28 pages • 56 minutes read
Jhumpa LahiriA Real Durwan
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Monsoons
The monsoon rains’ symbolism is multifaceted. First, they represent change and hardship, as they cause an ache in Boori Ma’s already weary knees when the story opens. This hardship adds to her characterization as an industrious person, as she continues with her duties despite the pain. Additionally, when torrent finally comes, she is in the middle of her sweeping tasks but pushes through the work:
[A]t the time, Boori Ma was working all the way down on the second-floor landing. She looked up the ladderlike stairs, and as the sound of falling water tightened around her she knew her quilts were turning into yogurt. But then she recalled her conversation with Mrs. Dalal. And so she continued, at the same pace, to sweep the dust, cigarette ends, and lozenge wrappers from the rest of the steps, until she reached the letter boxes at the bottom (157).
Furthermore, the monsoons illustrate the disparity in lived, socioeconomic reality. The rains shred Boori Ma’s bedding, forcing her to sleep on newspapers for the night. They also ruin Mrs. Dalal’s lemon peels, which causes her to be cross even before Mr. Dalal returns with the two water basins (which provokes a day-long fight between them). The monsoons mirror Boori Ma’s growing sense of hope at this point in the story, but as the new bedding continues not to appear, her situation worsens.
Boori Ma’s Skeleton Keys
Boori Ma shakes the skeleton keys and the coins she keeps in the free end of her sari as a way of accenting her speech. They become almost part of her voice and its influence (See: The Power of Voice). Her displacement during Partition adds great texture to her voice, and the skeleton keys tie back to Boori Ma’s possessions from her former life. They are part of her origin story and a reminder of her trauma.
A skeleton key can open many locks because part of the key has been shaved away, making it more universal. Boori Ma says her skeleton keys are for coffer boxes—chests that store valuables—which, if true, means she once had access to a store of material goods and other treasured capital. Therefore, the keys also symbolize wealth and status. Class and affluence play into another theme in the story, as the very idea of a “real durwan” relates to the residents’ desire for status and status symbols.
Boori Ma’s Broom
Unlike Boori Ma’s skeleton keys, her broom connects her to her work and her service to the building. But like the skeleton keys, the broom symbolically highlights socioeconomic themes. Because the broom has become a significant possession for her, its lowly nature is juxtaposed with the purported opulence, or luxurious possessions, of her former life in Bengal. It also ties to her livelihood, and because she works so hard and so constantly, the broom emblematizes both the protagonist and the idea of a durwan. Very rarely does Boori Ma appear in the story without it. She uses her broom for an array of tasks, from hailing taxis to sweeping the stairs to cleansing her quilts of harmful spirits and mites. Her broom accompanies her to all of her tasks and conversations. When she plans to visit Mrs. Dalal for the afternoon and considers asking for prickly heat powder, she seizes her broom because “she never felt quite herself without it” (158).
The broom becomes part of Boori Ma’s sense of identity, but it is also a companion of sorts. At the end of the story, as the residents hurl accusations at Boori Ma, she clings to her broom for support: “Boori Ma gripped her reed broom and said nothing” (168). After Mr. Chatterjee’s pronouncement, they expel Boori Ma and her belongings from the building, and “[f]rom the pile of belongings Boori Ma kept only her broom” (170).
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