Some thoughts on "Mrs Dutta Writes a Letter"

Here are some of my thoughts as well as my colleagues’ on the story to help you in interpreting the story.

Some info on Mrs. Dutta's cultural background:

Mrs. Dutta belongs to the traditional school of thought which believes that the wife/mother/daughter –in-law is the one who keeps the family in order. She is the one who ensures harmony in a household. Mrs. Dutta belongs to the joint family system, mostly prevalent in northern India, where the new bride lives with her husband, his parents and his siblings along with their spouses. Even though I come from a nuclear family set up, I personally know families that are very traditional in set up, with a highly educated attitude and respectful of each other’s space, unlike Mrs. Dutta’s situation where she had not known what privacy meant. But there are of course families with many problems in this type of set up. The probability of conflict is high when there are so many individuals under one roof whose opinions clash constantly and "individuality" suffers in pursuit of the collective good. Only, Mrs. Dutta never really realized her individuality since her environment has fostered the belief that the purpose of her existence is solely based on the needs of not only her immediate family members, but her extended family as well.

The part where Mrs. Dutta says that it was a relatively good day in a country where you could stare out for hours and not see a soul was hilarious for me because it is exactly what my aunt and mother say though in a lighthearted manner, when they visit me here occasionally. For instance, the city and especially the residential area where my parents live in India is peaceful as well, but the social scene is drastically different. There’s always someone who drops by, be it the housemaid who comes everyday at 6:30 a.m., the familiar vendor who brings fresh greens every day, or the milkman, or the dry cleaning boy who picks up and drops off clothes, or the errand boy from the provision store who drives by with groceries ordered by my mother over the phone. There is a constant hum of sounds which I find soothing whether it is the cook chopping veggies or the maid mopping the floors. The point with all these details is that it is a totally different lifestyle in India (especially for the slightly privileged). It is a huge change for any Indian immigrant no matter how educated or modern he or she is when they move to America. My folks belong to a traditional educated Indian society and they appreciate a whole lot of things about America and its culture but they cannot imagine living here. For Mrs. Dutta, it is about realizing that she belongs with her own circle of friends in India and not with her family. I think some aspects of American culture which she sees through her daughter in law helps her in this realization. Her selflessness is no good to her or to her own family.

In short, Mrs. Dutta is enslaved to an archaic mode of thinking – that the woman takes the responsibility of ensuring harmony in a household by suppressing her own voice for the supposed good of the family. Her reluctance to understand her daughter-in-law is annoying which shows how out of touch she is with her true “self”. On the other hand, I find it unacceptable that Mrs. Dutta’s son, his wife and kids have alienated themselves from their own rich heritage, manners and respect of elders(which I didn't elaborate upon since it will be too lengthy) instead of finding a balance between the two worlds.It is a relief to find that Mrs. Dutta becomes her own champion in the end. The letter she writes is her courage to finally face the truth.
-Sunita


Ms. Botelho said:
This story is not all that different than many stories written by a foreigner trying to establish a place in America. The repulsion at American children, television, and the "loose" woman smoking a cigarette is expected in a story like this. However, it was the last paragraph that brought this story to an unexpected (and pleasantly surprising) level. We see the narrator, Mrs. Dutta, actually learning something about people through her experience in America, as opposed to shunning the culture she finds herself in. In the letter to her close friend in Calcutta, because there is no repercussion to writing the truth, she is finally able to do so. There are a few moments in the story Mrs. Dutta reflects on the unbridled emotion Americans showcase, and how this never occurred in her homeland. After these judgments, she is struck by a view that perhaps this isn't a bad thing, as she reflected on the feelings of repression she experienced in her own life. She does not shed tears as she writes and admits these truths, because she was actually shedding tears when she denied them to herself.

Daniel M said:
My first impression of the story is that it prominently concerns the production of texts and the circumstances or contexts that inform writing. It builds on the many tensions Mrs. Dutta faces in America: conflicts between Mrs. Dutta and a combination of her son’s family and American culture. Yet, through many of these conflicts, she is silent—owing to the selflessness that defines the “mother” role in her culture. I apologize for not being able to accurately point to the source of the quote, but someone said in the afternoon class last Monday that “without a voice there isn’t a self,” or something similar. Mrs. Dutta represses every outwardly selfish thought, barring those that concern a more traditional way to go about doing things for her family. Thus, the final production of the letter is a triumph for Mrs. Dutta’s selfhood. She informs her friend that she will be returning to India and seeking happiness on her own terms rather than those of culturally-mandated obligation and tradition. Not sending the letter would negate the purpose of the story, so I’m certain that the letter gets mailed and that Mrs. Dutta eventually returns to her native land.

Mr. Bolster said:
Mrs. Dutta was crying because of the truths within herself that she repressed.
Whatever is in her heart that she cannot name exists in opposition to her family loyalties. Divakaruni uses the word "battles" to illustrate this quality of opposition and conflict. First of all, whatever it is that Mrs. Dutta feels, she identifies as incommensurable with family loyalty--an important value for her throughout the story and a value that she identifies with her homeland and its traditions.

Her insidious feelings may include the feeling that Sagar and his wife have made horrible mistakes in the way they choose to live their lives. The rebelliousness of the children and the idea of a woman smoking a cigarette are aspects of the "modern American world" with which Mrs. Dutta takes issue, but it is also the strange washing machine, the strange way that neighbors don't talk to one another, and the strange way a wife addresses a husband by his first name. Mrs. Dutta experiences a generalized feeling of cultural and social alientation in the "new world." The cultural alienation Mrs. Dutta could have expected, coming to America, but the sense of alienation from her family, her own flesh and blood, probably took her by surprise. "And blood is blood after all" (363), Mrs. Dutta says to Mrs. Basu, explaining why she can't possibly dislike moving to America. Disappointment is another feeling that she cannot immediately put into words, although she eventually acknowledges that feeling to herself. She is disappointed with "so much in this country" (359), which is a generalized disappointment, but she is specifically disappointed with her grandchildren. How difficult for any grandparent to admit that! Eventually, her disappointment and alienation build into, presumably, regret that she moved, or at the very least, a resolution to return to India.

On another note altogether, I love how Divakaruni completely underemphasized Mrs. Dutta's decision to return to her homeland. In fact, I didn't even notice it the first time I read the story. It's in the middle of the letter on the last page: "for I do hope you will rent [your downstairs flat] to me on my return" (369).

Mr. Farell said:
The feelings she refuses to name are: loneliness, sadness, and depression. Although she loves her family and is loyal to them, her problem is filling the days and having a true sense of companionship. "It's been a good day, as good as it can be in a country where you might stare out the window for hours and not see one living soul" (363). She feels loss for the friendship of her dearest, closest companion, Roma, who is also who she is writing the letter to. "Calcutta pushes itself on her mind again...and her heart fills with a sense of loss she knows to be illogical" (364). She is heartbroken from the home and culture she has known all of her life. She constantly drifts into moments of nostalgia that she deems "illogical" for a reason. This is what she discovers in her letter at the end that her happiness is where she left her heart--India. This is why she feels no need to weep because she has made the decision that will make her happiest. She feels that she is losing nothing by going home.


Skylar Hammel said:
The feelings that Mrs. Dutta cannot name are her knowledge of her own unhappiness and the lack of acceptance in her new life. It is obvious that Mrs. Dutta is trying to adapt to the situation she is in, but cannot succeed. When she cannot sleep in, she does not get out of bed early in order to keep from waking the family. However, she suffers for her attempt by being forced to remain on a mattress she finds uncomfortable until other people in the household begin their day. They begin their day exactly when they want to; she is not given that luxury. As a young bride she had kept the hours needed to run the house. As an live-in, aged parent she keeps the hours necesary for the smooth operation of the house according to American standards. In both places, she was denied the right to keep her own schedule as she pleased.
The word insidious appears more than once in the text. As Mrs. Dutta muses on Shyamoli's way of life and her refusal to bend to other people's rules, she uses the same adjective. "Mrs. Dutta lowers herself heavily on to her bed, trying to erase such an insidious idea from her mind" (366). The insidious idea is, at least in part, longing for the freedom lost by attempting to fit the mold of the aging Indian mother.