“What you pawn I will redeem”. Jackson the narrator can be described as a man who is trying to connect with his roots by buying back his grandmothers dancing regalia, he is also portrayed as a generous man who despite his attempt to buy back the dancing cloth, he always ends up sharing his money with people around him and helping the other people in need.

Jackson’s relationships were all ending and he could never manage to keep a relationship with any one since they all slowly deteriorated maybe because of his mental state. He could not break up with any one so he just slowly but sure killed the relationship.

Jackson finally managed to get his grandmothers regalia, and therefore finally he could rejoice to be connected with his grandmother. He danced as happily as his grandmother used to dance in the regalia.

“The Third and Final Continent.” The story is about an Indian man who studs in Britain and later works in America. The culture is different both in America and London from the Indian culture and the narrator tries to adjust. He talks of the noises, traffic and how he ate cornflakes in an attempt to save money, the names used were different as a flask which he learnt was called a thermos in America and a flask was used to store champagne.

The narrator was a poor man who had dreams and hopes of making it in life. He had faced disappointments when his father had died and his mother become insane. The hardships he faced as an immigrant and his persistence to adjust as well as preserve his traditions in a foreign land. He had a relationship with Mrs. Croft whom he cared about and is saddened by her death. He gets a wife from India through an arranged marriage that he saves money so as to have a better life when the wife came to America, the author made it against all odds as he says his son managed to join Harvard and now his life was a story to tell.

“The Shawl”. The narrator gives the story of a young girl who was thrown to wolves by her mother, later in the story he reveals how the young girl was his father’s sister. The writer helped his father face the pain by telling him to throw away the shawl he kept as it was against their culture to keep clothes of the dead. he further manages to turn the story around so for the little girl to become the hero by suggesting that maybe the girl had thrown herself to the wolves in order to save her mother who was important for the small child she had. The narrator managed to break the cycle of pain in the family by healing the wound and maybe understand the reason for his father’s alcoholism.

The story is emotional and sad as it portrays the picture of a mother who did not Care about her child and the pain her actions brought to the family. However in the end, the writer gives his father peace by suggesting that the sister might have sacrificed herself so as to save everyone else.