Clothes By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Summary

In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s story titled “Clothes”, part of the collection titled Arranged Marriage, she tells the story of Sumita, an Indian woman placed into an arranged marriage with Somesh Sen. Young and nervous, Sumita journeys across the world to live with her new husband in California. Sumita’s story does not solely focus on her marriage, but also displays the evolution of her confidence and strength. She takes a lesser traveled path to self-discovery, facing hardships of moving to a new country, leaving her family and joining a new one, to becoming a widow. More than just garments, Sumita’s saris and American clothing are key in helping Sumita transition from girlhood to womanhood, to warrior- helping her gain confidence and strength down the path of self-discovery.

In the beginning, the saris reflect the early Sumita, not too confident in herself, or her

Marking her appearance as a widow, Samita wears a borrowed, white sari, “the color of endings”(29). This white sari reveals the events that she did not have control over. It marks what has happened to her. While lying on the floor in her sari, thinking about the women's lake and her near drowning experience, she reclaims her future. Not wanting to conform to the cultural expectation to stay with the husband's family, knowing that she must not be a “dove with cut-off wings”, Sumita transitions to a warrior (33). She demonstrates the confidence, and strength that she has gained on her path toward self-discovery. At the end of the story, she says that she is “readying [her]self for the arguments of the coming weeks, the remonstrations” (33). Complete confidence and strength is displayed by Sumita in her decision to not go back to India. She is preparing herself to fight her own battles, and to survive to get what she wants: her Great