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Irony and Hopelessness in two stories of Chitra Divakaruni Communication is key to any successful relationship. Though often, the lack of compatibility can result in serious, domestic problems. This is present in the short story collection, Arranged Marriages, by Indian-born author, Chitra Divakaruni. Her book presents some of the situations and outcomes of arranged marriages from traditional India. These stories are all variously oriented and have different tones, perspective and plots, giving the reader a switch of vibe every time. Especially in two of her stories, “The Bats” and “The Disappearance,” here, the reader encounters two opposite tones. Although “The Bats” and “The Disappearance” both include controlling male characters, “The Disappearance,” is written from that male’s perspective, creating an ironic tone, as opposed to “The Bats” narrated by a child, depicting a tone of hopelessness. “The Bats’” tone of hopelessness is displayed directly. The mother in the story is constantly being abused by the husband, and almost every morning, her little girl notices the new bruises on her face. The little girl questions her mother about them one morning. “This time when I asked her about it she didn’t say anything, just turned the other way and stared at a spot on the wall.” (3), The Bats. The way her mother reacted to the question contained much despair. She doesn’t seem to want to talk about it and momentarily changes the subject to moving to grandpa’s house. “Then she asked me how I would like to visit my grandpa for a few days.” (3), The Bats. Another instant in the story displaying hopelessness is at the theme of the story. The grandpa tries to get rid of the bats in his field, which keep on coming back. She expresses the naiveté of the black beasts. “I guess they (the bats) just don’t realize what’s happening. They don’t realize that by flying somewhere else they’ll be safe. Or maybe they do, but there’s something that keeps pulling them back here.” This sentence is a metaphor connecting the actions of the bats and the mother of the girl. Alike the bats, the mother probably doesn’t understand why she continues to return to the husband, but she just does. It gives the reader a feeling of hopelessness because we all know the husband will continue to abuse her, and she unknowingly just runs back to him, when there is every reason not to. At the last section of the story, there is another evident of hopelessness. Here, the story seems to be wrapping up in a hopeless way. The ring the grandpa and the girl discovered in a fish they caught is gone.
Approximate Word count = 1711
Approximate Pages = 6.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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