Genre
Short Stories
Setting and Context
West Bengal between 1967-1971
Narrator and Point of View
"The Why-Why Girl" has a first-person narrator; the others have third-person omniscient narrators.
Tone and Mood
"Giribala": fearful, frantic, tragic
"Breast-Giver": resigned, depressed, questioning
"Draupadi": bitter, grim, violent, threatening
"Why-Why Girl": earnest, direct, humorous
"Bayen": fatalistic, gloomy, despairing
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonists: Giribala, Dopdi, Jashoda, Moyna, Chandi, Bhagirath; Antagonists: Kangali, Aulchand, Mohan, Senanayak, Malindar, the Doms
Major Conflict
"Giribala": How will Giri come to terms with her terrible marriage and loss of her two daughters?
"Bayen": Will Bhagirath have a relationship with Chandi? Will she ever be redeemed?
"Breast-Giver": How can Jashoda reconcile nurturing so many with her breasts with both breast cancer and being shunted aside in the Haldar household?
"Why-Why Girl": There is not much of a conflict, but whether or not Moyna will ever be satiated in her questions is a possibility.
"Draupadi": Will Dopdi be captured, and what will happen to her if she is?
Climax
"Giribala": Pori is sold off, confirming Giri's worst fears and leading her to leave her husband.
"Bayen": Chandi tries to stop a train and is killed.
"Breast-Giver": Mrs. Haldar dies, the daughter-in-laws take over, and Jashoda's life changes for the worse.
"Why-Why-Girl": Moyna realizes books are the answer to her questions.
"Draupadi": Dopdi is captured.
Foreshadowing
1. In "Giribala" Mohan talks to Giri and Aulchand about this situation with Bihari men buying Bengali brides, and Devi foreshadows what Aulchand is going to do by saying Aulchand did not forget about what Mohan told him.
Understatement
1. In "Breast-Giver" the term "make arrangements" is an understated way to refer to getting sterilized.
Allusions
1. The name of the protagonist Dopdi alludes to Draupadi, the historical character of Mahabharta.
2. In "Breast-Giver" Haldar worked for the "anti-Fascist struggle of the Allies," meaning he worked against Germany and Italy during WWII
3. In "Breast-Giver" the Lionseated refers to Durga, a martial goddess of rides a lion
4. In "Breast-Giver" the Vedas and Upanishads are sacred Hindu texts
5. In "Bayen" the Untouchability Act of 1955
6. In "Bayen" Antonioni is a reference to Michelangelo Antonioni, the cult-favorite filmmaker best known for "L'Avventura"
7. In "Draupadi" Prospero is a reference to the character in Shakespeare's "The Tempest"
Imagery
The imagery naturally varies from story to story, but much of it centers on women isolated from their families and/or communities, forced to grapple with the patriarchal and class pressures that make their lives difficult—for example, there is Giribala, wandering away from her husband; the exiled Chandi; the hunted and then victimized and then resilient Dopdi; the bereft Jashoda.
Paradox
n/a
Parallelism
n/a
Metonymy and Synecdoche
n/a
Personification
1. "The sores on her breast kept mocking her with a hundred mouths"
2. "Why did those breasts betray her in the end?"
3. "Guilt said—she lived with us, we never took a look at her, when did the disease catch her . . . "
4. "Did fate have to make a witch out of her?"
5. "It was dead noon and time for evil to cast its spell on human beings"
6. "Diabetes has twelve husbands"
