John Rey G.

Lazaga
Reading and Literary Appreciation
April 13, 2019

A Literary Criticism of “A Wife’s Story” by Bharati Mukherjee

I.

A. The Author

Bharati Mukherjee is perhaps the best known and most widely discussed South Asian
American woman writer today. She has stated in recent years that she does not wish to be viewed
as a hyphenated, South Asian-American writer but as an American writer. She sees America as
offering her “romanticism and hope…” and it is interesting to note her emphasis on America as a
place where she can be “a new person,” a place she could choose “ to discard that part of my
history that I want, and invent a whole new history for myself.” Bharati Mukherjee’s short
stories and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Her writing ranges from
good to dazzling.

B. Summary

The story “A wife’s Story” by Bharati Mukherjee starts with Panna, the main character
who is from India, who is in the United States of America to enjoy her 2 year scholarship for a
Speacial Ed. Degree. She was watching a play together with her friend named Imre, however,
she was displeased by what she have watched for it had some dialogues that were offensive for
her. After they have finished watching the play, finally they left and went home. As they were to
get a ride, Imre offered Panna that they take a cab which pleased her.

At home, Panna is accompanied by her other people, Charity Chin from China, Phil who
is a Flutist, and Eric Charity’s husband. A few days later, Panna Received a Phone call from her
husband, telling her that an accident happened in the company her husband manages. Her
husband also informed her that he will be visiting her for two weeks. When Panna’s husband
arrived, they did a few things that were completely new and different for Panna’s husband. They
frequently go to shopping and they also went for a guided tour. At the end of the story, Panna
was seeing a change in his husband, like she was seeing him for the first time, and her waiting
for her husband to come out from the bathroom for them to make love before her husband goes
back to India the next day.
C. Characters

Imre
(Pann's
Friend)

Eric Charity Chin

(Husband of (Panna's
Charity) Roommate)
Panna

Goran
Panna's
(Photograph husband
er)
II. Plot
III. Literary Criticism

“A Wife’s Story” is a carefully crafted narrative, with an interesting twist. It is the wife

who comes to America to study and the husband who comes to visit her. The story begins with

Panna watching a play which insults Indian men and women. It ends with Panna waiting for her

husband, who is leaving for India the next morning without her, to make love to her: “The water

is running in the bathroom. In the ten days he has been here he has learned American rites:

deodorants, fragrances.” The story presents the inevitability of change especially if this has been

the thing that one has been longing for all his/her life. However, traversing the path towards it

will not be a smooth journey.

The story also clearly reflects the author’s own ambitions to be recognized as an

American than be labeled as a South Asian-American. Furthermore, the writer tries to emphasize

her dream for equality through her story, by surrounding the main character with other

multicultural characters.

In the beginning, Panna, the main character of the story, was still a bit walled or closed in

accepting change in her life. Being an immigrant from a totally different cultural, social, and

religious set-up; Panna was quite sensitive to things she hear, see, and even feel from other

people, which she perceive as an offense for her identity. However, there is nothing she can do to

show or express her indifference, as what people from back where she come from would most

likely do. As she try to adapt to the kind of environment she is currently in, she cannot help but

always unconsciously act guarded, for she can always see how different she is becoming the

longer she stays in America, compared to when she was still in India. This then gradually lead

the irony of the statement said to her by Imre and I quote, “Insult, my American friends will tell

me, is a kind of acceptance,” finally made any sense to her.

 Based from the author’s biography she is an immigrant from South Asia just like Panna

in the story. Similarly, the author hopes to become “a new person” and forget a part of her

history and create a new one for her, which is also what is seen in the story with Panna. Panna is

an Indian woman, and being who she is, she was burdened with so much restrictions and social

expectations set upon by the society she was from. When she was finally able to go to the United

States of America, that is when she somehow felt some sort of freedom, “In the back of the cab,

without even trying, I feel light, almost free,” she said and let me highlight her statement “almost

free” which for me means that she is still bound from her past that it would still always be a part

of her wherever she will be, and the statement “I feel light” which I perceive as her statement of

freedom from the burden of her identity.

In the story, it is noticeable that the main character was mainly surrounded by people

from different parts of the world. This signifies the writer’s intention of conveying her desire for

equality for people with a multicultural background. Aside from this, the idea of equality is

further emphasized by the writer in the story by stressing out the importance of acceptance for

someone to be finally accepted in the society where he/she wants to fit in without fully

abandoning one’s own heritage.

Change has been known to be the only constant in this world, therefore, experiencing it is

inevitable, change itself is not hard, but it is the acceptance of it that is difficult and sometimes

painful. “He looks disconcerted. He’s used to a different role. He’s the knowing, suspicious one

in the family,” this statement in the story proves that accepting change sometimes is not an easy

thing to do. However, even how difficult or hard it is for someone to accept it, later on one will

learn to acknowledge the inevitability of change as said in this statement, “The water is running

in the bathroom. In the ten days he has been here he has learned American rites: deodorants,
fragrances.” Moreover, as someone was able to accept his/her own change, this brings some sort

of freedom to him/her to see herself/himself or someone else as if he/she is another person as

said in this statement, “In the mirror that hangs on the bathroom door, I watch my naked body

turn, the breasts, the thighs glow. The body’s beauty amazes. I stand here shameless, in ways he

has never seen me. I am free, afloat, watching somebody else.” All in all, the story was very

intriguing as it raises so much curiosity in the reader’s mind so much that made it is quite

challenging to fully and much more comprehensively discuss all the varying concepts and

notions conveyed in the story.