness. The first characteristic associated with Modernism is Nihilism, the rejection of all

religions and moral principles.

Isolation and loss of hope in humanity are one of the salient themes of modern literature. During

this period western people lost faith in God and them experienced great about meaninglessness

of life. The Post modernism period that follows the Modernism Period. Post modernists don’t

tend to rectify their thoughts about what is right or wrong, true or false, good or evil. They don’t

believe the term such as absolute truth. Post modernism is difficult to define it would violate the

post modernist’s premise that no definite terms, boundaries or absolute truth exist. The term
“Post modernism” will remain vague, since those who claim to be post modernists have different

beliefs and opinions on issues. Post modern writers are tending to reject outright meanings in

their novels, stories and poems. They like to highlight the possibility of multiple meanings or

complete lack of meaning, within a single literary work.

Language is a tool to communicate and it is essential in Literature. Language helps us to

know the evolution of human being through literature. It reflects the attitude and perception of

the society. It helps the people to find the right path. During the sixteenth and seventeenth

century British ruled India. Colonization showed path to invade English language into India. It

forms the Indian Writing in English. For the sake of existence, Indian people started to learn

English. Some gems in India, like Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, R. K. Narayan and Raja Rao used

English language as a voice to attain freedom. Indian Literature is an honest compact to exhibit

the ever rare gems of Indian Writing in English. Indian writers, poets, novelists, essayists and

dramatists have been contributing to the literature since pre – independence era, the past few

years have observed a huge prospering in Indian Writing in English. This Literature continues to

reflect Indian Culture, tradition, social values and even Indian history through the portrayal of

life in India. Their works examined on multifarious range of issues like nationalism, freedom

struggle, social realism and individual consciousness. The struggle for independence was a

mighty and significant movement that sweeps the entire nation. The themes which followed by

the post- independent writers like East-West conflicts, magical realism, multi-culturalism, social

realism, gender issues, comic aspects of human nature, ecological concerns and diasporic

writings.

Sri Aurobindo is the first poet in Indian Writing in English who has given the re-

interpretation of myths. His contribution as perfect writer and craftsman is undoubtedly great.
He predicts spiritual humanism. Aurobindo points out to the philosophers of today are that

human life, body and mind are the enlarged forms of super mind. Aurobindo’s famous works

“The Human Cycle and the Ideal of Human Society” taken together to give a complete picture of

Aurobindo’s version of the future predicaments of man and shows the humanistic trend in his

thought.

Raja Rao along with Mulk Raj Anand and R. K. Narayan constitutes the great trio of

Indian English Literature. Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004), the majority of his novels through

lights on the inequalities of society. His major works are Untouchable (1935), “Cooli” (1936),

“The Village” (1939), and “The Private Life of an Indian Prince” (1953). All these major works

are the replica of the existence of evils in the society. “Untouchable” and “Cooli”, both novels

are appeal for downtrodden, the poor and the outcast, who faces economic hardships and

emotional humiliation in a rigid social structure.

R. K Narayan (1906-2001), is one among the trios who occupies a unique position in the

crowded literary scene of Indian fiction. The greatest merit of his language and style lives in its

simplicity. His fiction focuses around the imaginary sleepy south Indian town of Malgudi. His

famous novels are “The Bachelor of Arts”, “The Painter of Signs”(1933), “Swami and Friends”

(1935), “The English Teacher” (1945), “Waiting for Mahatma” (1955), “The Guide” (1958) and

“The Sweet Vendor”(1967). Narayan has gained mastery of the art of portraying characters and

nuances of the English Language.

Raja Rao(1908-2006), who analyses the modern India from a different perspective and

elevates Hindu orthodoxy to a grand metaphysic. Women in Raja Rao’s novels suffer from

domestic injustice and tyrannical tradition. His novels “Kanthapura” (1938), “The Serpant and

the Rope” (1960), and “The Cat and Shakespeare” (1965) are critically praised. His famous
short stories have been collected in the “Cow of the Barricades” (1947) and “The Police Man

and the Rose” (1977). These three are the trinity of India.

Short story is a piece of prose fiction. It is a symbol of American Literary Independence.

It has been developed in America. Some forerunners to the short stories are anecdotes, parables,

fables, sketches and tales. Edgar Alan Poe is called the Father of the Short Story. He has given

the first guidelines for the short story, like it must produce certain unique effect, have brevity,

unity, intensity, begin with the first sentence. Mark Twain, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald,

Ernest Hemingway became widely recognized because of the greater number of people who read

their stories in magazines. The two other writers are credited with giving notable contributions

to this literary form. Bret Harte started a trend of “Local Color” stories with his stories of early

life in California. Henry James produced a series of peculiarly modern psychological studies of

the human mind and heart. Local Color is a term applied to fiction or verse which emphasizes its

setting, being most agitated with the characters of district or of an era, as marked by its customs,

dialect, costumes, landscape, or other aspects that have escaped standardizing cultural influences.

The former American reflects its local and it is an attempt to recapture the glamour of a past era.

In local color literature, one finds the dual influence of Romanticism and Realism, since the

author frequently looks away from the ordinary life to distant lands, strange customs or exotic

scenes, but retains through minute detail a sense of fidelity and accuracy of description.

Short story is a popular form in Indian Writing in English. The year 1898 was considered

as the extradionary year of Indian English Short Story. The name of the first short story

collection was Stories from Indian Christian Life, this eminent book was written by Kamala

Sathianadan. At first the writers tried to write in their own language but they were not free from

the influence of Western writers. Old short stories did not have much style and characterization.
The writers used to focus only on social problems in their short stories. Mythological Stories

were written in India. They are the Ramayana, the Mahabharatha and Purana. Basically Indian

short stories have developed in Sanskrit literature. ‘Fairy tales of India’ is the oldest short story

in Sanskrit literature. Short stories in Indian Writing in English have been developed with the

relation of human with nature and struggle of human being.

Short story as a literary form and an oral tradition, the short story dates back to Pre-

Historic times. Since the dawn of human civilization it has flourished as an important and

engaging social art. Writers of varying statures in our country have found immense delight in

nostalgic harking back to the rich cultural and literary tradition that has come down to them in

the form of stories. The first Indian Short Story writer in English with a considerable output is

Comella Sorabjee, a woman lawyer of Calcutta. Her four short story collections are “Love and

Life”, “Behind the Purdah” (1901), “Sun Babies: Studies in the Child Life of India” (1904),

“Between the Twilights”, “Being Studies of Indian Women by One of Themselves” (1909) and

“Indian Tales of the Great ones among Men”, “Women and Bird People” (1916). Tagore, the

great spiritual and literary influence of the time, wrote his short stories originally in Bengali and

later translated them into English. Most of these stories furnish deep studies in human relations

within the large frame of rural life. Tagore, who was highly sensitive to the changes taking place

in the country – the rise o nationalism, the movements of social and religious reform, the

changing pattern of economy and the development of education after the western models, was

also conscious of their deeper impacts.

Jumpha Lahiri, Mulk Raj Anand, and R. K Narayan, they are all the eminent Indian short

story writers. Jhumpha Lahiri is one of the prominent literary writers today. She was born in

England but relocated to the United States with her family when she was a child. Her entry into
writing world was not easy, in fact, for many years her work was neglected before she finally

took off in “The Interpreter of Maladies” is her first famous work, and is a collection of short

stories published in 1999. This collection went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in fiction, one of the

most prestigious work of fiction can achieve in the United States. The short story after which the

collection is named, “The Interpreters of Maladies”, won an O’ Henry prize in 1999, which is

considered a major honor as only twenty published short stories a year receive the award and it

also won the Hemingway award, and in 2014 Lahiri was awarded a National Humanities Award.

Her other short stories, such as “The Third and Final Continent” and “Unaccustomed Earth”

have also received wide recognition and awards. Mulk Raj Anand wrote not only short stories

but also novels and nonfiction work as well. He is one of the Indian trios. He has witnessed

much suffering rooted in the problems of a cruel caste system, a system that divides people by

the economic and social rank they were born to, throughout his earlier years. He won the Padma

Bhushan in the field of Literature and education, an extremely high award in India. For his novel

the “The Morning Face”, he won the Sahitya Akademi Award, an extremely prestigious

international literary award that recognizes works translated into or from the many languages of

India. Receiving this honor brought even more attention to all his work including his short

stories.

R. K. Narayan is often credited with bringing international attention to literature of India,

widely publishing both novels and short stories. Like Mulk Raj Anand, he also won the Sahitya

Akademi Award and received the Padma Bhushan Award. His works highlighted Indian culture

and characters that represented the working class, much as John Steinbeck and William Faulkner

highlighted American Culture and the working class in their works. Interestingly, it wasn’t until

after Narayan published numerous novels that he began publishing short stories, “Malgudi Days”
(1942), An Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories (1956), A Horse and Two Goats and Other

Stories (1970), “Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories” (1985) and “The Grandmother’s

Tale and Selected Stories” (194). He played an exceptional role in making India accessible to

the outside world through Literature.

Ruskin Bond is an award winning Indian author of British descent, much renowned for

his role in promoting Children’s Literature in India. A prolific writer, he has written over five

hundred short stories, essays and novels. He earned his living by free lancing as a young man,

writing short stories and poems for newspapers and magazines. He was awarded the Padma Shri

in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2014. The Collections of short stories are “The Night Train at

Deoli”, “Time Stops at Shamli” and “Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra”. Some of his famous

titles in the super natural genre are Ghost Stories from the Raj, “Aseas of Ghosts” and “A Face

in the Dark and Other Hauntings”.

Chithra Banerjee Divakaruni was born on 29 July 1956 at Calcutta. She belongs to post-

independent group of Indian writers who have been writing in English. She is one of those

writers who have spent much of their life outside India, in one of the western countries. Some of

her works are autobiographical in nature as it deals with her personal experiences in India and

America. Her works mainly focuses on South Indian immigrants. Divakaruni pursued at Loreto

House, a Convent School run by Irish nuns. She got her bachelor’s degree in English from

Presidency College, University of Calcutta in 1976 and in the same year, she left Calcutta and

moved to America. She completed her post graduate in English from the Wright State

University in Dayton Ohio in the year 1978. She received Ph. D. in English from the University

of California at Berkeley working under Stephen Greenbalt. Her thirst for education made her to

do different jobs like babysitting, selling merchandise in an Indian boutique, slicing bread at
bakery and washing instruments at science lab etc. She is interested in the women empowerment.

She works with Afghani women refugees and troubled Indian Women in America. Being a

woman, she fights for the women suppression. She became the founder member and President

of the Organization Maitri in 1991. Maitri is an organization in the San Francisco that works for

South Asian Women in worse conditions. It helps south Asian women to overcome domestic

violence, emotional abuse and cultural alienation. Her interest towards women empowerment

has influenced her writing. Her writing moves around the immigrant feminine experience.

Divakaruni was a well-received poet before she introduced herself as a novelist. She has four

volumes of poetry to her credit. “Leaving Yuba City” (1997) is Divakaruni’s fourth volume of

poetry. Other three are “Dark like the River” (1987), “The Reason for Nasturtiums” (1990) and

“Black Candle” (1991).

Divakaruni has published i more than fifty magazines which include Atlantic monthly

and New Yorker. Her writing has been added in several Asian American anthologies such as

Best American Short Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her works have been translated

into eleven languages including Dutch, Hebrew, Portuguese, Danish, German and Japanese.

Divakaruni’s collection of short stories, “Arranged Marriage”, won Critical Acclaim,

1996 American Book Award, Bay Area Book Reviewers Award and the Pen Josephine Niles

Award for Fiction. “The Mistress of Spices” was on several Best Books lists, including the San

Francisco Chronicle’s 100 Best Books of the twentieth century. The Conch Bearer was included

in Best Books of 2003 by Publishers Weekly. “The Lives of Strangers” was included in

O’Henry’s prize stories, 2003. , “The Vine of Desire” was included in Best Books of 2002 by

Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. Mrs. Dutta writes a Letter was included in

Best Paperback of 1998, Seattle Times and in Best Books of 1997, Los Angeles Times.
 “The Palace of Illusions” brings back to our mythology. It’s an interpretation of the

Hindu epic Mahabharata as told from Draupadi’s view point, which is denoted as the

unexpected one. The Mahabharata centers on the dynastic struggle for power between the

Pandavas and Kauravas. Her father prayed for a son, the additional female child surprises the

people. Divakaruni points out the gender inequality in the life of Draupadi. At the same age

women is considered as a goddesses. Draupadi wants to move from her home, she finds

marriage is a freedom to her. But she is not aware of her tragic life after marriage. Arjun won

the contest to marry Draupadi. His mother, Kunthi oders him to share Draupadi with Arjun’s

four brothers. The inner turmoil’s of Draupadi are clearly expressed by Divakaruni in “The

Pallace of Illusions”.

The novel “Oleander Girl” deals with identity crisis. Korobi, a seventeen year old girl,

who is an orphan, lives with her grandparents. Her mother died when she gave birth to Korobi

and her father had died only months earlier in a car accident. Korobi got engaged with Rajat, he

belonged to a rich family. Korobi always had apparitions of her mother. She tried to say

something to Karobi. She knows the truth about her parents when the time of her engagement.

After the death of her grandfather, her grandmother conveyed the truth to Korobi. Korobi

wanted to find her father at America. She wanted to know her identity.

“Sister of My Heart” (1999) describes the love between two cousins Sudha and Anju,

and how their life has been changed after the marriage. Anju moves to California and sudha

settles in India. The novel focuses the subjugation of women in the twentieth century. The

affection between two cousins made them to stand together at hard times. This novel shows how

gender discrimination changed the life of Sudha which makes Anju as a bold woman to invite

Sudha to live with her.

 “Arranged Marriage” is a collection of short stories. It narrates the hardships

which are faced by the immigrants who are torn on the grounds of cultural conflicts and also the

immigrants who assimilate themselves in the host culture. She brings out the women’s quest for

their self identity in a alienated nation in these short stories. Most of her stories connect with

Indian roots, culture and traditions. This work mainly focussed on the issues of Diaspora. In the

next chapter we are going to briefly discuss about the Divakaruni’s classy way of writting in her

works.
 Chapter 2

Style and Techniques

A man is known for his attire likewise a writer is known for his writings which help them

to represent themselves as a unique writer in the field of literature. Style of writing is a craft; it

can be achieved only through practice. The choice of lexical, sentence structure and paragraph

structure, spelling, grammar and punctuation are the essential elements of writing style. It’s a

writer’s responsibility to convey his message to the readers in a legible manner. Style and

technique depends upon one’s syntax, word choice and tone. It can also be described as a “voice”

that readers listen to when they read the work of a writer. Structure is how the story and ideas

have been collected together to produce a text. Narrative techniques bring forth the implied

meaning for the reader and it helps the reader use imagination to visualize situations. Narrative

techniques are also known as literary devices. Setting, Plot, Theme, Style or Structure,

Characters and perspective or Voice of the story are the literary elements in narrative technique.

Style mainly focuses on how language has been used to express and develop the Narrative

techniques. The elements of narrative are considered as the organs of a story.

Techniques are essential weapons for the writer to write his literary work successfully.

Diction or the choice of words is a predominant one in writing style. A writer has to seek a

middle level of diction. A writer’s choice of words is seen as the mark of quality of the writing.

The aim of writing is to convey the message. Selected words and framed sentences provide us

with the frame work for the clear written expression of writer’s ideas. Setting is another

additional element that helps the reader to understand the time and location within a story. It has
huge effect on plots and characters and it sheds light upon the characters. Three major

components to setting are Social environment, place and time. Setting can initiate the mood or

atmosphere of a story and grow the plot into a more realistic form. Plot is an interrelated

sequence of a story. It is used to describe the events that make up a story. The structure of a story

depends on the arrangements of events in the plot of the story.

Theme is an underlying meaning of a story that may be expressed directly or indirectly.

There are two different types of themes which appear in a work. A major theme is an idea that a

writer repeats in his literary work, developing it the most essential idea in the work. A minor

theme refers to an idea which appears in work briefly, giving chance to another minor theme. A

writer may use the theme through the feelings of his main character about the subject.

Characterization in the story is the process authors use to develop characters and creates images

for the audience and it is the step by step process wherein an author introduces and then

describes a character in both the ways directly and indirectly through the actions, thoughts and

speech of the character.

Chita Bannerje Divakaruni has expressed herself as one of the leading Indian American

novelists in the South Asian Diasporas literature. One notable feature of Divakaruni’s writing is

that she makes her woman characters modify from silent, passive sufferers to expressive,

independent women. Divakaruni is stylistically distinct; she uses the combination of first person

and third person narrative connected with flashback technique to provide realism and force in the

story. She used the flashback in time using a type of methods such as dream sequences and

retelling of memories. Her works deals with the self analysis of the protagonist to obtain the

readers interest; sometimes she voids the straight forward narration technique and takes up the

flashback method. She raised a voice against the problems of immigrants through her witting.
Most of her works based on the diasporic theme. She has been written on use of Magical

Realism, Autobiographical element, and the aspect of nostalgia in her writings. Diaspora theme

remains alienation, loneliness, existential rootlessness, homelessness, quest and identity. It is also

related with mixture of cultures, the clash between the past and present, native land and new

land, singular culture and multi culture these are the aspects of diasporic writings.

“The Word Love” is one of the short stories of divakaruni’s short story collections

“Arranged Marriage”. In this story she follows the elements of a traditional plot, which conveys

the love between the unnamed protagonist and her mother. Most of her works based on

American Settings. This story takes place in California, where the protagonist does her Ph.D.,

studies. This social setting discusses the aspects related to cultural differences and intercultural

relationships.

Narration is the most essential one to convey a story to an audience. It encloses not only

who tells the story, but also how the story is narrated. The “Second person point of view” is the

rarest mode in literature. It is a peculiar style and it creates a unique relationship between the

protagonist and reader. Divakaruni expresses her unique style by using second person narration

in this story to make the audience feel as they are one of the characters within the story. It is the

most effective narration to interpret the inner voice of the protagonist. She used this technique to

depict the conflict between the mind and heart in this story, how the unnamed protagonist

struggles to accept the words of conscience, confession and repentance for hiding her

relationship with an American Man.

You practice them out loud for days in front of the bathroom mirror, the words

with which you’ll tell your mother you’re living with a man. Sometimes they are
 words of confession and repentance. Sometimes they are angry, defiant.

Sometimes they melt into a single, sighing sound. Love. (Chitra 57)

Characterization is preceding the characters in fiction and it is the development of

character which helps to establish themes in the story. The characters are unique personalities

mixed up in the events described by the story. Nameless characters are a trending technique in

literature. The writer uses this technique while the function of a character is more important than

his or her name. It is a key to developing a peculiar story. Divakaruni breaks the usual way of

naming the character by adding distinct style of unnamed protagonist in this story.

Setting is the background of the story. It depends on the theme and selection of the

places like a house, jungle, palace or workplace. Background has great significance in the story.

It not only gives the reader the impression of true facts, but also functions as ‘objective

correlative’ of the internal life of the character. Divakaruni wants to make her story more

realistic by giving the social background of two different countries in this short story to grab the

reader’s attention to the story.

Stream of Consciousness uses the narrative techniques of Interior Monologue. It is a

worldwide literary technique during the modernist movement. This mode of narration depicts the

numerous thoughts and feelings that pass through the mind of a narrator. It seeks to portray the

real experience of thinking, in all its chaos and distraction and it makes the reader to feel those

thoughts in the same way that the character is thinking them. It acquires the depth and meaning

of a story. Divakaruni combines the past memories with present life of the Protagonist in this

story to differentiate her lifestyle after migrated to California.

 But then the memories come. Once when you were in college you had gone to see

a Popular Hindi movie with your girlfriends. Secretly, because Mother said

movies were frivolous, decadent. But there were no secrets in Calcutta. When you

came home from classes the next day, a suitcase full of your clothes was on the

doorstep. A note on it, in your mother’s hand. Better no daughter than a

disobedient one, a shame to the family. ( Chitra 62)

Even though she is fond of American life style, some of the things wouldn’t be changed

that is her love for her mother. The title itself declares that one word has changed her life.

Indianess is still lying inside her however she migrated California. Her mind is filled with

memories of Calcutta.

Flashback is another narrative style which takes back the reader to narrator’s earlier life.

It is usually represented as character’s memories and is used to explain their backgrounds and

back stories. Divakaruni expresses the love between the unnamed protagonist and her mother in

‘The Word Love’ story through this Flashback technique. It’s a recollection of Protagonist’s

unforgettable memories with her mother, when she was in Calcutta.

Her sitting in the front row at your high school graduation, face bright as a dahlia

above the white of her sari. The two of you going for a bath in the Ganga, the

brown tug of the water on your clothes, the warm sleepy sun as you sat on the

bank eating curried potatoes wrapped in hot puris. And further back, her teaching

you to write, the soft curve of her hand over yours, helping you hold the chalk, the

smell of her newly washed hair curling about your face. (Chitra 62)
Her mother resembles like a pillar in her career to support her whenever she achieves something.

She is not like other Bengali mother, she allows the protagonist to pursue her dream at a different

country. Though she has brought up in a traditional way, she decides to support her daughter’s

wishes.

Divakaruni uses another device A Story within a story. This inner story has often

significance for the characters in the outer story. Sometimes this story satirizes the outer story. It

tries to convey a secret message to the protagonist. Divakaruni applies this technique to convey

an implied meaning to her readers through this inner story.

Here is a story your mother told you when you were growing up: There

was a girl I used to play with sometimes, whose father was the roof

Thatcher in your grandfather’s village. They lived near the women’s lake.

She was an only child, pretty in a dark-skinned way, and motherless, so

her father spoiled her. He let her run wild, climbing trees, swimming in the

river. Let her go to school, even after she reached the age when girls from

good families stayed home, waiting to be married. “You know already

this is a tale with an unhappy end, a cautionary moral. (65)

This story depicts the theme that a mother wants to protect her child from the demons and

she wants to guide her daughter to lead a good life. The implied message of this story that

Divakaruni wants to express that a girl shouldn’t be break the trust of their parents on them.

Pathetic Fallacy helps to set the mood of the story. Divakaruni compares the protagonist’s

mentality with the changes in weather. It is an indirect way of expressing the character’s

emotions with nature or inanimate object. It would deeply reflect the depth of emotions in the
story. As we have already known that change is a law of nature and how that totally changes the

life of Protagonist. Divakaruni uses this technique to express the unexpressed feelings of her

protagonist with the mode of nature.

He hadn’t waited for an answer. Wind slams a door somewhere, making you

jump. It’s raining outside, the first time in years. Big swollen drops, then thick

silver sheets of it. You walk out to the balcony. The rain runs down your cheeks,

the tears you couldn’t shed. (Chitra 70)

Being a woman writer Divakaruni Cleary depicts the inner conflicts of the protagonist.

For many centuries women are remained as a voiceless to raise her voice against this patriarchal

society. So she uses change of weather to depict the unspoken emotions of the protagonist.

Narrative Hook is an important technique to engage the reader in stories. It is a technique

at the beginning of the story; it may be an opening line or a single line that impressed the readers

to engage with the story. Divakaruni uses melancholic words to begin this story to hook the

reader’s attention. She addresses the inner voice of the protagonist in the beginning of this story.

You practice them out loud for days in front of the bathroom mirror, the words

with which you will tell your mother you’re living with a man. Sometimes they

are words of confession and repentance. Sometimes they are angry, defiant.

Sometimes they melt into a single, sighing sound. Love.” ( Chitra 57)

Divakaruni uses some of the literary devices like imagery to make her story more

figurative. It is a descriptive language to deepen the reader’s understanding of the work. She

depicts the deep set of stereotypical values in Indian society, especially Calcutta. Divakaruni

describes the Bengali people’s life style through the customs and traditions of Calcutta. A society
has imposed certain rules for the people to lead the life to balance their social status in the

society. It shows that how the society influenced in everyone’s personal life.

“She lives in a different world. Can’t you see that? She’s never travelled more

than a hundred miles from the village where she was born; she’s never touched

cigarettes or alcohol; even though she lives in Calcutta, she’s never watched a

movie.” (Chitra 58)

In these lines Divakaruni expresses the life of the protagonist mother to make her boy friend to

understand her love for her mother. She doesn’t want to lose both of them. So she tried her best

to balance both of them in her life. She expressed her feelings to both of them but they are not

able to comfort her.

Divakaruni wants to add some more color to her story through figures of speech.

Metaphor is used to refer two things that has similar characteristics and it is containing an

implied comparison. Here Divakaruni compares the narrator’s love to rain, observing how her

true love doesn’t understand by her boyfriend and her mother that had broken her heart. She

can’t balance both the relationships whereas she is tired of explaining her love for them. So the

protagonist compares her love to rain that washes away all her turmoil’s and leaves her to start a

new life.

“And a word comes to you out of the opening sky. The word love. You see that

you had never understood it before. It is like rain, and when you lift your face to

it, like rain it washes away inessentials, leaving you hollow, clean, ready to

begin”.(Chitra 71)
Women are considered as the symbol of love but in the certain stage, the extreme affection

modifies them to leave everything even their loved ones by hat redness.

Cliffhanger is a plot device in stories, when a story concludes with plot twist. Divakaruni

is known for her plot twisting to keep on her reader in suspense. In this story how the protagonist

gets out from her guilty conscious and from her difficult dilemma to choose whom is important

in her life. This device used to ensure how she resolves the dilemma. “You know then that when

you return to the apartment you will pack your belongings. A few clothes, some music, a

favorite book, the hanging. No, not that. You will not need it in your life, the one you’re going to

live for yourself”. (71)

The writer explicit the clear form of hat redness in the protagonist’s life. Her struggle between

her dilemmas creates herself as a new woman to live a life for herself

“A Perfect Life” is another story from Divakaruni’s anthology of short stories. In this

story she deals with duality in life, how the protagonist Meer resolves her dilemma throughout

this story. Formerly she is fond of western culture and their life style, she belongs to the

xenophilic immigrant’s type whereas the time modifies her life and it induces her own identity.

Divakaruni uses First Person narrative in this story to create a close relationship between

the reader and the writer. T his type of narration can be identified by the use if I or We. The

protagonists themselves are sharing their experiences or their inner voice, may be its perspective

of a particular character. Here Divakaruni uses the first person narration through the perspectives

of the protagonist Meera. “Before the boy came, I had a good life. A beautiful apartment in the

foothills with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, an interesting job at the bank with colleagues I

mostly liked, and, of course, my boyfriend Richard.”.(73)

 Setting is the most important thing to understand the background of the story and the

protagonist’s environment that places a vital role in the story. In this short story Divakaruni tells

how the protagonist struggles between the love and rules and customs of California, her dilemma

to follow the heart or mind clearly expressed in this story. Divakaruni explains the different

views of two different countries. California is a place, where everything must have record and

they have to do everything in a legal way. “Stupid and dangerous”, he was saying now. “I can’t

believe you’ve kept him for over a week. You could get into a lot of trouble with the law. They

could bring all kinds of charges against you-kidnapping, child abuse.”(86)

Divakaruni pictures India as a stereo typical country where the marriage is more

important than anything that’s why the protagonist moves to California to live a freedom tic life.

She doesn’t completely the marriage but she needs a time to fulfill her dreams in her career. Here

the writer shows the two different points of view of two nations.

“I knew I was right. Because in Indian marriages becoming a wife was only the

prelude to that all-important, all-consuming event- becoming a mother. That

wasn’t why I’d fought so hard-with my mother to leave India; with my professors

to make it through graduate school; with my bosses to establish my career.”(76)

Through this story the writer differentiates the customs of India and California. The protagonist

considers the India as a stereo typical one and America as a hope for better future. She may hate

marriage and motherhood but that is her identity so that can’t be easily erased from her.

Narrative hook is a literary technique; it might be a single line or an opening sentence of a story

to induce the reader to continue the text. It’s a writer’s strategy to keep their readers engaged in

the story. Divakaruni uses this technique at the opening line of the story to create a curiosity
among the readers to read more. “Before the boy came, I had a good life. A beautiful apartment

in the foothills with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, an interesting job at the bank with

clleagues I mostly liked, and, of course, my boyfriend Richard.”(73)

Flash forward is a literary technique; it clearly depicts the post modern technique. In this

story the protagonist’s wishes expressed in the form of flash forward technique. This technique

proves that this story contains all the elements of post modern period. Meera imagines her

perfect life with Krishna in her future without her boyfriend Richard; this implies that she is

ready to sacrifice anything for presence of Krishna in her life.

“I take him to buy his first car. I help him to fill out his college applications. Late

in the night we sit as we’re doing right now and talk about life and death and girls

and rock music or whatever else it is that mothers and sons talk about. There is no

Richard in these pictures, and (I feel only a moment’s guilt as I think this) no need

of him.”(90)

This shows how Krishna has completely occupied the life of Meera. She started to feel

comfortable with him and the love between them is strongly portrays by Divakaruni. This

motherly love modifies her completely , she doesnt feel the absence of Richard in her life.

Plot twist is another technique used by Divakaruni in this story to collapse the reader’s

assumptions about preceding concept. It produces a sudden change in the direction or expected

outcome of the plot in the story. How Meera’s life has changed after the entry of krishna in her

life whereas how his absence from her life has modified her life completely in the end of the

story. “I just went in for a moment,” Amelia Otiz was telling us, ‘just for a moment to answer
the phone, and when I came back out into the backyard where he’d been helping me with the

wedding, he was gone”. ( Chitra 104)

Readers are always fond of twist in the stories; it makes them more interesting to proceed

further. Unexpected events draws additional interest to the readers. Divakaruni uses the plot

twist in a well manner to make her reader greedier towards the story. A writer must think beyond

their reader’s mind to give some unexpected twists in the story. If the story moves in a asusual

way , it will be boring to the readers. So Divakaruni give some twists to drive her readers in the

different way.

First person narrative is a common technique in literature. The speaker narrates the story

in her point of view in the story ‘Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs. Divakaruni uses this

technique to tell the story in a more effective way. The protagonist Jayanti shares her

immigration experiences through the first person narrative in this story to make it more realistic.

“I’ve looked forward to this day for so long that when i finally board the plane I can hardly

breathe.”(Chitra 35)

Divakaruni gives more important to social setting in all her stories. Her description of

social setting add additional beauty to her style. Mostly her social setting describes the

difference between the two different countries. She compares the beauty of two different

cultures to draw her diasporic theme in more attractive way.

The air inside the plane smells different from the air I’ve known all my life in Calcutta,

moist and weighted with the smell of mango blossoms and bus fumes and human sweat. This air

is dry and cool and leaves a slight metallic aftertaste on my lips. I lick at them, wanting to

capture that taste, make it part of me forever.(Chitra 36)

 Here the Protoganist makes a comparision of her native land with migrated land. These

lines shows how she is lured by the western countires that makes her to adore the atmosphere of

new country.

It’s quite common ,we know the value of the things when we lost it. It’s mainly felt by

the immigrants those who wants to return to their native land. They recall their olden days when

they were in foreign country. Divakaruni uses flashback technique to express immigrants

nostalgic feeling.

“I want my room in Calcutta, where things were so much simpler. I want the high

mahogany bed in which I’ve slept as long ass I can remember, the comforting smell of sundried

cotton sheets to pull around my head. I want my childhood again. But I am too far away for the

spell to work, for the words to make me back, even in my head.”( chitra 55)

Divakaruni uses figures of speech in this story to compare the protagonist’s feeling with

the snow. When the snow covers her hand , she feels that she was no longer brown. Here snow

symbolises white colour and brown symbolises indian people colour. This foreign nation made

her feel like she was impure. Through this Divakaruni stresses the immigrants suffered by the

racial discrimination in the foreign countries. “When I finally look down, I notice that the snow

has covered my own hands so they are no longer brown but white, white, white.”(chitra 56)

Divakaruni uses a simple language to make easier for the readers to interpret with the

text. whereas she follows the implied memaning fo herr stories. Her works mostly based on

struggles of immigration especially women to voice out. Being a immigrant writer, she clearly

shows the immigrant struggle through her works. Her narrative style is different from others, in

her all works she gives women as the protoganist and male as the antigonist. Though she
migrates to western countries, her writings replicts the indianess which is still lying inside her.

She pays more attention to the social setting of a story to differentiate the two diffirent cultures.

She follows the nameless technique in her stories like some of the famous writers

R.K.Narayanan and virginia woolf. These styles and techniques help her to prove herself as

peculiar writer among all the contemporary writers. Multi perspective theme is her speciality,

she uses various themes like diaspora , alienation, mother hood , indianess, impacts of Inter

ratial relationship in these three short stories ‘ Silver Pavements , Golden Roofs’, ‘The Word

Love’ and ‘A Perfect Life’. In the chapter we are analyse the multi perspective themes like

cultural conflict, isolation, identity crisis in her short stories.

 Chapter 3

Clash of Cultures

Culture makes a man wise and civilized and it moulds our life in the moral way. Clash of

culture is the major issue in immigration. In these three stories Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee tells

the hardships of Xenophilic immigrants, how they struggle to accommodate in the new culture.

They think that immigration is the only way to rescue themselves from the Indian traditions.

Divakaruni mentions women as the protagonist in her stories. Being a immigrant Divakaruni

sheds light on problems faced by the women in western countries. Women failed to stand

headstrong on their own culture, when they moved to a new land. This immigration helps them

to realise whom they are and where they really belonged to. Culture is a part of human identity

to mould themselves and it makes the people to lead a civilized life in the society. This is the

reason why culture is considered as a more prominent one for human life. Because culture

regenuvate us and teaches us to follow the moral way.

Culture is inherited in every human being, which is followed by our ancestors. When

there is no culture, there is no love and humanity. It teaches us what is important for a human

life. Culture is the only thing, which modified us from savages into human. Culture is

considered as a identity of human to tell indirectly where they belonged to. Culture which is

made by us to live in a particular way. It’s our right we can follow any other culture and religion

but we have to realise that we are the only one who sows the seed for destruction of our own

culture. In this modern era Science and technology plays a vital role in destruction of culture,

which helps them to know about different life styles seem more attractive to them.
 Divakaruni potrays the difficulties of Interratial relationship in her stories. Mainly she

wants to bring out the hardships faced by women immigrants and their struggle between the

existence of two lives in her short stories. At first they are ready to assimilate in this new culture

without realising the difficulties of adopting a new culture. They have deliberately submitted

themselves in the conflicts of duality in life. Unknowingly their own identity has started to

emerge from them, which they want to hide completely. They begin to realise that originality

cannot be changed in human life.

Self Identity which can’t be easily erased from us, we may hide that for maintain our

social status in the society, Mainly the immigrants those who are migrated to foreign countries

won’t explicit their own identity. They want to erase their own identity to lead a new life

whereas they learn to pretend in the new culture by hiding their originality. Indian people

blindly believe the western countries as a hope for life with full of freedom. This is because

Indians still follow the conventions. People are failed to see the reason behind the conventions

that are followed by our ancestors. Particularly the women want to migrate to other countries to

overcome herself from the suppression and gender inequality. Chitra clearly portrays in her

story how her feminine characters have treated equally by their men in western countries. India is

a male dominating society so they expect women should remain as voiceless but in the western

countries women are equally treated by the men and they have the rights to express their

feelings. This is the main reason why women want to move to western countries, she doesn’t

want to live under someone’s domination.

People are ready to assimilate in their new culture instead of standing head strong on

their own culture. They have found western countries as a hope for better life, we all already

known this “Blue are the hills that are away”. Everyone is attracted by the outer appearance they
have failed to see the inner beauty of their own country. Technology has reached a tremendous

growth in Indian countries, it helps them to gather information about the life style of other people

that corrupts their mind and shows the path for migration. Change is a law of nature whereas we

have to analyze both the positive and negative aspects of changing. In this 21st century migration

is a common thing, parents are allowed their daughter to pursue their dreams in foreign

countries, we may consider this as a development however it is slowly destroying our own

culture and tradition. One sows the seed for the destruction of Indian culture through various

means. The main drawback is unaware of the value of originality that draws the people to loss

their identity.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni fetches the struggle of immigration in her ‘Silver Pavements,

Golden Roof”. Jayanti is one of the major characters in this story. Xenophilic immigrants those

who are fond of foreign cultures, Jayanti is one of them. She is ready to assimilate in this new

culture; she hasn’t bothered about destroying her own individuality. Her assumption about

America makes her to change herself in this new country. She has only heard about the positive

aspects of America, she is not aware of the true color of American society. She has a more

hopeful and promising attitude towards America are later let down by her migrated uncle,

because he has been in America for longer and the society have taught him an unforgettable

lesson.

Chitra speaks through the character of Jayanti about the hardships faced by the

immigrants. The immigrants are not only faced the isolation but also suppression,

marginalization and racism. Jayanti strongly believes that America is the place where she can

find the meaning of her life. The title itself describes the views of Jayanti that America is the

place where there is full of silver pavements and golden roofs. But her dreams are shattered
when she has reached Chicago. The lifestyle of her aunt Partita and her uncle Bikram bring her

into the reality that Chicago is no more an opulent place.

“The apartment is another disappointment, not at all what an American home should be

like. I have seen the pictures in Good Housekeeping and Sunset at the USIS library

(Chitra 40)

Jayanti and Pratima lead two different lifestyles in Chicago but they have brought in the

same Indian culture. Pratima who has been in Chicago for so long symbolizes the Indian

tradition but Jayanti has just left India and she symbolizes the western culture. Chitra throws

lights on the difficulties of Indian Arranged Marriage system. A good Indian daughter should

never say no their parents, they have to marry the man who is chosen by her parents. If the bride

grooms are already settled in abroad, she has to migrate with him. The same thing has happened

in the life of Pratima how she is migrated to Chicago. Pratima has got all the qualities of a good

Indian daughter as well as a good Indian wife. Sometimes the activity of Pratima makes Jayanti

to wonder whether she has left Calcutta at all. Pratima has fully devoted herself to her husband.

Jayanti symbolizes the western culture. She is against the Indian culture. She decides to do love

marriage not an arrange marriage like her aunt Pratima.

Bikram is one of the minor character in this story. Bikram is vice versa of Jayanti, how

he has come to America to flourish in his life. It remains as unattained aspirations of Bikram. In

his point of view it is foolish to expect equality from the Americans. Jayanti can see the pain of

Bikram in his words about Chicago. Her mind is filled with optimistic view of America, but her

uncle is more hopeless towards the life in America.

“Things here aren’t as perfect as people at home like to think.

 We all thought we had become millionaires. But it’s not so easy.”(chitra 43)

Racism is the major issue in immigration. This made Bikram detest this country. This is

the reason why they are leading a simple lifestyle. He tries his best to protect Pratima and Jayanti

from the nasty surroundings. Bikram doesn’t want to create any false impressions about

America; he wants to show the reality of American society to her. But Jayanti still has some

positive aspects about American Dream and she thinks that he is corrupting her minds by

creating a false impression about America.

“The Americans hate us. They are always putting us down

Because we’re dark skinned foreigners, Kala admit. Blaming us

For the damn economy, for taking away their jobs. You’ll see it

For yourself soon enough.”(Chitra 43)

Jayanti has deliberately submitted herself in the hands of Racism; she wants to enjoy her

evening walk and urges Pratima to accompany her that helps them to change their view about

America. In the streets Americans has addressed them as a “Nigger” which means black people

and they throw the slush into them. Actually they are two beautiful young women of India but in

the eyes of Americans, Non Americans are “Nigger”. Now Jayanti wants to show her identity

that she belongs to a well brought up Bengali family. At first she is ready to change herself for

the American Dream but the racism has stimulated her to explore her own identity. This is the

first time that Pratima has done something against the wish of Bikram. This helps Jayanti to

know what has happened in the life of Pratima and Bikram, how the Americans have smashed

their own shop.

 “T his damn country, like a drain, a witch- it pretends to give

And then snatches everything back”. (Chitra 54)

This immigration has changed Jayanti’s false impression about arranged marriage by

seeing the life of her aunt .Even though they have failed to live an opulent life, Pratima is happy

about her life. Pratima stays with Bikram in his hard times to comfort him. She never worries

about her past life, she is happy with what she has already. We can identity that Jayanti’s

American Dream has emerged in her childhood. She used to sing a song.

“Will I marry a prince from a far-off magic land?

Where the pavements are silver and the roofs all

Gold?”(Chitra 56)

Alienation helps Jayanti to think about her own home, where everything is simple and

where she can feel the inner peace. She finds her comfort place and she wants her childhood

again to sleep peacefully in her own bed. The immigration has created a great impact in Jayanti’s

life by removing the spell of American Dream from her life.

The other drawback of immigration is nostalgia. Despite the major characters deliberately

leave their native, they have a strong feel of Indianess runs in their blood. This helps them to

realize the fact that east or west, home is the best. They believe that home is the real place where

they can find solace, peace and real love. The love between mother and daughter is clearly

explained by Divakaruni in these stories. The mothers sacrifice their life for their daughters even

in the state when they had no male support. They strongly stand alone in this male dominated

society and raised their children to stand on their own. Its shows the self confidence of Indian
women in this male dominated society. At the same time they are not failed to follow our

customs and tradition. Divakaruni compares the old indian culture and modern indian culutre. T

he story “The Word Love” and “ The Perfect Life” here she mainly describes about the motherly

love. Motherhood is a born nature of every indian women. Though they may hate indian

marriage life style, the motherly figure is still lying inside every women. The clash of cultures

clearly expresses in these two stories and how they tackle the duality in life and how they torn

between the two cultures. The motherly figure plays a vital role in her stories.Whatever the

technologies may improve, still they cling on indian traditions and customs. Because they blindly

believe the words of their ancestors and they know the reason behind the every conventions

In the story ‘The Word Love’ Chitra tells the words of confession of a immigrant

daughter to the Indian mother. Mother, daughter relationship is strongly rooted in Indian people

eventhough they have migrated to western countries. The unnamed protagonist migrates to

California to pursue her Doctorate. She belongs to a conservative Bengali family but she is

allowed to follow her dreams in different country.

The story opens with the words of repentance of the protagonist. She is torn between the

two different cultures . She is not able to decide where to go, like a cat on the wall. She struggles

to make understand her love to both her boyfriend and her mother but they have failed to realise

her true love. She practices everyday infront of the bathroom mirror to open up her living

together relationship to her mother , At the same time she tries to hide her guilty consciousness

from her boyfriend . She doesn’t want to end up with both of them.

The another important character in this story is protagonist’s mother, Divakaruni

represent her as a symbol of Indian tradition. She keenly follows the bengali tradition. Culture is
more prominent throughout her life. Eventhough she lives in Calcutta, she hasn’t watched a

cinema yet. She put on widows white when the protagonist was just two years old. She has lived

her life only for her daughter , who is the only hope after her husband’s death. She has dedicated

her whole life to bringing up the protagonist. She has never lived a life for herself. She lives in

a different world where culture plays a main role in one’s life. It is not easy to her to accept that

her daughter is living with a foreign man because she saw her husband’s face for the first time at

her marriage. The protagonist too has come from the same tradition but the word ‘Love’ make

her to forget her rootedness that leaves her in the dilemma.

“You tried to tell him about your mother, how she’d seen her husband’s face for the fitst

time at her wedding. How, when he died (when you were two years old then), she had taken off

her jewelry and put on widow’s white and dedicated the rest of her life to the business of

bringing you up. We only have each other, she often told you.”

Divakaruni stresses the role of mother in protagonist life, Because she is the only one

who stands behind her to pursue her dream in a far away land. It’s not a easy thing to bring up a

girl child without a male support in this society at the same time she boldly make her daughter

to stand on her own leg. This repentance helps the protagonist to recall her mother’s sacrifice to

bring up her that draws her into guilt ridden. She is the only one who stands behind her success.

In her teenage she went to cinema with her friends , her mother made her stand outside for her

disobedience. So it is noy easy for her to forgive her daughter when she knows that her daughter

is living in sin with an foreign man. She started to detest her . She changed her phone number

and she feels ashamed for bore a disobedient girl. She never give ears to the protagonist to what

she is trying to say, she completely avoids her. Family’s reputation is more important for her

than her daughter.

 “She lives in different world. Can’t you see that? She’s never traveled more than a

hundred miles from the village where she was born; she’s never touched cigarettes or alcohol;

eventhough she lives in Calcutta, she’s never watched a movie.”

The protagonist recalls a story which was told by her mother in her childhood. A story

about a young girl, who was cheated by a boy and got pregnant . At last she ended her life by

drowning. Sometimes the protagonist had a dream like a young girl drowns in the lake and her

face turned towards the protagonist. Sometimes it resembles like her own face, her hallucinations

increase her guilt ridden.

Rex is another important character in this story . He symbolies the westerrn culture. He

feels strange to see her girlfriend’s guilt ridden and the love between the two. His way of life

style is differ from them, he stays alone and he phones her parents only on mother’s day and

fathers day. So he is not able to feel the protagonist love for her mother and that makes him to

keep aloof from her. He wants to rescue herself from her depression but that end up with

quarrel between them. He can’t tolerate the indian tradition. He feels jealousy on the

connection between the mother and the daughter. In case of her avoiding the quarrels, she

remains passive. In the end the protagonist decides to leave both of them and live a life for

herself.

The third story is ‘A Perfect Life’, rootlessness is the main theme of this story.

Divakaruni tells the drawback of forgetting our own rootedness to assimilate in a new culture in

this story. We are always fond of things which is far away from us . We won’t realise the value

of things which we already have. Divakaruni stresses that how far we have gone from our native

but our identity is still lying inside us. We may hide our identity but that can’t be demolished
from us. Immigration helps the people to realise the value of lost things which they found

ridiculous and useless before. Their dreams about foreign cultures remained as hallucinations

when they have known the true color of western countries.

In this story Divakaruni mainly discusses about the value of motherhood , at first the

protagonist detains it. She thinks that nursing a child is a waste of time and it seems to her like

useless thing. Being a women, she must have some thirst for motherhood but she won’t. She is

not like any other typical Indian girl that is the reason why she wants to move away from India.

She decides to move western countries to shine on her banking profession, she doesn’t want to

lead a usual life . From her teenage she had a desire to get a foreign boyfriend, these are the

hooks which draws her to the American country. She belongs to highly traditioned bengali

culture, she wants to rescue herself from the family customs. Though she belongs to a

conservative family, she wants to live a westernized life.

“Before the boy came, I had a good life. A beautiful apartment in the foothills with a

view of the Golden Gate Bridge, an interesting job at the bank with the collleagues I mostly

liked, and, of course, my boyfriend Richard”(chitra 73)

The protagonist Meera is a successful business woman in America, she is lured by the

western culture. She blindly believes that she could lead a perfect life only in America. Her

boyfriend Richard helps her to believe that she is a true American by means of their live-in

relationship. Richard is a different man, he doesn’t control Meera like other Indian males. She

has got her dream boy. Meera hates marriage and motherhood, her boyfriend too agrees with her

opinion. She leads her life as per her wish without any restrictions. In her point of view

marriage is a slavery where women are trapped by responsibilities. She is admired to see her
friends, whom are playing a mother role without any hatred. She wants to be independent even at

the age of thirty. It is quite unnatural to see a girl like the protagonist, who brought up in Indian

culture but not interested in marriage and motherhood.

Meera accepts that she is leading a perfect life before a little boy enters into her life. She

finds him in her flat under the stairs. She doesn’t know that this is the boy, who is going to

modify her entire life and to prove herself that her way of living is not a perfect life. The little

boy doesn’t belong to America, his past life remains a mystery to her. She finds some wounds on

her back that reflect he is tormented by someone. She hides him from Richard and her friend

Sharmila. At first Meena irritated to look after him as the boy doesn’t even know to use the

toilet. Meena is hesitant to do marriage to avoid the responsibilities of being a mother. Now her

routine life is modified him. Gradually and unknowingly, Meera has entered a parental life and

she feels that she is changing as a mother to him. She names him the boy Krishna. In course of

time, she began to get on well with the boy. At first she hates motherhood but now she treats

Krishna as her own son. This clearly expresses the rootedness of Indian culture which is hidden

in Meera for so long and it stimulated by Krishna.

“Don’t you mind not being married? Don’t you miss having a little one to scramble onto your

lap when you come home at the end of the day?”(chitra 75)

Krishna is the main hook of this story. Though he remains passive, his presence modifies

Meera into a motherely figure. Words are not essential between Meera and Krishna, silence

made their bond more stronger . She saw the wounds on his back, she can’t bear the pain while

he is screaming. Sometimes Meera feels guilty because she doesn’t take any steps to find

Krishna’s parents. She is not going to search them, they failed to save Krishna from burnings. A
mother should stand behind her children and she should save her child from the demons. But

Krishna’s mother failed to do her responsibility of being a mother. Sometimes she appeared on

Meera’s dream almost every night and weeps searching for her son. Meera can understand the

accusing look from the dream mother however Meera is not ready to give him back to her.

She should be more careful, she shouldn’t have losted him. This shows that Meera has rescued

her life from the American lifestyle. She is not a Richard’s girl friend now she is a foster mother

of Krishna. Meera is ready to leave Richard for the sake of Krishna, she is completely tied by

motherely love. Krishna has come to prove Meera that she is not living a Perfect life in the

absence of motherhood in her life.

Richard is another important character in Meera’s life, who is a marketing manager for a

publishing company. It’s a long term wish for Meera to get a American boyfriend like Richard.

He has given the full freedom to her instead of controlling her like Indian men. Richard feels

possessive when Meer avoids him for Krishna. Now she only needs her rescued child than

anyone. Richard is not ready to accept Krishna because she gives more priority to Krishna than

him. Meera believes that the migration would completely modify her as a true American but the

same migration helps her to realise her own rootedness and the responsiblities of being a

women.

Chitra gives the detail description of hardships of immigrants especially female

immigrants in the foreign land and how they stick between the old and new, modern and

traditon. Their duality in life remain themselves as absurd in the course of time. At last the self

identity helps them to retrive themselves from the emotional traumas of migration.
 SUMMATION

Chitra Divakaruni, despite her prolific American identity, writes about the Indian culture

predominantly. Her themes mostly focus on the hardships of South Asian female immigrants.

She has been involved in various women empowerment organisations.

The essential aspect of Chitra Divakaruni’s work is the modification of passive female

protagonists into expressive independent women. She brings forth the sufferings of her female

characters, how they are tied by the traditions in their life. She narrates the real struggles of

women in the alienated nation.

Divkaruni throws lights on how the western culture lured the indian people to loss their

own identity. India has suffered a huge brain-drain in recent years. It shows the ignorance of

indian people who has failed to see the fertility of India. People are failed to give the vigorous

support for their own country. It is a sign of destroying our own culture and tradition. People

minds are corrupted by the western culture. They are changing their lifestyle to improve their

social status in the society, India is known for its tradition and culture but we are destroying it.

Development of technology has reached a tremendous growth in India, It helps the people to

know about others culture and tradition. We all know that change is the law of nature, In the

current era girls are permitted to pursue their higher studies in foreign countries but they failed to

stand head-strong on their own culture. These changes have both positive and negative aspects.

Being an Indian writer, she clearly expresses how India is losing its own beauty in this modern

era.

Thus,