Some form of transition will always take place for an individual to feel a sense of belonging, whether to a group, to a community or to a society. There is a battle where the thoughts of the individual are torn apart, to allow them to reach a level of understanding and acceptance in order to achieve a sense of belonging together. Influences such as family and culture attribute immensely to allow for an individual to acquire the feeling of belonging together. The protagonist of the novel 'Born Confused' by Tanuja Desai Hidier, Dimple Lala, clearly illustrates that through her transition from an ABCD – American Born Confused Desi, to an ABD – American Born Desi.
Belonging together represents having a common relation to a group of people or a community – and for Dimple, the common relation too many others, is her cultural heritage. Metaphorically speaking, Dimples’ body represents her Indian ethnicity. “Your body is your home. It tells you where you are from”, her mother tells her. Her curvaceous body and skin tone differentiate Dimple from others, even though she’s born in America. Dimple’s mum further informs her that “India is in your blood”; which demonstrates that some aspects of belonging together are innate. You will always have your culture embedded within you as it is your “birthright”. As Dimple embraces her Indian heritage she finds that she “felt like she finally fits into my clothes”. The use of alliteration provides emphasis on how content Dimple feels to accomplish a sense of belonging together with her culture.
Dimple’s strong connection with her grandfather provides another angle for what belonging together means through the influence of family. Continuously sending photographs symbolises the affinity between Dimple and her Grandfather. Though they failed to communicate verbally, they found that through sharing photos they were able to communicate their thoughts, feelings, values and worlds. The emotive language and lengthy descriptions used...