Short Stories:

"Her Mother"

　 印度
作者

Anjana Appachana
--生於印度，印度德里大學美國Pennsylvania State 大學畢，現住於美國亞利桑那州。

-- 本篇小說採自.她第一本小說集Incantations and Other Stories。

(image source)
故事摘要 "Her Mother" (她的母親)中文情節摘要：

本故事夾雜著母親的書信和寫信時她的思考。經由寫信和思考，母親了解女兒離家並非憤怒，而是為了了解一段沒有結果的感情。

在印度德里的母親寫信給其遠赴美國攻讀比較文學博士的女兒(Rani Beti)。信中母親叨叨唸唸，要女兒照顧自己、注意生活細節、要女兒不要美國人結婚，埋怨女兒偏心她父親。但隨著隨著母親的碎碎唸，這封信表達了一個印度母親較傳統和較開放的一面，以及對女兒與丈夫的了解。母親最執著的問題是女兒為何斷然剪髮且憤而離去，但隨著她的聯想和回憶，母親終於了解了原因。

（看此文時請注意文中的書信部份沒有用括號標出，因此更加反應一位母親在兼顧家事之餘寫信和思考必然雜亂。﹚
　
角色名字  女兒 Rani Beti
Warm Up

問題

Letter Writing, Emotional Trauma and Going Abroad 

1. Have you ever written letters or emails to relatives abroad?  How is your letter writing different from this mother's? 

2. What do you think about going abroad to study?   Do you plan to come back if you were to study abroad?

3. Why do we find it hard to talk to our parents our emotional problems?  How do we get our children to talk about theirs?

　
上課    
課後作業

請由以下問題選擇回答

“Her Mother”:

Gender issues

1.       What is the most important question the mother asks of her daughter?  How does she find out the answer? (the daughter’s change 134; the question: 133; process of discovery: 141 - )

2.        What makes the mother similar to our mothers?

3.        Which parts of the mother make her “traditional” mother?   What aspects of her are “feminist” and unconventional?

4.        How is the mother related to the daughter and her husband?

Cultural Issues

5.         How does the mother and the father look at the U.S. and India differently?  What are the mother’s stereotypical views of “Westerners”?

 -- The father says he was glad their daughter had left a country "where everyone was corrupt, where people killed each other in the name of religion."

-- The mother responds, "In America fathers molested their own children. Wives were abused and beaten up. . . . Friends raped other friends. No one looked after the old." In India women got equal wages for equal work. "Could America ever have a woman President? Never. Could it ever have a Black President? Never." 
　

　

Gender + Culture Issues

6.         How does the mother get to understand the daughter?

7.       Sisterhood and Mother-daughter bonding: can they be strong enough support in a society dominated by men?