Analysis of Close Reading: Giribala
“Giri listened silently. She knew that although the groom had to pay a bride-price in their community, still a girl was only a girl. She had heard so many times the old saying: ‘A daughter born, to husband or death, she’s already gone’ “(1151).
The bitterness in this text is the reality that young girls like Giri endured and are still enduring today in many countries. The author uncovers the fate of young girls before their introduction to the world. They were nothing more than a means to an end. If parents had a girl, they did not dream big for her, nor did they inquire or try influence any dreams she may have had. The expectation of a daughter was that a decent bride-price would be paid for her and that she would be secured in a home. Parents believed she would be taken care of by her husband, however that does not legitimize giving your daughter over to an adult man when she is barely reaching puberty. Giri was only fourteen years old and her daughter was even younger. Young girls in West Bengal were never given the chance to be children. It is difficult to comprehend and show regard for a culture that enables adult men to marry a child -making her a wife, teen mom, and a slave. It is for this reason, Giri stated, “having a daughter only means having to raise a slave for others. (11530). A young teen girl is forced to take care of herself, children, husband, and a house. There is no time for playing double-dutch rope, have a boyfriend, play in the park, or play dress up with the other little girls in the village. She is obligated to lay down with a stranger that paid for her childhood innocence; a strange man that was probably the same age as her father. The author compares death to what a girl must endure when she is forced into an arranged marriage at such a young age.
Devi, Mahasweta. “Giribala” The Norton Anthology World Literature. Martin Puchner. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012, p.1151. Book.
The bitterness in this text is the reality that young girls like Giri endured and are still enduring today in many countries. The author uncovers the fate of young girls before their introduction to the world. They were nothing more than a means to an end. If parents had a girl, they did not dream big for her, nor did they inquire or try influence any dreams she may have had. The expectation of a daughter was that a decent bride-price would be paid for her and that she would be secured in a home. Parents believed she would be taken care of by her husband, however that does not legitimize giving your daughter over to an adult man when she is barely reaching puberty. Giri was only fourteen years old and her daughter was even younger. Young girls in West Bengal were never given the chance to be children. It is difficult to comprehend and show regard for a culture that enables adult men to marry a child -making her a wife, teen mom, and a slave. It is for this reason, Giri stated, “having a daughter only means having to raise a slave for others. (11530). A young teen girl is forced to take care of herself, children, husband, and a house. There is no time for playing double-dutch rope, have a boyfriend, play in the park, or play dress up with the other little girls in the village. She is obligated to lay down with a stranger that paid for her childhood innocence; a strange man that was probably the same age as her father. The author compares death to what a girl must endure when she is forced into an arranged marriage at such a young age.
Devi, Mahasweta. “Giribala” The Norton Anthology World Literature. Martin Puchner. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012, p.1151. Book.
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