Hell-Heaven Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hell-Heaven - Essay Example Aparna was â€Å"even in her bleakest hours of homesickness she was grateful that my father had at least spared her a life in the stern house of her in-laws, where she would have had to keep her head covered with the end of her sari at all times and use an outhouse that was nothing but a raised platform with a hole† (DiYanni 350). Aparna’s husband and she were thrown together by chance. This part of her life was one of her metaphorical Hells. a release for Aparna. Since the outings were supervised by the narrator, Aparna’s husband felt â€Å"freed from the sense of responsibility he must have felt for forcing her to leave India† (DiYanni 351). Although the narrator did not realize it at the time, she later came to the realization that â€Å"It is clear to me now that my mother was in love with him† (DiYanni 351). Aparna had more in common with Pranab Kaku than with her husband. For example, â€Å"They had in common all the things she and my father did not: a love of music, film, leftist politics, poetry† (DiYanni 350). This relationship was Aparna’s Heaven. Another Hell for Aparna was the foreign atmosphere of America. Even in America Aparna wore Indian clothes. The narrator wrote, â€Å"given that my mother was wearing the red and white bangles unique to Bengali married women, and a common Tangail sari† (DiYanni 348). Aparna clung to her old Indian ways. She constantly chided Usha about the Bengali ways. Aparna admonished, â€Å"Don’t think you’ll get away with marrying an American, the way Pranab Kaku did† (DiYanni 356). The balancing act of raising an Indian daughter in America was Hell for Aparna. Bangladesh was Heaven for Aparna. That is why Aparna fell in love with Pranab Kaku, not for who he was, but what he represented. Pranab Kaku reminded Aparna of â€Å"cheerful songs of courtship, which transformed the quiet life in our apartment and transported my mother back to