The Bangle Sellers
Extract - I
Bangle sellers are we……daughters and happy wives.
1. What is being referred to as ‘shining loads’? Who all are its prospective buyers?
The shining bangles that are being carried by the bangle sellers to the temple fair for sale are referred to as shining loads. Women of every age group are the prospective buyers of these bangles.
2. Bangle sellers could sell their goods anywhere. Why do they choose to go to the temple fair?
Temple fair is the place which is visited by women of all age groups. Here the bangle sellers can sell their goods to ‘happy daughters and happy wives.’
3. Which figure of speech is used in the line ‘Rainbow-tinted circles of light’? Explain what is linked to the happiness of daughters and wives.
The figure of speech used here is a metaphor as multi-hued bangles are compared to the radiant lives of ‘happy daughters and happy wives.’ The multi-coloured bangles have been linked to the dreams, youthfulness and aspirations of ‘happy daughters and happy wives.’
4. Explain how the poet uses her descriptive skills to present facts. Give two examples from the extract.
The bangle sellers go to the temple fair to sell bangles as women of every age would be present there. The poet’s descriptive skills are reflected in the way she has expressed the different stages in a traditional India woman’s life. For example, in a single stanza she had described bangles as ‘shining loads’, ‘rainbow tinted circles of light’ and ‘lustrous tokens of radiant lives.’
5. What role do the bangle sellers play in a traditional Indian set-up, according to this extract?
The bangle sellers are the carriers of those ‘shining loads’ that glorify the idea of Indian womanhood. They try to convince buyers of the spiritual and symbolic importance of the bangles in the lives of ‘happy daughters and happy wives.’ The bangles are symbolic of different stages of womanhood.
Extract - II
Some are meet for a ……..of new born leaves.
1. What type of bangles are befitting for a maiden’s wrist? Why are silver and blue colours compared to the mountain mist?
Silver and blue coloured bangles are befitting a maiden’s wrist. These bangles are compared to blue and silver mist of mountains as they symbolise the freshness and the beauty of young maidens.
2. In what way are the buds set to dream? What figure of speech is used in ‘the buds set to dream’?
The bangles are suitable for the bud-like young maidens who dream of their happy future. They dream of growing up and blossoming like beautiful flowers. The figure of speech- personification.
3. Give the meaning of :
Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream
Some of the bangles have shades of pink of yet to bloom flowers on a woodland stream.
4. How are the bangles compared to the newborn leaves?
The bangles suitable for maiden’s wrist are see in association with the freshness of ‘new born leaves’ or the clear dew drops on newborn leaves. The maidens like the newborn leaves or dew drops are pure, fresh and chaste. They are yet to see the world.
5. State the colours of the bangles meant for a maiden. What do these colours symbolise?
Silver and blue coloured bangles are meant for a maiden. These colours have their association with mountain mist or streams, which are fresh, beautiful and evolving.
Extract - III
Some are like fields of sunlit corn……laughter and bridal dear.
1. What is being compared to ‘fields of sunlit corn’? Why?
Golden or yellow coloured bangles, suitable for a bride are compared to fields of sunlight corn. The corn fields- a proof of Mother Nature’s fertility are symbolic of the fertility of a young girl getting married.
2. What do you understand by the phrases ‘bridal laughter’ and ‘bridal tear’? With what have they been compared in the extract?
Bridal laughter means the happiness and blissfulness a bride experiences while getting married. Bridal tear means sadness that accompanies a bride while leaving her parental abode.
These phrases are compared to the bangles suitable for a bride, which are luminous, bright and tinkling. The bangles are symbolic of her entry into a new life.
3. Which figure of speech is used in these two lines? Explain with examples.
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart’s desire
Simile, in which a likeness between two different things is stated in an explicit way using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’.
In these lines the golden and red coloured bangles suitable for a bride are compared to the flame of her marriage fire and the love that she would experience in her new life.
4. Bring out the relevance of the line:
Some , like the flame of her marriage fire
The colour of the bangles suitable for a woman on her wedding day is compared to the reddish yellow flame of marriage around which the bride takes marriage vows with her groom. The flame-like colour of bangles is appropriate to symbolise the flame of love in marriage.
5. Wedding become befitting occasions to wear bangles. In what ways does the poet associate bangles with a bride?
The bangles worn by a bride in a traditional Indian wedding have spiritual and symbolic significance. Each stage of an Indian woman’s life is described according to the colour of bangles suitable at that stage from a dreamy maiden to an excited bride and finally to a mature matriarch. The bangles that are suitable for a bride are golden coloured like the holy fire around which the bride takes marriage vows with her groom. The bangles also have the colour of ‘her heart’s desire’ which is suggestive of dreams and hopes of a newly wedded bride.
Extract - IV
Some are purple and gold…..her husband’s side.
1. For whom are the ‘purple and gold flecked grey’ bangles suitable for? Which phase of their lives is symbolised by these bangles?
For a woman ‘who has journeyed through life midway’ and has gained experience and wisdom.
These bangles symbolise that phase when the maiden turned bride becomes a proud mother and responsible wife. She has experienced all the aspects of being a woman.
2. Discuss the use of colour imagery in the above extract.
Colours represent various moods and aspects of life. In the above extract, all the aspects of being a woman have been experienced. The colours chosen for he bangles are purple and gold flecked grey. Purple colour indicates power, authority, pride and dignity and gold flecked grey, a sober colour, indicates experience and wisdom. Thus, the woman wearing purple bangles has gained maturity, reared her children with love and at last has achieved the fullness of her role as wife and mother.
3. Explain briefly the following lines:
Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast.
The lines are relevant to the concept of Indian motherhood. The bangle sellers attribute purple and gold flecked grey bangles to the mother who has attained maturity by rearing her children. The bangles are suitable for those hands that have cherished, loved, blessed and cradled her sons.
4. What special significance does the phrase ‘fruitful pride’ hold in the above extract?
‘Fruitful pride’ is a significant phrase in context of a woman who has ‘journeyed through life midway’; she has been a loving daughter, a happy bride; a responsible wife and mother. Her experiences have made her a perfect India woman. She has been productive and fecund for her family and thus ‘serves her household in fruitful pride.
5. Comment on the changes in the life of a woman vis-à-vis the colour of her bangles.
Rainbow-tinted bangles are symbolic of different shades of womanhood.
The blue and silver coloured bangles like the blue and silver mist of mountains; shades of pink of yet to blossom flowers or the clear dew drops on new born leaves are suitable for young maidens.
The golden coloured like the holy fire around which the bride takes marriage vows and the golden coloured bangles, compared to yellow sunlit corn fields are suitable for a bride.
The purple and golden flecked grey bangles are suitable for a woman who has journeyed through life midway.
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