Poetry presentation: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, “Restroom,” UA 21-23
Reader: Jana Jensen
Respondent: Lori Nolen
Recorder: Jeanette Smith

“The Restroom”

Biographical Information:

Chitra Divakaruni was born in Calcutta and spent the first nineteen years of her life in India. She moved to the United States to continue her studies, getting a Master's, and a Ph.D., both in English.

Her work explores the immigrant experience through Indian women in American cities.

Vocabulary:

Chapatis- pancake-like breads usually made from whole-wheat flour and water. The dough is rolled into thin rounds and baked on a griddle, usually without oil, to form small cakes. (tortillas)

Bajra- food grain crop in India (used to make Chapatis

Literary Terms:

Interior Monologue – mode of narrative intended to reveal to the reader the subjective thoughts, emotions and fleeting sensations experienced by a character.  (p. 218)

Stream of consciousness- type of interior monologue; shows the flow (or jumble) of thoughts and sensory impressions that pass through the mind each instant. (p. 456)

Objectives:

Stage 2: Journey to the New World- The speaker experiences her journey on a cramped plane uncomfortably seated next to a large stranger. She has to bite her teeth together to keep from crying and compares it to morning sickness.

Stage 3: Shock, Resistance, Exploitation- She experiences shock to all the “pale men.”

Her husband is exploited as an Indian in a bad part of town.  He is robbed and shot.

The Speaker’s only recognition is the word “hospital” and the women’s restroom sign.

Cultural objectives

1a –American Dream –immigrating to America for personal freedom and economic betterment.  The speaker and her husband have come to America to make a better life for themselves in owning their own business and making “good money.”  Maybe they can even afford to bring their daughter over and have another child?

1b Socioeconomic Immigration – economic failure leads them to immigrate to America.  She once dug in the fields, ground bajra and cooked for 12 people with no stove or running water.  Now she can work in her own store and make her own money. 

Interpretation:

This prose poem features an Indian-born woman torn between old and new world values. Her character is filled with fear, hope, and discovery.

After a torturous flight and confusing arrival, she is met with a disaster: her husband has been shot and robbed and is in the hospital.  She is shaking, her head hurts, chest is tight, she can’t speak.

Then, unable to ignore the pain of her swollen bladder, she quickly finds the restroom where new and innovative amenities await her “like in a fairytale.”

She is now comforted by the women’s voices. And the shiny faucets with running warm water fill her with hope. 

In an interview in 1999, she was asked about the last line of “Restroom” containing a sense of hope.  To this she responded:  “I think so. I also think that in many of my poems there is always that hope because that's how I see the life of these women, including myself. That there is a lot of hardship but there is spiritual strength in the women.”

            Discussion Questions:

1.      What do you think the “redness” is that she speaks of?

After hearing that her husband has been shot and is in the hospital:

“I keep my eyes open so the redness won’t cover me.”

While in the restroom:

“The redness is far now”

2.  Why would a water faucet give this woman hope?  What does it symbolize to her?