My mother's rules had to do with feminine deportment, so I never played hard enough to break a toy or muddy my dress. My father's rules had to do with never shaming the family by even a hint of scandal, and not providing business rivals with an opportunity to kidnap me or throw acid in my face.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the contrasting rules set by the speaker's parents, highlighting expectations regarding femininity and family reputation.
Bharati Mukherjee shares her reflections on the upbringing influenced by her parents' distinct rules. Her mother's guidelines emphasize traditional feminine behavior and propriety, discouraging any actions that could lead to physical messiness or disruption of societal standards, while her father's rules focus on protecting family honor and safety. Together, these rules shape the speaker's identity, illustrating the complex interplay of gender expectations and familial obligation in her formative years.
In practice
In a speech about family values, one might quote this to emphasize the influence of parental guidance.
I flew into a small airport surrounded by cornfields and pastures, ready to carry out the two commands my father had written out for me the night before I left Calcutta: Spend two years studying creative writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, then come back home and marry the bridegroom he selected for me from our caste and class.
Bengalis love to celebrate their language, their culture, their politics, their fierce attachment to a city that has been famously dying for more than a century. They resent with equal ferocity the reflex stereotyping that labels any civic dysfunction anywhere in the world 'another Calcutta.'
Children can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
My first-born. All I can remember of her is how she loved the burned bottom of bread. Can you beat that? Eight children and that's all I remember.
My father had been opposed to my flying from the first and had never flown himself. However, he had agreed to go up with me at the first opportunity, and one afternoon he climbed into the cockpit and we flew over the Redwood Falls together. From that day on I never heard a word against my flying and he never missed a chance to ride in the plane.
I don't believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models.... It's not like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn't like it, they said, Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. Parents have to take better control.
Tell your kids you love them as much as you possibly can, because you're not promised one second to the next.
I tell my children now that they are older, 'If something happens to me... don't make no big fuss over me. Don't make no big expense on my funeral. Don't put any pressure on the rest of the family. I've loved everybody, and I hope they loved me. But don't create this big expense for the family.'
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