Analysis Of Raman Mundair's Short Story 'Day Trippers'

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Raman Mundair’s short story ‘Day Trippers ‘ is from the anthology Closure from 2015. The genre of the story is a short story. In the short story I will analyze the narrator and point of view, make a characterization of the main characters, discuss the conflict in the story and talk about the theme of the short story.

The short story is about Parminder and Gurpreet who are both Indians and do not like the idea of having Asian partners. Therefore, they reject their Indian culture and the idea of having a romantic partner from the same culture. Parminder is married with the character Davide, with whom she has two sons with. Gurpreet is married to an Irish woman. Her name is Aisling and they have two daughters. The couples live in London and Parminder and Aisling used to be friends at university. One day Parminder and Gurpreet accidentally meet in a hotel in Birmingham on a business trip. The two begin to talk with each other and later begins an affair. The affair makes them rediscover their culture through their love and makes them embrace their Indian culture.

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The short story “Day Trippers” by Raman Mundair is a third-person narrator. Because the narrator conveys the story by using a combined point of view of the two main characters, Parminder and Gurpreet. The perspectives of the two main characters alternate throughout the story, which is seen here: Section 9, line 3-5 and section 10, line 2-3. We can see that the narrator has as much knowledge of the events as the two characters have. The storyteller knows their background and their thoughts and therefore has a limited point of view.

The most important characters in the short story are Parminder and Gurpreet. Their spouses and their children are secondary characters who are relevant for the way the protagonists relate to them. Parminder is one of the main characters in the short story. Parminder’s outer characterization informs us that she is Asian, probably from Punjab, India, because she understands Punjabi: Section 11, line 14. She is married whit David who is a white man. They have two sons, which means that she is a mother. Parminder’s inner characterization informs us that she has a type and do not like Asian men: Section 1, line 1-3. This is one of the reasons why she married a white man and not an Indian man. It seems like everything that is connected to Parminder’ culture disgust her, but this is quite hypocritical when she has an affair with Gurpreet. Parminder seems to be a competitive person, because when she was at university she was always competing with Aisling and this made her quite frustrated: Section 4, line 1-2. We can also see that before the reunion with Aisling, she made an appointment for her hair dresser and hade a manicure. She also bought a new dress and choose the best photos of her sons, so she could show the best side of her life to Aisling: Section 5, line 1-4. This indicates that she has a little obsession with Aisling and wants to “win”, of whom of them had/has the best life.

Gurpreet is the second main character in the story. Gurpreet’s outer characterization informs us that he is Asian, probably from Punjab, India, because he also understands Punjabi: Section 11, line 14. Gurpreet is married to an Irish woman and has two daughters with her. We can see that Gurpreet and Aisling can afford to change their furniture yearly and buy their children new clothes every season: Section 5, line. 4-8. This indicates that they are quite wealthy, especially when they live in the United Kingdom. Because of the big difference between the upper class and lower class. Gurpreet physical appearance changes so much that his wife could not recognize him anymore: Section 23, line 1. Gurpreet’s inner characterization informs us that he also has a type anything but Asian. He even deepens it, he does not want South Asian, absolutely no Indian, Pakistani or Bengali women: Section 3, line 2-3. This is one of the reasons why he married a red-headed Irish woman and not an Asian woman. This is also quite hypocritical when he has an affair with Parminder.

We can clearly see that Parminder and Gurpreet has more or less the same sexual attraction, which is anything else then Asian partners. This is quite a contradiction, because they have an affair with each other even though they never would have imagined themselves with an Asian partner. We can therefore conclude that love is not something you choose but something that happens. Even though it contradicts your personal preferences. We can therefore see that sexual preferences could be a theme for this short story. The essential ting between Parminder and Gurpreet is there common culture, which holds their foundation of their life. We can see that Parminder is missing something in her life: Section 2, line 5. We can conclude that she is missing her culture, and this is the main reason why they both have an affair with each other. A good theme for this short story could be impact of culture. 

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