Structure
The short story, “Red Sari” by Amanthi Harris includes a few characters and follows a single event in the life of the main character – shopping for a sari for her wedding to please her mother. The story is structured using a traditional plot and includes narrative elements like flashback and in media …
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Beginning
The short story begins in media res (in the middle of events) with the main character looking at a wedding dress in a magazine: “I first saw the dress in a magazine for brides-to-be…” (p. 104, l. 1). The description of the magazine picture with a woman wearing the dress helps suggest that the character-narrator is going to get married.
As the exposition continues, the character of the mother helps suggest that the characters have an Asian background: “ ‘How can you wear a dress? You must…
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Middle
The rising action focuses on the characters’ interaction during the shopping trip. As the mother and daughter go to eat some traditional Asian food, the daughter has a flashback that reveals she and her mother are originally from Colombo, Sri Lanka: “I almost saw her then in cafés in Colombo and her cousins and friends…” (p. 105, ll. 31-32)
The conflict between mother and daughter is suggested through the fact that the daughter feels uncomfortable around her mother: “Did they ever sit like us? I wondered. With nothing to say?” (p. 106, ll. 14-15)
Tension points are introduced at a jewellery shop where the daughter feels uncomfortable talking and negotiating with people she cannot relate to: “There was advice and discussion; mirrors held up, heads turn this way and that.” (p. 107, ll. 4-6).
Tension increases betwe…
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Ending
In the falling action, the daughter begins to feel remorse, having flashback memories about her childhood: “…Beadle and Noel, and burgers and chips, and curry and rice and pickles especially imported for parents and aunts and uncles who might drop by…” (p. 110, ll. 5-8)
As a result, the daughter decides to buys a red sari, not as a wedding dress but as a going away dress, to please her mother: “…‘I’ll wear a dress for the wedding and a sari to ‘go away’ in.’ ” (p. 110, ll. 16-17). The mother accepts but is disappointed, and this saddens the daughte…
