Analysis Of If You Eat, Then What Am I By Geeta Kothai

Geeta Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” shares a personal story of a young woman’s efforts to find her identity as she grows up in a culture different than her parents. Kothari retells memories from her childhood in India, as well as her experiences as an American student. Kothari uses food as a representation of culture, and she struggles to appreciate her parent’s culture, often wishing that she was like the American children. Kothari’s tone changes as she comes to realize the importance of maintaining connections to her Indian culture. Originally published in a Kenyon College magazine, Kothari’s main audience was originally student based, and she aimed to give her young readers a new perspective to diversity. Through the

Kothari employs a mixture of narrative and description in her work to garner the reader’s emotional investment. The essay is presented in seventeen vignettes of differing lengths, a unique presentation that makes the reader feel like they are reading directly from Kothari’s journal. The writer places emphasis on both her description of food and resulting reaction as she describes her experiences visiting India with her parents: “Someone hands me a plate of aloo tikki, fried potato patties filled with mashed channa dal and served with a sweet and a sour chutney. The channa, mixed with hot chilies and spices, burns my tongue and throat” (Kothari). She also uses precise descriptions of herself: “I have inherited brown eyes, black hair, a long nose with a crooked bridge, and soft teeth

She compares India to “a silk cocoon frozen in time where we are sheltered by family and friends” (Kothari). The metaphor gives the reader a descriptive image of a haven that Kothari’s parents experience when visiting their homeland. She describes the cocoon to represent something safe and familiar (Kothari). Kothari also uses symbolism to describe American students. When she speaks of the “tuna eaters,” she is representing the American children, creating a separation between herself as a non-tuna eater (Kothari). Kothari goes on further to show her differences from the American students by ironically stating: “The tuna smells fishy” (Kothari). She makes it clear that tuna is a foreign food for her, though it is the representative food of the American students (Kothari). Kothari employs rhetorical devices and strengthen the depiction of her struggles with her identity by using different symbolic and figurative techniques. For readers to understand Kothari’s purpose through these devices, her main points are effectively strengthened since there is a level of analysis added to her piece that forces reader to think