True Insights of The Red Carpet

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“The Red Carpet,” written by Lavanya Sankaran, is an excellent example of literature that displays a clash of cultures as a major theme. The story itself is beautifully written, employing several literary devices to support and promote this recurring idea, one that involves not only Northern and Southern India (which have different traditions and customs) but social classes as well. The plot is strife with symbols parlaying this exact thought, the movie star lifestyle, the wealth, even the esteemed red carpet itself are all very important elements in the story which carry a different level of emotion and feeling, which are successfully aimed towards improving the thoroughness of the story. The next few paragraphs will delve deeper into the exact meanings and connections each of these symbols provide towards the theme of conflicting cultures. The young Mrs. Choudhary is by all means, not considered a traditional part of Indian culture, boasting a wide variety of promiscuous articles of clothing she stands out in a typical crowd of memsahib, resembling closer that of a teenage westerner. Raju the main character of the story, struggles to come to terms with just how shocking and borderline offensive her attire is. “Rangappa’s thoughts paralyzed him in disbelief. He couldn’t reconcile the bizarre figure he had seen with the haughty memsahib of his imaginings. That slip of a girl, surely no older than his teenage sister, was practically naked…” The clothing wasn’t all that Raju took by surprise, but her “movie star lifestyle” as well. “The problem wasn’t just her style of dressing… it was also her style of speaking with her friends: curses jokes, comments and conversation of a frankness that, on the whole, made him grateful he could barely follow the English in which they spoke. Along with the curses, Mrs. Choudhary smokes and drinks, actions Raju describes as
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