My Mother Combs My Hair

The poem "My Mother Combs My Hair", by Chitra Banerjee

Divakarun, is about the difference between two generations. In this

poem, hair is portrayed as a symbol of culture, the mother is a symbol of

the older generations and the daughter is a symbol of the younger

generation. In my opinion the mother should try to accept that the hair,

"the culture", is not the same and that the world is evolving.

The mother believes that long, healthy hair is the key to happiness

and a strong marriage because that is what her culture has taught her. In

this poem, the daughter states that "At their marriage, she told me

because of her hair he did not ask for a dowry". I think that the mother

has a strong point and I do understand that her daughter is disrespecting

the religion, but she also has a reasonable argument.

The daughter seems very self conscious and she feels ashamed. I

think she feels this way because of the way her mother reacts about her

not following their traditions. I can sense the sadness and the fault she

feels when she said "I can read regret in her fingers untangling snarls". I

think that one of her really good points about the hair, is that even

though her mother did have such beautiful hair, it didn't make her father

stay. So she has the right to use that as a strong base.

I can relate to the daughter because I was born in Trinidad and I

moved to Florida when I was 7 years old, so my parents are very strict. I

think that they have both altered their rules and their expectations to the

American culture, while still managing to keep our family values. My

mother, personally, always argues with me about the way I carry my self.

She gets very aggravated and annoyed if I use something that damages

or dries out