The tone of this story is more mythic than others we have read. Rushdie uses elements of myth, but always self-consciously or winkingly. At least the ending of this story is mythic with Shaila the narrator beginning a quest after hearing the voices of her family: "I do not know which direction I will take. I dropped the package on a park bench and started walking" (108). The whole story seems to happen for the reader through a haze of grief, and maybe the mythic tone is suitable because grief is anti-rational.
This story is also notable because it shows alienation from family life in a way other stories we've read never do. Shaila's husband and children die, and upon returning home her mother offers no consolation. Shaila does however find some support from the larger Indian community living in Canada, like Dr. Ranganathan. So unlike the claustrophobic world of a single family, like in Rushdie and Roy, Mukherjee portrays a single woman among a community. At the same time, Shaila doesn't really feel a connection with most of those people besides the fact that they share a homeland or lost family-members in a crash. Shaila is more alone than other protagonists we've read about.
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