Dedicated to the study of literature.
1. What seems to be the author’s intention or purpose for writing the narrative? Try to think of several purposes and consider varying audiences in your response.
2. Describe the role of faith in the author’s ordeal or in the narrative as a whole.
2a. In general, what would a Puritan say about God and his providence in their everyday lives?
3. Describe the relationship between Mary and her captors.
4. Based on the reading, what do you think the characteristics of a “good” Puritan are?
5. How do you think Mary feels about her captivity by the end of it?
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A Temporary Matter
Jhumpa Lahiri’s story titled “A Temporary Matter” is about a dysfunctional couple who can not seem to mend their tattered relationship. The couple, Shoba and Shukumar, create a great divide between themselves after learning about the loss of their child. They both feel that it is their fault the stillbirth occurred and the guilt increases the amount of distance between the couple. They learn that “for five days their electricity will be cut off for one hour” (Lahiri 1) in the evening. During this time, the Shoba and Shukumar share secrets they have never revealed to each other. On the final night of the power outage, Shoba tells her husband she is leaving him and moving into an apartment. This action makes Shoba appear to be a heartless person who does not care about others, but when one sees deep into the text they can see that she has much more character than that. When she told Shukumar she was leaving him, “She wouldn’t look at him” (Lahiri 21). Not looking at him reveals she has sorrow for what she is doing. She thinks it is for the best but it still hurts her deeply on the inside. This ties in with one of the major themes of the story, that it is human nature to care about one another regardless of any circumstances.
When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine
A man named Mr. Pirzada is away from his homeland of Dacca. He and his family are the innocent victims of a civil war that is being fought in his country for independence. Unfortunately, his wife and seven daughters can not flee the country with him so they are stuck amongst war torn areas while he is by himself in America. Mr. Pirzada misses his family very deeply and feels rather lonely having no one to be with. In addition to all these emotions, he also fears for their safety and hopes they will remain unharmed. To compensate for his separation, Mr. Pirzada visits a girl named Lilia and her family quite often. When Mr. Pirzada comes, he brings candy for Lilia and has dinner with them. As time goes on, he visits them more frequently. Lilia says, “I have no memory of his first visit, or of his second or his third, but by the end of Semptember I had grown so accustomed to Mr. Pirzada’s presence in our living room that one evening…I asked my mother to hand me a fourth glass from the cupboard” (Lahiri 24-25). Mr. Pirzada coming over so often shows his love for family life. He wants so badly to be with his family that he settles for Lilia’s family just to get the feeling. This is one of the main themes of the story, that every human has an automatic love for their family. It takes plenty to break a bond between loved ones and in many cases nothing can break a family up. Eventually, Mr. Pirzada returns to the newly declared independent Dacca, having won the civil war. He sends a letter to Lilia’s family to tell them everything has gone well and his family has survived. As Lilia thinks about Mr. Pirzada she comments, “It was only then… that I knew what it meant to miss someone who was so many miles and hours away, just as he had missed his wife and daughters for so many months” (Lahiri 42). Mr. Pirzada became like family to Lilia and in keeping with the theme, she formed a love for him that could not be broken.
Interpreter of Maladies
In “Interpreter of Maladies,“ an American family visits India and tours it’s sites. The family, named Das, includes a mother and father along with three children, Tina, Bobby, and Ronny. They are of Indian descent , as Lahiri writes, “The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did” (Lahiri 43-44). As they toured India, they traveled with an Indian man named Mr. Kapasi. Mr. Kapasi is a cab driver and an interpreter of maladies for a local doctor. His job is to translate non-native language speakers to the doctor in order to give them the medical care they need. On the tour, Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi speak with each other and seem to ignore the rest of the group. “It seemed like a private conversation between Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das (Lahiri 54). In participating in this conversation, Mrs. Das ignores her children and neglects them. This speaks to her lack of character and shows her as a non-caring mother. During the talk, Mrs. Das reveals that Bobby is not Mr. Das’ son. Mr. Kapasi is surprised to be the recipient of this shocking news and thinks she may have feelings for him, but finds out that Mrs. Das is hoping the “interpreter of maladies” can think of a solution to the problem. He does not know what to tell Mrs. Kapasi, so she goes back to her family and their connection is broken. In doing this, Mr. Kapasi realizes Mrs. Kapasi has no feelings for him.
A Real Durwan
In the fourth story, titled “A Real Durwan,” an old woman named Boori Ma is a durwan for an apartment building. Lahiri never tells readers exactly what a durwan is but one can gather it is some type of doorman or security guard. Boori Ma sweeps the stairwell quite often and is famous for telling residents extravagant and sometimes conflicting stories. In these stories, she claims to have once been a rather wealthy woman. The residents do not know if they should believe Boori or just assume her stories are fictional. “Whether there was any truth to Borri Ma’s litanies no one could be sure” (Lahiri 71-72). Later in the story, Mr. Dalal, a resident of the apartment, buys two new sinks. He installs one sink in his sitting room and the other on the first-floor landing. Even though the other residents should be happy to have a new sink, they become jealous of the Dalals and begin to plan renovations of their own. All the work that is to be done in the apartment building brings many workers who enter and exit the building quite often. Because of this, Boori Ma finds it useless to keep watch at the door or sweep the stairwell, so she decides to walk around the neighborhood instead. While she is gone one day, robbers brake in and steal various items from the apartment building. The residents are quick to blame Boori Ma for what has happened. One of them says, “This is all her doing…..She informed the robbers. Where was she when she was suppose to guard the gate?” (Lahiri 81). Boori Ma tries to defend herself but they believe this is another one of her lies. This situation shows the story’s central theme; greed. The residents should be joyous about the new sink and be happy for Mr. Dalal to get his promotion but are instead jealous of his good fortune. One should never be greedy of another person even if they seem to have the perfect life.
Sexy
The main character of the fifth story, Miranda, has a secret life in which she tries to keep hidden from others. This secret is that she is having an affair with a Bengali man named Dev, who she met at a store. While this is happening, her friend Laxmi’s cousin’s husband is having an affair with a British girl. Laxmi says her cousin plans to wait for her husband to come back to her. “‘He’ll come crawling back, and she’ll let him,’ Laxmi said, shaking her head” (Lahiri 91). This subtle movement shows Miranda Laxmi’s disapproval of affairs and her belief that relationships should end as a result of them. Despite this, Miranda feels no guilt for her affair with Dev, in that his wife is out of town visiting India for a few weeks. “Somehow, without the wife there, it didn’t seem so wrong” (Lahiri 89). She stays focused on how loved and accepted Dev makes her feel. Dev even calls her sexy which makes her believe he loves her. Later in the story, Miranda is asked to watch Laxmi’s cousin’s son, Rohin. She accepts and spends the day with him. During the day, Rohin asks Miranda to put on a dress she has. After doing so, Rohin tells Miranda it makes her look sexy. Miranda is caught off guard by this and asks him what sexy means. Rohin responds, “It means loving someone you don’t know” (Lahiri 107). This makes Miranda question Dev’s love for her since he, as well, called her sexy. She decides to call Dev and ask him if he remembers what he said to her. He does not. Because of this, Miranda feels heart broken and ends the affair. This story shows that an affair is never acceptable and rarely ever works out. True love can only be found in an open relationship where the two individuals are completely committed to each other.
Mrs. Sen’s
Lahiri’s sixth story, appropriately titled “Mrs. Sen’s,” deals with an Indian woman named Mrs. Sen and her struggles to adapt to American life, having moved there with her husband. Everyday after school ends, she watches a boy named Eliot. Naturally through Mrs. Sen, Eliot learns a great deal about the culture of India since it so deeply rooted in her. This is illustrated for the reader when Mrs. Sen cuts vegetables with her knife. “He (Eliot) especially enjoyed watching Mrs. Sen as she chopped things” (Lahiri 114). Every household in India had a knife such as hers revealing how important it is to her culture. As the story progresses, the reader learns of Mrs. Sen’s feeling of home sickness for India. She feels out of place in America and misses her family. To add to this, Mrs. Sen feels even more of an outcast because she can not drive like most American women. She tries, but after just a short drive she says, “I hate it. I hate driving. I won’t go on” (Lahiri 131). This situation makes it seem that Mrs. Sen is not trying her hardest to learn to drive considering she just gave up and because of this, one can say she is not trying to adapt to American culture. The theme of this story shows readers to always make the best of tough situations. Mrs. Sen has to endure the grueling task of adapting to American life but she does not give it a reasonable effort. She should have stepped up and shown a better work ethic.
This Blessed House
The seventh short story, “This Blessed House,” shares the story of Sanjeev and Twinkle, a newly married Indian couple. Sanjeev and Twinkle have just moved into a house together and are busy renovating their new residence. During their endeavors, they find numerous Christian paraphernalia and with each find, Twinkle places them on top of the fireplace mantel. The couple, being complete opposites personality wise, disagree about the paraphernalia. Twinkle feels that the Christian items should be kept on the mantel while Sanjeev feels they should not be kept there saying, “We’re not Christian” (Lahiri 137). This situation shows the carefree demeanor of Twinkle and the precise personality of Sanjeev. Despite the opposition from Sanjeev, the paraphernalia remains in the house. Later in the story, Sanjeev’s coworkers come over to their house for a business party. Sanjeev wants to put the paraphernalia away because of fear of what they may think of them, but, once again, the paraphernalia stays in the house. The guests end up enjoying the items and one guest even comments that their home is a “Great house” (Lahiri 153). In the end, Sanjeev seems to give in to Twinkle. This story shows readers that couples often times have drastic differences and it shows the theme of opposites attracting. Sanjeev and Twinkle are completely different from each other, and that may be why they have so much love between them.
The Treatment of Bibi Haldar
The eighth of Lahiri’s short stories is about a girl named Bibi Haldar. Bibi has an unfortunate life, in that she suffers from epilepsy. Even though she and her father have tried every cure and went to numerous doctors, they still can not free her from the disease. Much to her dismay, Bibi’s father passes away and she must live with her cousins. While Bibi is living in her new home, she begins to yearn for love in her life; This love coming specifically from a husband. “It became unendurably apparent that Bibi wanted a man” (Lahiri 160). This feeling of great longing only grows when her doctor tells her that getting married could be a cure for her illness. After hearing this, Bibi almost seems frantic to find a husband. She places most all of her time into shaping herself into a wife that someone would want to marry. Bibi even takes advice from other women who are willing to give their knowledge to her. Later in the story, her cousin’s wife becomes pregnant. The couple fears that Bibi is contagious so they make her live in a shed, and they eventually move away leaving the neighbors to care for her. One day, a neighbor checks on Bibi and finds she is pregnant, but they can not figure out who impregnated her. “She would not tell us who had done it” (Lahiri 172). The baby is later born leaving the neighbors help her care for him, and in some sort of a miracle, Bibi is cured of her ailment.
The Third and Final Continent
The ninth and final story, titled “The Third and Final Continent,” involves the life of an Indian man. After moving to England, he moves to America for the opportunity to work at MIT University. While in America, he stays in a boarding house. The landlady, Mrs. Croft, at first seems to be strange to the narrator. After learning she is 103 years old, he finds a new liking and respect for her. He even seems to begin to care for her. Later in the story, the narrator learns his new wife, Mala, is coming to stay with him in America. Their marriage was arranged so he knows very little about her and does not feel the love for her that he should. After picking her up from the airport, he shows her around and introduces her to Mrs. Croft. After a short conversation, Mrs. Croft says, “She is a perfect lady” (Lahiri 195). In doing this, Mrs. Croft shows the narrator all the good about Mala. He realizes the sacrifices she made to come to America to be with him and he is extremely thankful towards her. They grow much closer from this and actually have love for each other. “For the first time, we looked at each other and smiled” (Lahiri 196). They finally find what all couples should have; love.
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