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The Mistress Of Spices Analysis

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MODERNITY VERSUS TRADITION IN THE MISTRESS OF SPICES.

Chitra Banerjee Divyakaruni, an Indo-American writer brought new perspectives to contemporary women’s writings in the United States with a series of highly praised novels and short stories, after she was first honoured as a poet. Positioned at the interface of various cultures originally from Kolkata and now residing in Houston, Texas. Divakaruni is herself the embodiment of the themes prevalent in her writings, or, as she states on her personal website, those of “women, immigration, the South Asian experience, history, myth, magic and celebrating diversity.
” Her literature allows for a variety of readings such as Feminism, Transnationalism and Multiculturalism, with notions of exile, …show more content…

A contradiction between Modernity and Tradition. Divakaruni 's novel comprises of a blend of various cultures, inheriting the magic, fantasy, myth, ethics, tradition and vicissitudes of an existence in modern times. This novel will transcend you from the Indianess of spices to the modern approach of existence. realism by many literary scholars. The entire novel is based on the premise that the spices we use every day possess magical powers which yield themselves in the hands of a trained mistress of spices. The protagonist of the novel, Tilo, is a Mistress of spices, who is able to solve the problems of her customers miraculously with the help of the spices which they come to buy from her shop. Tilo, the protagonist of The Mistress of Spices, believes that spices hold the secret power to grant us whatever we desire the most in life. This is how she talks about her unique ability to interact with the spices: “I am a Mistress of Spices. I know their origins, and what their colors signify, and their smells…At a whisper they yield up to me their hidden properties, their magic powers.” (The Mistress of Spices:

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