ROOTS - Literary appreciation ( Abhirami T V, 20UMAT3722, Bsc Mathematics)

ROOTS

               - Ismat Chugtai

Roots is a short story written by Ismat Chugtai. It depicts the situation of India during the partition period through the life of a Hindu and a Muslim family. The story also focuses on the feelings of insecurity experienced by the members of the Muslim family. It highlights the triumph of love in the face of communal hatred. The use of literary lines made the story more beautiful. Some of them are –

1.   “India was operated upon by such clumsy hands and blunt knives that thousands of arteries were left open.”

    Here India is personified as a person and was operated by the clumsy hands of Britishers. Many people were killed and left wounded physically as well as mentally.

 

2.   “Deadly wounds that it would fester for years to come.”

   Even though the Britishers left India, they made a deep wound that is the partition which would make the situation more terrible and intense.

 

3.   “But there was no oil in the lamp that day, and the wick had burnt out.”

   Depicts the imagery of Amma. The energy and light within her diminished and loneliness ate her when the children left her.

 

4.   “She had nursed the crop with her heart’s blood”

   Implies that mother’s sacrifices their own life to take care of their children.

 

5.   “Two pearls of warm tears trickled down”

   The warm tears represent the tear of happiness of Amma when her children came back. And it is considered as valuable and precious.

ABHIRAMI T V 

20UMAT3722

BSC MATHEMATICS