The short story “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America, symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian outfit for a woman is a saree and each has its own purpose. Her clothing also indicates her progression from girl, to wife, to woman. The story begins with the bride dressed in a yellow sari preparing to meet her future husband by bathing in a lake. She describes the yellow saree as a sunflower after the rain. Yellow here could possibly mean new times to come or peace. The bath she was taking relaxes her with the thought that she is about to marry a man she hasn't even met, as well as the thought of losing her family. Next, Sumita is dressed for her bridal show in a light pink saree. which means marriage, luck and possibility. This saree not only shows her faith towards her heritage, but it also denotes their family wealth. [talking about Indian family wealth and how it applies to arranged marriages] Light pink also signifies the color of transition. Her transition in this section is from daughter to wife. Wearing this pink saree, she would surely be chosen as Somesh's wife. Once chosen as the perfect bride, Sumita must board a plane to the United States. Sumita chose to wear a blue sari because it represented the color of possibility for her and it also matched the color of the sky she was traveling through. Her mother, for her part, wanted to wear red. In his belief, red is supposed to bring luck to married women. [Married women in India, their responsibilities] They compromised and found one that was blue with a red border to satisfy both arguments. Once in America you see that Sumita is...... middle of paper ......With marriage comes change and Sumita has now gone from daughter to wife. In summary, colors can symbolize many things. In many different cultures, we use colors to describe a feeling or a way of life. For Sumita, the colors of her outfits played a major role in how she felt. Her blue sari represented the color of possibility and made her feel better about the journey and not knowing her husband. For example, on the plane trip to the United States, she began to feel physically ill about embarking on her new life. In order to feel better, she started thinking about all her beautiful saris that were in her suitcase, like her purple silk saris and the woven cotton ones that reminded her of the Bengal countryside. She describes green saris that look like young banana plants and gray saris that remind her of a lake back home...