Why a Robin?
...ed breast...? And it comes in winter...?”(26) The daughter makes it quite clear that the mother has again failed her. The mother then tries to offer information about other birds, such as sparrows, mynas, and finally peacocks, as the daughter gets more aggravated, leaving the room, saying, “I will ask Papa. He's sure to know, he'll help me.” Later that night, after the husband has shown the daughter different books from which she could get information on robins, he secludes himself, as he does alone every night, by listening to music. The mother decides to go to bed, where there are “two single beds, two islands that nothing can bridge.”(28) This gap between the beds illustrates how far the husband and wife have drifted apart in their marriage. There is nothing they can share with each other, no music, no thoughts, no moments. During that night when the mother is feeling gloomy and helpless she hears her daughter crying in her room. At first, she hesitates, waiting for the father to get up, as he did when she was a baby. She finally gathers courage to go and see what's wrong. It was as if this gathering of courage to be there for her daughter was what broke the barrier between the two. That night, her daughter entered into womanhood, as the mother suddenly feels “joyous, exalted” to find a way to connect with her daughter at last. In these painful moments, the mother and daughter bond with each other, repairing their relation...