Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

India

Answer the following questions:

1. Comment on the reason why Elizabeth Gilbert placed the anecdote of the chicken at the
beginning of the second part of her book, India.
2. Gilbert acknowledges the scrubbing of the floor in the ashram metaphor as too obvious.
Give reasons for this self-deprecating gesture.
3. What lesson does Liz take with her when she leaves India? How does she integrate her
experience of Italy with her newly discovered self?

1. The reason why the author chose to begin Liz s story in India with the chicken anecdote is
because Liz arrived at the ashram during the night, when her appearance felt less
conspicuous than it might have been if she had shown up in broad daylight. It is also an
allusion to the effacement of one s ego one is expected to undergo in an experience of
enlightenment, which Liz sought to have in India.
2. The metaphor was too obvious because that was exactly what she wanted for herself: to
clease her soul and to humble herself before the miracle of Life. The most obvious reason
might be her sense of humour as well as her self-awareness which translates, once in a
while, in the self-reflecting nature of her thoughts/writings.
3. By the time she leaves India, Liz realizes that ”God dwells within you as you” and that
He/She/It does not care for the external manifestations of your spirituality. The elephant s
acknowledgement of Liz is one symbolic proof that she has managed to be part of the/her
world, to accommodate the sensuous (Italy) and the spiritual (India) within herself.