Clothes by Chitra Divakaruni the Essay

33 that she and her husband saved together (Albert 99). Her husband, a proprietor of a 7-11 in a dangerous neighborhood, has worked hard for the family to establish a foothold in American society, and to leave his dream behind her seems like a defeat and a betrayal of his memory, as well as betrayal of her new identity.

When her husband dies, Sumita knows that to return to India will mean a regression for herself as an individual as well as a loss of her husband's dreams. Sumita calls widows who are serving their in-laws in India doves with cutoff wings, reflecting her own fear of losing her newfound freedom.By using her marriage as a springboard for independence, even after it ends, the author shows how Sumita is engaged in "the strenuous balancing act of having one foot in one country, the other foot in another" (Prose 20). Her struggle reflects the "lived reality of relocations and dislocations" of the East Asian diaspora that are often particularly difficult for women (Katrak 5)

Works Cited

Albert, Janice. "How now, my metal of India." The English Journal. 86. 5. September 1999.

pp. 99-100.

Katrak, Ketu. H. "The Aesthetics of Dislocation: Writing the Hybrid Lives of South Asian

Americans." The Women's Review of Books. 19. 5. February 2002,.....