Saving Sourdi by Mai-Lee Chai Term Paper

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The most important part of the girls becoming Americanized in this story is how Nea sees her sister. She says, "You sound like an old lady. You're only twenty, for Chrissake. You don't have to live like this. Ma is wrong. You can be anything, Sourdi'" (Chai 142). Nea realizes that they do not have to live their lives like they did before, and that anything is possible here, and that is the most important part of truly becoming an American.

In "Clothes," it is easier to see the Americanization of the main character, because she comes to America in the story, and has never been there before. Everything is new to her, and she becomes Americanized partly to please her husband and partly because she likes the life. She tries on American clothes, but sometimes she is frightened by everything new around her. The author writes, "But at other times I feel caught in a world where everything is frozen in place, like a scene inside a glass paperweight. It is a world so small that if I were to stretch out my arms, I would touch its cold unyielding edges" (Divakaruni 278). She does not welcome everything about America like the sisters in the other story. There are many things that frighten her, and it is more difficult for her to feel like an American and embrace the American lifestyle. However, when tragedy comes to her life, she discovers that she truly is an American, and that she can never go back to India, she has changed too much. The author writes, "That when I know I cannot go back. I don't know yet how I'll manage here in this new, dangerous land.

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I only know I must" (Divakaruni 281). She realizes something that Nea also realizes that in America, anything is possible, and that she can be anything she wants to be, if she works hard and learns.

Both of these stories show different ways that immigrant women begin to become American women. It is a slow process, and it seems that it is easier for the younger girls, who have fewer memories of their old lives, and want to fit in to their new lives. However, it is the same for all these characters, no matter how old they are or what happens to them. The young bride loses her husband but gains a sense of herself that she could never have found back home in India, and Sourdi learns that she can do anything, too. They both have the support of their husbands, (or did, anyway), and they both know that it will be hard for them, but they can do it. The Indian bride thinks, "I straighten my shoulders and stand taller, take a deep breath. [...] I tilt my chin, readying myself for the arguments of the coming weeks, the remonstrations. In the mirror a woman holds my gaze, her eyes apprehensive yet steady. She wears a blouse and skirt the color of almonds" (Divakaruni 281). Both these women have grown stronger by coming to America, and that is how they become Americanized the most......

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