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--Grandchild Relationship
“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
M. waits at school for narrator
narrator waits in the hospital when Mataji is sick
Mataji not allowed to go to school as a young girl
M. not allowed to wait in school for narrator
ringing of bell in school: narrator discovers Mataji is gone
ringing of phone as adult: realizes Mataji is gone (dead)
M. consoles narrator in school “as she rubbed my head with her hand”
narrator consoles M. in hospital: “with my hand rubbing hers”
child marks on vacuum (in dream) and on wall (in reality)
M. copied letter from billboards in India (attempt to write)

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/Granddaughter Similarites
both are:
fascinated with writing
stubborn
strongly attached to each other