“For Mataji” by Amita Handa

Brainstorm traditions in your family favourite childhood memories

Making Connections How does Handa’s tale cross cultural boundaries?

Brief Overview rel’n btw grandmother/grandchild 2 parallel incidents when they get separated (childhood/adult life of narrator) Mataji - unfamiliar w customs of new country she keeps alive traditions of her native culture in India, sharing these with her granddaughter

Author’s note “This is a story about one family, a story about my grandmother from a pre-industrialized generation and some of the barriers and alienation she faced once she migrated to Canada.”

Grandparent--Grandchild Relationship “There is a special bond between grandchild and grandparent that only the distance of a generation can explain”

Parallelism story recounts 2 parallel incidents in Mataji and granddaughter’s life - Mataji’s pending death makes the narrator remember first time they were separated

Parallelism What is interesting about the story’s structure? Notice how the author links the 2 incidents with similar themes, words, and actions

Parallel Incidents Several examples reveal the theme M. waits at school for narrator narrator waits in the hospital when Mataji is sick Mataji not allowed to go to school as a young girl M. not allowed to wait in school for narrator ringing of bell in school: narrator discovers Mataji is gone ringing of phone as adult: realizes Mataji is gone (dead) M. consoles narrator in school “as she rubbed my head with her hand” narrator consoles M. in hospital: “with my hand rubbing hers” child marks on vacuum (in dream) and on wall (in reality) M. copied letter from billboards in India (attempt to write)

Theme: “For Mataji” theme 1: loss - reader’s empathy increases b/c narrator’s present feelings for Mataji are explained and reinforced by their relationship in the past present loss of grandmother reminds narrator of 1st time her grandmother was ‘lost to her’ adult feelings are as intense as child

Similarities Reinforce theme reinforced: narrator’s similarities with Mataji create strong bond - times they felt alone as she holds Mataji’s hand in her final moments narrator is reminded of her special relationship with her grandmother will culture be lost with death of her grandmother? will she carry it on?

Theme cont’d theme 2: cultural difference creates isolation of the individual can you think of examples where Mataji is isolated?

Mataji’s Character Mataji is loving and devoted to her granddaughter e.g. taking her to school each morning and waiting for her

Mataji’s Character she is stubborn when narrator cries about having to wear a slip, Mataji stands firm

Mataji’s Character she is defiant - when granddaughter was born in England, Mataji told family in India that she was a boy so village would celebrate the baby’s birth

Mataji’s Character persistent/strong willed: never gives up the idea of becoming literate looks at the Gita, writes letters in the sand

Mataji as Outsider kept out of school as a child now, kept out of granddaughter’s school

Mataji’s Character she has faced discrimination all her life as a girl in her native land; as an adult not fully accepted into Canadian culture mother is mortified that M. has dressed narrator in a slip teacher/mother’s disapproval BLINDS them to love and goodness in Mataji’s actions

Mataji’s culture keeps traditions alive: “reads” Gita, speaks Punjabi, wears a sari “I could smell the coconut oil on her hair as she rubbed my head with her hand” M. feeds little girl traditional foods (roti and subji - cooked vegetables) at school

Mataji’s Barriers as an adult - lack of familiarity with the culture, customs and language inability to read and write judged by others: try to correct her actions w/ trying to understand her

Grandmother/Granddaughter Similarites both are: fascinated with writing stubborn strongly attached to each other