Clothes By Divakaruni Summary

What is a symbol?. It can be a literary symbol: a setting, character, action, object, name, or anything else in a work that maintains its literal significance while suggesting other meanings or conventional symbol: widely recognized by a society or culture from the “Glossary of Literary Terms,”website http://www.macmillanlearning.com. In the short story “Clothes”,by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, there are many hidden symbol that is not noticeable at first glance. However, once student look at the short story more closely. They will notice that they can categories the three major symbols into clothes, colors, and 7-Eleven. Different kind of clothes are shown in the short story that at first does not seem to mean anything until students start analyzing the short story. Sumitra changing clothes at different time of her life symbolizes her changing characteristics. Such as sari in India meaning a lot in their culture that the sari for Sumitra is her Indian identity and her past. As the short story mention the
Because 7-Eleven help illustrate the difference between the two culture India and America. The name 7-Eleven came from gambling that represent luck in America. While India stores name is after gods and goddesses (para. 17). For America selling alcohol is popular, but back in India it is not popular at all as alcohol is against their culture (para. 17-18). The store open 24 hour compare to India that closed at dinnertime (para. 16). Also the store can represent the American Dream. The symbol of clothes, colors, and 7-Eleven is the hidden message in short story “Clothes”. The symbol allow student to understand the short story more in depth, not just the surface meaning. Also help student to comprehend the theme of the story and how they are connected back to the short story. However, students should make sure to they know the correct meaning for the symbol as the symbol can represent a different meaning depending on the