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Lokumo Eteni

Grade 4 February

5, 2013

India's Culture Tied into in

Homeless Bird

Book summary of Homeless Bird

Homeless Bird was a magnificent story . It’s about a girl named Koly that is in an arranged marriage in India who struggles through her life. Her husband is named, Hari and he was ill when Koly married him. He passes away and now Koly is considered a widow. Her mother-in-law called Sass sent her away and left her in a temple full of widows like herself . Koly is now living with a rickshaw boy and his family. She got a job and got remarried to the rickshaw boy that she lived with. Now, she’s going have a new place to live and a new family. As a result now, she will no longer be a “Homeless bird”.

Claim

The book Homeless Bird shows Hindu cultural values in India.

Evidence

In India it is true that widows in arranged marriages go to a temple in the capital city of

Delhi. In the story, after Hari died, she gets left at

Vrindavan ,a city of widows.

Evidence

Homeless Bird says that after an arranged marriage and when they have a feast, it’s the men that eat first, then it’s the women to show respect in the

Hindu religion.

Evidence

The book Homeless Bird says that in Hindu religion when people die and they spread their ashes in the Ganges river, they are considered lucky because the Hindus say that it flows to heaven.

Evidence

In a arranged marriage, the girl and the boy can’t see each other before the marriage. In the book, Koly and Hari didn’t see each other before the marriage.

Evidence

When a man dies from an arranged marriage, the girl is a widow and she has to wear a white sari to show if she’s a widow or not. In the book, after Hari dies, Koly is a widow and she wears a white sari.

Evidence

In an arranged marriage, it is that the girl that goes to live with the man’s family and follows the man and the family's commands. In the book, Koly lived with Hari’s family.

Conclusion

This project is about how the Hindu culture can be tied into Homeless Bird. My claim in this book is that the book shows how Homeless Bird shows a lot of Hindu cultural values. I learned that when a man dies from an arranged marriage, the girls have to wear a white sari to show that their are widows. I showed a lot of pictures and wrote a lot of evidence slides that will help my claim to be proved.

Story Reflection

I think this book had a lot of happy and sad bits like for example when Sass left Koly at Vrindavan and then Koly was sad and then the rickshaw boy brought Koly to Mala’s house so then she was happy. This book tells us that life's not always easy as it can be hard sometimes. It is not always good to be perfect, and it’s also ok to be poor. What matters most is your personality.

Sources

Google images, Kindle and my group helped me with this presentation.