The Mistress Of Spices By Chitra Lekha Banerjee Divakaruni Essay

As stated in Paul Freedman’s, Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination, “The passion for spices underlies the beginning of the European colonial enterprise, a force that remade the demography, politics, culture, economy, and ecology of the entire globe” (Freedman 3). By the mid- fifteenth century, the Silk Road was deteriorating, leaving the world with the solid grasp on trading, as well as supply and demand. Every country and area had developed their “trade mark” and had adequate understanding on the process of trading. At this time, European’s still had many mysteries they were trying to solve, regarding demography, politics, culture, economy, and ecology, as Freedman mentioned. Spices gave European’s the gateway they needed to unlock many new ideas. This new desired commodity enabled European’s to think “outside the box,” which resulted in a multitude of uses for spices, which made them an even more luxurious item. According to Freedman, “Of all the world’s commodities, spices most dramatically affected history because they launched Europe on the path to eventual overseas conquest, a conquest whose success and failure affects every aspect of contemporary world politics” (3). Freedman exhibits here that spices not only affected Europe, but the whole world as well. Spices intertwined Europe with the rest of the world. Because spices were a undiscovered product by most of the world, it was a mystery on how they should be used, and what they should be used with.

Mariam’s alienation prompted by her mother, father, and husband, in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, reveals the oppression and shame around being a woman in the society of her native Afghanistan. Mariam’s countless, inescapable struggles throughout her life were all regulated by the systematic dehumanization of women in a patriarchal society, which resulted in her living in constant shame and fear. Starting from her birth, she was seen as a bastard because she was conceived out of wedlock, from both her parents, Jalil and Nana, and her society. In her childhood, Mariam is marginalized, by living in a cottage far off from the public eye, because of her father’s fear of humiliation and her mother’s fear of Mariam experiencing the

Mahasweta Devi’s short story, “Giribala,” is about the life of Giribala, a girl of Talsana village located in India. Born into a caste in a time when it was still customary to pay a bride-price, Giri is sold to Aulchand by her father. From this point on, we see a series of unfortunate, tragic events that take place in Giri’s life as a result of the circumstances surrounding Giri’s life. There are many issues in Giri’s life in India that Devi highlights to readers. First, the economic instability of the village leads to an extremely poor quality of life for the lower, working classes. Next, the cruel role of women determined by men in society is to either satisfy the sexual desires of men or to reproduce offspring who can work or be sold off to marriages. There are also other social norms and beliefs which discriminate against women that will be discussed.

The females in The Red Lotus of Chastity and The Thousand and One Nights struggled against ideas of chastity that were created by a male dominated society. They had to over come the cultural ideals of what women should be and do. Devasmita and Shahrazad both decided to take matters into their own hands and not fall to male authority or their tricks. The themes of these novels are the feminine empowerment, loyalty and devotion.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni highlights the differences between Indian and American culture in her collection of short stories, Arranged Marriage. Each tale utilizes a different narrator, whether it is first or third person narration, to highlight the struggles women face in all arranged marriages. Many of these women live in America, yet India’s strict moral code still burdens them. In “Doors”, Preeti struggles to balance her American beliefs with the Indian beliefs of her husband, similarly to Anju, who wonders if her life and pregnancy would be different if she lived in India throughout “The Ultrasound”. In “The Word Love”, a woman must confront her situation and push her boundaries. Divakaruni shows the highs and lows of arranged marriages, proving that I would not thrive in a commitment made without my input.

This paper attempts to examine the fictional projections of Indian girls, to see how they emerge in ideological terms. Their journeys from self-alienation to self-adjustment, their childhood struggles against the hypocrisies and monstrosities of the grown-up world, eventually demolishing the unjust male constructed citadels of power that hinder their progress- are the highlighted issues. The point of comparison between the two novels focused on here is the journey of Rahel in The God of Small Things and Sai in The Inheritance from a lonely childhood to a tragic adulthood passing through a struggle with the complex forces of patriarchal society. Both the novels portray the imaginativeness, inventiveness, independence, rebelliousness, wide-eyed wonder and innocence associated with these young girls.

The indigenous warrior might have been “the swarthy terrorist in the patio. ” those indian bondage story might have been “a sort of saint operation porn. ” expansion Mather’s 1684 treatise “Remarkable Providences” might have been “an mysterious Ripley’s trust it or Not,” same time those sturdiness of a witchcraft denunciation “resembled an web gossip. ” Tituba, the subjugated lady Parris brought from barbados on Massachusetts, might have been “a sort sinister Scheherazade,” whose tales about witchcraft, exhibited “in supersaturated 3-D,” offered characters with “various superpowers. ” over we redound on “The Wizard of Oz”: those accusers adorned their tales, “nearly conjuring ruby slippers”; the ebbing of the trials might have been “like viewing

illustrates the use of language, the subjugation of women and the form of power over other

Advertisements these days use many different techniques in order to sell a product. The Old Spice Company uses several methods to convey a message and sell their product. Old Spice commercials are well known for using the famous Isaiah Mustafa, wrapped in just a towel, to talk about the company’s product. While Mustafa walks and talks, the background and setting of the commercial changes and the actor never loses eye contact. The product is always shown throughout the entire commercial. By combining all the elements of gender stereotyping, sexual imagery, and racial innuendoes, Old Spice is able to convey a message to sell their hygienic products.

Prior to her dream, Alexandra remembers how her “peculiarly happy” days transpired when she felt in her body “the joyous germination in the soil.” (111). While “germination” suggests a sexual connection with the land, it could also emphasize the deep inspiration Alexandra draws from the land. In the initial illusion, Alexandra envisions a strong man lifting her and carrying her “as easily as if she were a sheaf of wheat.” (112). Although Alexandra feels certain that the mysterious figure is a man, Cather’s portrayal of the illusion suggests that instead of a man, Alexandra’s fantasy is with the Divide itself as the man she fancies is “yellow life the sunlight” with a “smell of ripe cornfields about him” (112). Instead of a passion for a man like Carl Linstrum, Alexandra’s emotional faculties concentrate on the land as she romanticizes about a strong and epic personification of the Divide. Alexandra’s sexualization of the land signifies how she chose the dream of the land over love, making her relationship with land passionate, and her fantasy a gesture toward genuine human connection, as Carl has left her once again. In her second illusion, after the murder of her brother, Alexandra learns the identity of the mystery illusion. Though Cather describes the

Women are often stereotyped as powerless beings and objectified as trophies to men. This stigma that women carry is often illustrate_d inrV types of literatur(µA Thousand Splendid, ( .\\ (j{ 1 VftS , Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini illustrates e power f women, even in the most traiirnatic times of their lives. Hosseini develops a strong female protagonist, Mariam, in the novel through the use comparing and contrasting the cultural views of women durine period to the modem views of women and their capabilities to be just as powerful as men or even more powerful through the development of various traditional and nontraditional relationships. In the novel, Hosseini places a direct focus on family, in the traditional sense.

In this book, William J. Bernstein truly displays the struggles in trade that got the human race to the point it is at today, something that can easily be taken for granted in modern times. Throughout this book, the author makes the case that trade is a human instinct just as our need for food and shelter, as well as the fact that trade has overall strengthened our global prosperity (Bernstein, 18). Mr. Bernstein accomplishes his goal by getting these points across therefore effectively chronicling the evolution of trade and how it affected the human race. However, the author can at times drag on, in turn making the book a bit dull.

Society’s view of women has changed as a result of what they have accomplish to become relevant inside a man oriented culture. Women are accused of being untrustworthy, due to their approach of going around the rules. Although this may be true, their limited possibilities push them to use their cleverness to look for alternatives that will help them reach their goals. The stories of The Arabian Nights demonstrate that when women are in control of a situation they must be trusted, as long as they act upon good will.

The role of women in the Mahabharata makes an interesting and fascinating study providing insight into the strengths and weaknesses of their character. In the Mahabharata, four women play pivotal role in the course of events. The men play dice and wage wars in Mahabharata, as anywhere else; but it is the women who hold power and influence. It is the women who direct the course of events and unconsciously determine the fate of men and their generations to follow. The women are the true leaders of the Epic. These women displayed that the truly powerful do not cling to power. They knew when and how to wield it but also, even more important, to when not to use it.

As such, in this paper, with reference to Kunti’s portrayal in Romesh Chunder Dutt’s (1848-1909) Mahābhārata re-telling, I propose to study the Construction/Re-Construction and Fashioning/Re-Fashioning of the Woman of Mahābhārata in Colonial India in English Re-tellings.