You Bring the Distant Near

Saris symbolize traditional Bengali womanhood. Ranee Das grew up in a village in Bengal, and she is deeply influenced by her culture’s traditions and expectations for women, which emphasize being a dutiful wife and mother. Given the strong influence of Bengali culture on her, it’s unsurprising that Ranee wears saris most of her life. After her husband’s death, she continues wearing the traditional garment but only in white in accordance with Bengali expectations for widows. She gives away some of the colorful saris that Rajeev bought her to Anna Sen and Chantal Johnson, and the rest become part of the remodel of the girls’ locker room: “The shiny, sparkling material of Didu’s saris softens the walls and ceilings” (240). The saris’ transformation suggests that the new generation of the Das family must decide what womanhood means to them and how they want to live in relation to Bengali culture. In Chapter 14, Ranee starts wearing muumuus in place of saris as part of her sudden desire to become more integrated into American culture. With her family’s help, Ranee realizes that being an American doesn’t require her to abandon her Bengali culture. Instead, she can decide for herself which traditions she wants to hold onto. For Ranee, that means donning her culture’s clothing once more: “‘I have to admit I miss wearing saris,’ Didu says. ‘Muumuus are comfortable, but nothing makes you feel more beautiful than a sari’” (291). Ranee Das’s saris show her relationship with Bengali and American culture.

Likewise, saris provide insight into Tara’s connection with her family’s culture. Initially, she feels uncomfortable with Bengali traditions, which she considers patriarchal. She dreads the idea of following in her mother’s footsteps by marrying a Bengali man: “I already look like Ma and sound like her. Do I have to become her, too?” (147). Tara wears a sari for the very first time in her life during her trip to Bangladesh, and her hesitation to don the garment reflects her reticence to engage with her traditional culture. The lovely green-and-gold garment is a gift from Amit. Crucially, the sari is presented as an option rather than an expectation. Amit tells Tara, “I wasn’t sure you’d want to go traditional, but I thought I’d give you the choice” (155). Amit helps Tara appreciate the beauty of her Bengali culture, and the garment is part of how she embraces her culture on her terms. The characters’ relationships with saris reflect their evolving understanding of what it means to be a Bengali woman. Just as each of the saris in the novel is beautiful in its own way, so, too, each of the Das women has her own distinctive connection to her culture.