Account of "sumita's Development"

Account of "Sumita's development"

The first person narrator, Sumita, tells a short story of her arranged marriage. The story is written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in 1995.

Sumita moves to America to live with her husband and her in-laws. She is looking forward to work in 7-eleven which her husband partly owns.

Somesh's parents are very conservative and live an almost Indian life in America. They want Sumita and Somesh to do the same, therefore they have to hide the fact that Sumita secretly dresses like an American woman.

All of a sudden Sumita's husband is killed by a gunman in 7-eleven. Sumita's new role as a widow means that she has to live with her in-laws for the rest of her life, if she decides to move back to India. She takes the decision to stay in America so she put on her American clothes. Sumita starts to develop in many ways, but I'll focus on her way of dressing.

The short story is called clothes and is an essential element throughout the story.

Before Sumita moved to America and started her new lifestyle, she was not used to wear clothes that revealed her body shapes. In India they wear a sari. It is a kind of a dress worn by women which is usually wrapped around the waist and covers the whole body and its shapes.

When Sumita's husband died and she decided to stay in America, she became more integrated with the culture. What she is wearing now as a typical American woman is making her happy. She is wearing clothes that are revealing her body shapes for the first time in her life, and she is comfortable with it. "I'm wearing a pair of jeans now, marveling at the curves of my hips and thighs, which have always been hidden under the flowing lines of my saris. [...] The jeans come with a close-fitting T-shirt which outlines my breasts" (p. 177, ll. 27-32)

As a widow she is supposed to wear a white sari. "White. Widow's color, color of endings." (p. 180, l. 16).

In the end Sumita decides to drop the white sari and wear the western clothes instead. This shows that she wants to be a part of the American culture. Her clothes are a symbol of her new American identity she is developed into.