Question 2

In the novel ‘ The Mango Season ’ by Amulya Malladi, Priya experiences

many mind depressing tensions back in her homeland in Andhra Pradesh,

India.

“I didn’t want to go. I had to go.

I didn’t want to go. I had to go.”

( page 3 )

The juxtaposition exemplifies the tension that Priya feels at the beginning

of the novel. After spending seven long years in the United States, time

has come for Priya to catch the flight back to her homeland in India. But

Priya does not feel like going back home to Andhra Pradesh because she

knew her family would force her into marrying ‘ a nice Indian ’ boy. She

does not how is she going to drop the bombshell, her secret engagement

with Nick, a pure blooded American to her family. She is purely confident

that her parents will disown and most probably kill her too for committing

such a sin. By falling in love with Nick and getting engaged to him, in

secret, she has violated the sacred orders that parents bestow on their

America -going children.

“DO NOT FIND YOURSELF SOME FOREIGN MAN/WOMAN TO MARRY.”

But she has to go back home to tell her family about the man that she

loves. She realizes that the fact that she is engaged to a man of a

different race and religion is going to break her family’s heart. She knows

that her family will definitely object her relationship with Nick. Besides,

Amma will be there in the house, ready to marry her off to a ‘ gudu-baye

’. At this point, Priya is tormented and goes through emotional turmoil as

she could not decide on whether to go back to India as Nick’s Priya, a

grown woman with a mind of her own or as Ma’s Priya, a girl that obeys

her parents wishes and the norm of the Indian society. Priya returns as a

tormented soul.

Her homecoming journey to India is definitely an overpowering experience

for Priya. Before she left India to pursue her studies in the United States,

Priya loved the summer and the mangoes that come along with the

season. Her summer was all about mangoes. Ripe, sweet mangoes that

dripped juices down the throat when you bite in the yellow flesh that

surrounds the core ( quoted : page 2 ). Summer does not only evoke her

taste buds but also her memories. It is in summer when she fights with

her brother, Nate , for the sticky stone ( core ) of the mango. She describes

this sticky stone as HAPPINESS. But as seven years flew by, Priya feels

that the summer in India has become unbearable. She sweats like she

had never been through an Indian summer ( quoted : page 8 ). She feels

that India has become dirtier and much more chaotic. She cringes when

her mother prods a slice of mango cut in a stall in Monda Market for

hygienic reasons. This is when she realizes that she has become too

Americanized. Even though she is in India, her homeland, she feels that

this is not home. She feels that India has become an alien nation and

she could not relate to the neither the norm or the sight or the scent of

India as an Indian. She starts to see the events in India from an

American point of view rather than an Indian. That is why she finds it

tricky to acclimate to her homeland. In those years in the United States,

she has matured and her way of thinking has changed. Experience taught

her a lot and she changed. Although she overcomes the hygienity issue

towards the ending of the book, her American way of thinking does not

change. To me, it is natural for a person’s way of seeing things change as

they mature throughout the years. If I were in her shoes, chances of me

reacting the same way is very high. Even now, whenever I return to Ipoh,

my hometown, I find it a bit difficult sometimes to adapt to the norm in

the house that I had been living for the past 18 years.

Priya also shares a not so typical mother-daughter relationship with her

mother. It is rather a strained relationship. Priya describes her mother as a

‘super-nag’. Priya feels that her mom nags her all the time. Priya also

dislikes the haggling habit that her mom possess. She does not practice

haggling because she does not want to be like her mother. She even

recalls in the novel where she thought that her Amma is actually her

step-mother. Although Amma comes as a dominating woman who is

constantly nagging her daughter and Priya comes as the daughter who

rebels against her mother’s orders, although they differ in their thinking

styles, I believe that these two characters are quite similar. They are both

stubborn and speak their mind out. So, in actual fact it is natural for Priya

and Amma to lead love-hate relationship. I myself experience this kind of

relationship with my own Amma. She and I do not agree many things and

we do have our misunderstandings but I am sure when the dice is rolled,

my mother will be there for me when I need her to be no matter what.

Just like Amma was there for Priya in the end.

Ammamma’s ( grandmother ) house where Priya’s family members gathered

to make ‘ manga pachadi ’ ( mango pickle ), an annual ritual during summer,

Priya quickly realized that there were many underground turmoils

emanating from the pillars of the house. On one hand, there was Sowmya,

her aunt, a spinster who has spent all her life in the kitchen, cooking for

her family, despite having a bachelor’s in Telugu literature. She is seen as

extra baggage that should be disposed by her parents. Sowmya goes

through pelli chepullu ( bride seeing ceremony ) like a cattle put up for a

sale. Priya feels that it is totally barbaric for a woman to marry a man

whom she only meets once before the wedding. On the other hand , there

is Neelima, Anand’s wife. She is ill treated because she is a Maharashtian

Brahmin. Priya’s pure blooded Telugu Brahmin family believe that Neelima

conned their darling Anand into ‘love marriage’. Priya’s family only want

their children to marry people from the social class. That is why Neelima

was given the cold shoulder, because she was from a lower caste. This

troubles Priya because she realizes that her mission of dropping the

bombshell about Nick to her family has become almost impossible. Neelima

, at least was a Telugu but Nick was a man of a totally different race

and religion. He was an American. Besides Neelima and Sowmya, there

was Lata, the daughter-in-law who has become pregnant again so that

Thatha ( Priya’s grandfather ) could have a pure-blooded male heir to carry

on the family name. Thatha and Ammaamma at the same time come as

the older generation who see the Americans as bad people who

manipulate and cheat other people. All these issues make life much more

complicated for Priya as she contemplates on how and when to break the

news about her American fiancé.

Moreover, her troubles do not end there. It multiplies when she was had to

attend the pelli- chepullu. Her family try to force her into a marital harmony

with a man who they think is suitable for her. She sees this ancient ritual

as a barbaric process where a woman is treated as a cattle that is put

up for sale. Initially, she objects this ceremony and tells Nick via e-mail

that she would not participate in such a ceremony. However , she decides

to attend the pelli-chepullu so that her family’s honour would not be tinted

but she betrays Nick at the same time. As for myself, I have nothing

against arranged marriage. But that does not mean that I endorse it. Its

just that I believe matrimony is a harmonious unison between two souls

and they should be ready to be commit in that relationship. Therefore, the

issue whether the marriage is arranged or not does not matter but the

fact if the two individuals like each other matters the most.

Her problems reach the climax when the man who came for the pelli-

chepullu makes a proposal. While this proposal delights Priya’s family

members, it leaves her in despair. It is when her family had started making

the arrangements for the wedding, she realized that she could not

procrastinate the revelation of her secret about Nick. She finally rallies the

courage and spills everything out. As expected, all hell breaks loose. The

revelation shocks her family members and hurts her Nanna’s ( father )

feelings. Thatha even says that her marriage with Nick will not last for a

long time. Priya is devastated at this point and was ready to sacrifice her

family for Nick. I totally disagree with Priya on this turf. I would not even

dream of sacrificing my family of 19 years and more for a man who I

have known for short period. It is not wrong to fall in love but it is wrong

to disappoint our parents.

In conclusion, Priya faces a lot of tensions throughout this story. Initially

she is tormented because of two different identities, the American Priya

and the Indian Priya. The American Priya who is engaged to an American

named Nick and the Indian Priya who is a daughter and granddaughter of

typical Telugu family. But she resolves all her problems in the end, thanks

to ever understanding father.

( 1500 words excluding

quotes )

ENGLISH STUDIES ASSIGNMENT

CRICTICAL APPECIATION 1

QUESTION 2

I didn’t want to go. I had to go.

I didn’t want to go. I had to go.

( The Mango Season pg 3 )

The juxtaposition above exemplifies the tension that Priya feels at the beginning of the novel. What are the tensions that Priya faces in her own homeland after her experience of life in America?

NAME : PUVANA D/O SINNASMAY

MATRIX NUM : 2005272520048

CLASS : 3 TESL 2

LECTURER’S NAME : MISS CHOONG CHING CHING

DATE OF SUBMISSION : 7 AUGUST 2006