ESSAY CEMETERY

  Themes and important elements ·        Indian tradition ·        Looking toward the past ·        Food preparation rituals ·        American-Indian interactions ·        Child-adult interactions ·        Eliot understands Mrs. Sen and his mother does not ·        Unhappiness in the US ·        Apparent coldness of Indian relationships ·        Happiness dependent on homelike things ·        The helplessness of children ·        The perceptiveness of children ·        Responsibility Style and devices ·        Third person limited narrator ·    ...

It is September. Eliot, eleven years old, is used to having adults look after him after school. This year he goes to Mrs. Sen's after school, because she cannot drive and watch him at his own house. During the first meeting between Eliot, his mother and the Sens, Mrs. Sen introduces herself and her husband, who teaches mathematics at the university. Their apartment seems like a transient residence, with plastic covering the some of the furniture. Eliot's mother asks the Sens questions. She is concerned with Mrs. Sen's inability to drive, and Mr. Sen predicts that she will have a license in December. Eliot rather enjoys Mrs. Sen's. Her apartment was warmer than his house. He learn to remove his shoes upon entering the apartment. He enjoys watching her prepare food, with special dishes and particular vegetables. She tells Eliot about Indian traditions. She feels isolated at home, compared to home, India, where the entire neighborhood was in tune to each other...