“For Mataji”

1. “For Mataji” • by Amita Handa

2. Brainstorm • traditions in your family • favourite childhood memories

3. Making Connections • How does Handa’s tale cross cultural boundaries?

4. Brief Overview • rel’n btw grandmother/grandchild • 2 parallel incidents when they get separated (childhood/adult life of narrator) • Mataji - unfamiliar w customs of new country • she keeps alive traditions of her native culture in India, sharing these with her granddaughter

5. Author’s note • “This is a story about one family, a story about my grandmother from a pre-industrialized generation and some of the barriers and alienation she faced once she migrated to Canada.”

6. Grandparent--GrandchildRelationship • “There is a special bond between grandchild and grandparent that only the distance of a generation can explain”

7. Parallelism • story recounts 2 parallel incidents in Mataji and granddaughter’s life - • Mataji’s pending death makes the narrator remember first time they were separated

8. Parallelism • What is interesting about the story’s structure? • Notice how the author links the 2 incidents with similar themes, words, and actions

9. Parallel Incidents • Several examples reveal the theme

10. Theme: “For Mataji” • theme 1: loss - reader’s empathy increases b/c narrator’s present feelings for Mataji are explained and reinforced by their relationship in the past • present loss of grandmother reminds narrator of 1st time her grandmother was ‘lost to her’ • adult feelings are as intense as child

11. Similarities Reinforce • theme reinforced: • narrator’s similarities with Mataji create strong bond - times they felt alone • as she holds Mataji’s hand in her final moments narrator is reminded of her special relationship with her grandmother • will culture be lost with death of her grandmother? will she carry it on?

12. Theme cont’d • theme 2: cultural difference creates isolation of the individual • can you think of examples where Mataji is isolated?

13. Mataji’s Character • Mataji is loving and devoted to her granddaughter • e.g. taking her to school each morning and waiting for her

14. Mataji’s Character • she is stubborn • when narrator cries about having to wear a slip, Mataji stands firm

15. Mataji’s Character • she is defiant - when granddaughter was born in England, Mataji told family in India that she was a boy so village would celebrate the baby’s birth

16. Mataji’s Character • persistent/strong willed: never gives up the idea of becoming literate • looks at the Gita, writes letters in the sand

17. Mataji as Outsider • kept out of school as a child • now, kept out of granddaughter’s school

18. Mataji’s Character • she has faced discrimination all her life • as a girl in her native land; as an adult not fully accepted into Canadian culture • mother is mortified that M. has dressed narrator in a slip • teacher/mother’s disapproval BLINDS them to love and goodness in Mataji’s actions

19. Mataji’s culture • keeps traditions alive: “reads” Gita, speaks Punjabi, wears a sari • “I could smell the coconut oil on her hair as she rubbed my head with her hand” • M. feeds little girl traditional foods (roti and subji - cooked vegetables) at school

20. Mataji’s Barriers • as an adult - lack of familiarity with the culture, customs and language • inability to read and write • judged by others: try to correct her actions w/ trying to understand her

21. Grandmother/GranddaughterSimilarites • both are: • fascinated with writing • stubborn • strongly attached to each other