Theme of Racial Prejudice in You Bring the Distant Near (Free Essay Sample)

As Angelique Kidjo has stated, “I don’t care about skin color, everybody is a human being. Beneath every skin color, you bleed red. That’s just the bottom line of the truth.” The novel You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins is about the Das family, a Bengali family that moves to America. The story is from the perspective of the Das women: Tara, Sonia, Anna, Chantal, and Ranee. While each woman has her own individual desires, their cultural background impedes what they truly want. Their background also limits some interactions with people and how they treat and react to others.  One of the themes in You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins is how racial prejudice can limit bonds with others, and it is developed through comments about Sonia’s skin tone, Ranee’s thoughts about their neighborhood, and when Sonia marries Lou.

One way the theme that racial prejudice can limit bonds with others is developed in the novel is through comments about Sonia's skin tone. Big Harm visits the Das family, and starts to judge Sonia. She states that she feels worried about Sonia and her secrecy. Big Harm annoys Sonia, so she starts to think, “It takes every shred of my self-control not to confront this woman. But I can’t shame Ma. The woman’s eyes roam down my body and return to my face. ‘And her skin is so black!, Americans probably don’t recognize her as Bengali’”(Perkins 66). When Big Harm exclaims, “And her skin is so black!” This shows how racial prejudice can limit bonds by her colorist mindset because she finds ways to criticize Sonia for her skin. Big Harm shows much more dislike for Sonia than for Tara, and Sonia’s skin tone is one factor for that hatred. When Big Harm’s “eyes roam down my body and return to my face,” this shows that she feels ashamed of Sonia’s exterior, especially her skin tone. And Because of Big Harm’s judgment of Sonia’s skin color, they cannot bond properly since Big Harm has a colorist mindset. 

One way the theme that racial prejudice can limit bonds with others is developed in the novel is through Ranee’s thoughts about their neighborhood. As the Das family drives through their new neighborhood, Ranee is uncomfortable with the children that are in the playground. Ranee asks if the neighborhood is dangerous, which makes Sonia confused. She thinks, “The children are laughing, shouting, running. Acting like kids in playgrounds everywhere. There’s nothing dangerous in sight. It’s only when I imagine how it looks to Ma that I notice what I missed with my own eyes: every child in the playground is black” (Perkins 24). When Sonia thinks, “every child in the playground is black,” this shows that racial prejudice can limit bonds by the way Ranee looks at the kids because she cannot look at them and see good people. Ranee watches a perfectly wholesome scene, and her first thought is that the neighborhood is not safe. When Sonia had to “imagine how it looks to Ma,” she switched her mindset into a racist one to look at the children in a poor light. Ranee only sees danger, which limits any bonds that might happen between the kids and the Das family.

One way the theme that racial prejudice can limit bonds with others is developed in the novel is when Sonia marries Lou. Ranee finds out about Sonia’s relationship with Lou, and heavily disapproves of the couple. She hopes for Sonia's love to just be a phase, but her daughter does not move on. Ranee hates them together, “And then, no matter how much Ranee rejected, how many tears she cried, how she begged and invoked her husband’s memory, the disaster came. Sonia eloped. Ranee hasn’t spoken to her youngest daughter since Tara came home with the news” (Perkins 171). When Perkins writes “Sonia eloped,” this shows the theme that racial prejudice can limit bonds because Ranee’s disapproval of her daughter’s black partner has led Sonia to elope and Ranee to miss an important occasion. Ranee’s prejudice against Lou was so bad that Sonia had to elope to be with her lover. After they got married, “Ranee hasn’t spoken to her youngest daughter since Tara came home with the news.” This shows how much Ranee’s racist mindset gets in the way of her bond with Sonia, since they have not spoken with each other because of her marriage. In conclusion, Ranee shows how racial prejudice limits bonds by her disapproval of the couple.

One of the themes in You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins is how racial prejudice can limit bonds with others, and it is developed through comments about Sonia’s skin tone, Ranee’s thoughts about their neighborhood, and when Sonia marries Lou.