"A Wife's Story," by Bharati Mukherjee

            “A Wife’s Story,” by Bharati Mukherjee is a combination of several things.  First, it details the experience of an Indian woman and her experiences in Manhattan.  She has left her home “to get a Ph.D. in special ed.” here in America.  She has left her home, her husband, and the way of life that she knew to “make something of [her] life.”  Second, it tells of her relationship with her husband.  She has an arranged marriage, “a traditional Hindu marriage,” stating in the story that “My parents, with the help of a marriage broker, who was my mother’s cousin, picked out a groom.  All I had to do was get to know his taste in food.”  The narrator’s husband visits her from Ahmadabad, an industry city in India.  The majority of the second half of the story details the husband’s journey with his wife and a tour group, sightseeing around Manhattan.  The narrator learns a lot about her husband’s taste in everything from clothes to food as they shop in the local stores; something they never did together back home.  Third, the story details the narrator’s opinion of David Mamet’s Glengarry, Glen Ross.  The narrator does not find Mamet’s comments about “Patels” to be the least bit funny.  She, being Indian herself, is offended by the derogatory stereotypes made towards Indian’s, and says that she will “write David Mamet;” presumably to inform him of how she feels about these lines in the play.  She states that:

            “I don’t hate Mamet.  It’s the tyranny of the American dream that scares me.  First, you don’t exist.  Then you’re invisible.  Then you’re funny.  Then you’re disgusting.  Insult, my American friends will tell me, is a kind of acceptance.  No instant dignity here.  A play like this, back home, would cause riots.  Communal, racist, and antisocial.  The actors wouldn’t make it off stage.  This play, and all these awful feelings, would be safely locked up.”

This passage definitely gives the reader a lot to think about in terms of how Americans accept insults as a way of life, and ignore the negative affects they can have on individuals.

Vocabulary:

Red silk Sari - a garment consisting of a length of cotton or silk elaborately draped around the body, traditionally worn by women from South Asia.

Conspicuous - standing out so as to be clearly visible.