FASTING, FEASTING ANALYSIS
Fasting, Feasting Topics for Discussion
Discuss what you think the author really means by "fasting" and "feasting." What are the physical and emotional implications of each?
How do you think the story would have been different if it had been Uma who had gone to America instead of Arun?
Do you think Anamika and Aruna ended up having better lives than Uma did? Explain why or why not.
What commonalities do you see in the dynamics of both families? What things are vastly different?
Discuss the importance of everyday spirituality in India as opposed to the apparent lack of any spiritual substance exhibited by the lives of the Pattons.
Why do you think Mrs. Patton has not recognized Melanie's obvious cries for help when they are clearly evident immediately to Arun?
Fasting, Feasting
1. In what ways do the two terms of the title—"fasting" and "feasting"—apply to family life and society in general in India and the United States?
2. What kinds of freedom and what specific freedoms do the characters seek? In what ways is the "total freedom of anonymity" that Arun experiences in his university dormitory similar to the freedom that Uma seeks?
3. What is the significance of Uma's experiences at, on, and in the sacred river? What does Desai mean when she writes of Uma's near-drowning (in chapter nine), "The saving was what made her shudder and cry ..."? What mysteries and "golden promises" does Uma seek within the convent school, with Mira-masi, and in her Christmas-card collection?
4. In what ways does spirituality enter the novel? What characters have authentic spiritual leanings or capacities? Are Uma's seizures, for example, instances of spiritual possession or eruptions of suppressed frustration and rage?
5. What roles and expectations are open to women and men in the India and America of Fasting, Feasting? What do the details of Anamika's and Aruna's marriages reveal about women's lives in traditional India?
6. What rebellions and attempts at
Discuss what you think the author really means by "fasting" and "feasting." What are the physical and emotional implications of each?
How do you think the story would have been different if it had been Uma who had gone to America instead of Arun?
Do you think Anamika and Aruna ended up having better lives than Uma did? Explain why or why not.
What commonalities do you see in the dynamics of both families? What things are vastly different?
Discuss the importance of everyday spirituality in India as opposed to the apparent lack of any spiritual substance exhibited by the lives of the Pattons.
Why do you think Mrs. Patton has not recognized Melanie's obvious cries for help when they are clearly evident immediately to Arun?
Fasting, Feasting
1. In what ways do the two terms of the title—"fasting" and "feasting"—apply to family life and society in general in India and the United States?
2. What kinds of freedom and what specific freedoms do the characters seek? In what ways is the "total freedom of anonymity" that Arun experiences in his university dormitory similar to the freedom that Uma seeks?
3. What is the significance of Uma's experiences at, on, and in the sacred river? What does Desai mean when she writes of Uma's near-drowning (in chapter nine), "The saving was what made her shudder and cry ..."? What mysteries and "golden promises" does Uma seek within the convent school, with Mira-masi, and in her Christmas-card collection?
4. In what ways does spirituality enter the novel? What characters have authentic spiritual leanings or capacities? Are Uma's seizures, for example, instances of spiritual possession or eruptions of suppressed frustration and rage?
5. What roles and expectations are open to women and men in the India and America of Fasting, Feasting? What do the details of Anamika's and Aruna's marriages reveal about women's lives in traditional India?
6. What rebellions and attempts at