Red, White, and Whole

Amma’s first name is Punam; she is named after the moon. She is like the moon in that she is “always gentle / always changing, but / predictable” (126). She only ever shows people “one face. / The strong one” (126).

Reha’s weekend is spent waiting for doctors to figure out what kind of leukemia Amma has. Her mother and father stay at the hospital while Reha goes to Sunny’s house. On Sunday, Reha and her father go to visit Amma. Reha stays with Sunny and her family for a few days “so Daddy doesn’t need to worry / about getting [her] to and from school / on top of working and visiting the hospital” (128). The women in their local Indian community have already started bringing them food.

On the first day back at school, Reha is late to class. Rachel tells Reha that she was worried and tried to call over the weekend, but no one answered. Reha explains what happened. All of Reha’s classmates learn about her mother and offer their love. With their unexpected support, Reha realizes that she has “yet another family, / one [she] never thought to call [her] own” (130).

Reha and her parents meet Amma’s new doctor, Dr. Andrews. She tells them that Amma has acute myeloid leukemia and will need chemotherapy. Chemotherapy will make her sick and will mean that she has to stay in the hospital. Dr. Andrews is very kind and answers all of the questions that Reha and her parents have. Reha thinks of Dr. Andrews as another kind of hero.

In Savitri, Part 3, Lord Yama tries again to take Satyavan’s soul. Savitri once again pleads with Yama to spare him. Because Lord Yama sees Savitri’s virtue, he tells her that she may ask for “anything / but the life of [her] husband” (134). This time, Savitri asks Lord Yama to give her “mother-in-law and father-in-law more sons / so their kingdom will have heirs” (134). Lord Yama complies.

Reha’s father calls their family in India to tell them what has happened. When Prema Auntie learns of Amma’s illness, she tells the family that she will come to America to help take care of her. Reha’s father tells Prema Auntie that he will pay for her plane ticket.

With Amma in the hospital, Reha’s father is lost. He does not cry, but Reha thinks that “his pursed lips / tired eyes / ceaseless pacing / are worse to see than tears” (137). Reha realizes how much her mother “held together in [their] home / especially Daddy” (137), and she also realizes that her parents love each other very much.

Reha reflects on her two lives: her life in the hospital and her life outside. She goes to the hospital and sees the toll that the chemotherapy is taking on Amma, whose hair has begun to fall out. Amma assures her that “it is just hair” and “it will grow back” (139).

Thanksgiving arrives. Reha and her parents usually celebrate with their Indian friends. They do not eat American Thanksgiving foods; instead, they eat things like “spicy pulao and tart cranberry chutney, / samosas, stuffed parathas, / aloo chole” (141) and tandoori turkey for the non-vegetarians. Reha and her father bring food from their feast to Amma, but Amma is too nauseous to eat.

Reha feels a lot of guilt about her mother’s illness. She feels guilty for being caught up in her own worries and for writing the aerogramme, which she destroys. She thinks about Savitri, who tried to “save the one she loved / with courage and cleverness” and “how she was able to bargain with / the Lord of Death” (144). In an effort to help her mother recover, Reha resolves to be more virtuous and to become the daughter that her “parents want [her] to be” (144).

Reha works to be more dutiful. She pushes herself at school, she “stops passing notes to Rachel in math class” (145) and she starts avoiding Pete since they are no longer partners in English. Pete tries to talk to her, but because she ignores him, he eventually stops trying.

Reha spends a lot of time under hospital lights, visiting her mother. Amma tells the doctors that Reha wants to be a doctor. Reha still faints at the sight of blood, and she wonders if she really wants to be a doctor after all.

Prema Auntie is not allowed to come to America because her visa request has been denied. Dr. Andrews writes a letter to the embassy explaining why Prema needs to come, describing Amma as “gravely ill” (150).

Reha and her father try to adjust to the new routine of their lives. Her father must now leave work early to pick her up from school, and he is tired all the time. They visit Amma often and eat food that the women in their community have brought them for dinner.

Reha is determined that she and her father will learn to cook for themselves. They try to recreate Amma’s recipes but fail miserably when they burn the mustard seeds. Reha feels like “everything is ruined” (155).

Two weeks after Amma starts chemotherapy, all her hair is gone. She has a bone marrow biopsy to see if the chemotherapy worked, but they find out that it has not; “the cancer cells are still there” (156).

Pete finally corners Reha and asks her why she has been avoiding him. He says that avoiding him “won’t make her [mother] come home any faster” (158).

Amma gets sicker. She has pneumonia and cannot breathe on her own, so she is put in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Again, Reha thinks about Savitri and prays that she can be virtuous enough to save her mother.

Reha thinks about the color of virtue. She thinks that virtue is auspicious, so it must be “red. / Blood red” (162).