Essay Questions

Immigrants are at the center of The Middleman and Other Stories. Is this assertion true? Explain

Bharati’s anthology revolves around the concepts of immigration and the clash that results from the ‘brainwash’ effect that westernization has on the people from middle-income countries. For instance, in “A Wife’s Story,” the main character takes to American life with so much zeal and admiration that she refuses to return to her home in Indian. This is an instance of the American life that results in the immigrant wife undervaluing her country in preference for America. In “The Tenant” an Indian immigrant student loses herself in the ways of the western world to an extent that she feels embarrassed of her heritage. In “Jasmine,” the main character is an Indian woman who works as a maid for an American household whereas “Danny’s Girls” revolves around an operation in which desperate girls of Indian origins are linked to men in the United States so they can marry them and as such move to the US. In this way, the anthology explores the idea of immigration and the consequences that follow from westernization. The notion that immigrants are central to this anthology is thus justified.

Explore the concept of an identity crisis as brought out in this anthology

Some of the characters in the short stories that make up this anthology experience an identity crisis that is characterized by their preference for the western world as opposed to their original non-American heritages. For instance, an Indian student becomes increasingly unappreciative of her Indian heritage and sees it with highlights of embarrassment. This is the central ideology brought out in “The Tenant.” Because Americanization has so much to offer, the main character becomes increasingly impacted by western life such that he feels estranged and humiliated by the traditions of his people. She questions the idea of her very own identity or the very root of it.

Show how the idea of a lack of appreciation is brought out in Mukherjee Bharati’s anthology, The Middleman and Other Stories

In “The Middleman,” Alfred, an Iraqi man working for a South American landowner, shows a lack of appreciation for his employer when he becomes part of the plot to have him murdered in collaboration with the landowner’s wife and her lover. In this way, Alfred becomes a middleman in what plays out between the landowner’s wife and her lover. On the other hand, “The Tenant,” follows an Indian student who views her traditions as shameful while during her time staying in the United States. In a way, her view of the traditions of her people as humiliating shows her lack of appreciation for the traditions of her people.