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
Lahiri’s ‘A Temporary Matter’ narrates the failing marriage of a young Indian couple leading two separate lives. After the birth of their stillborn child, both Shoba and Shukumar blame themselves for the loss respond in completely different ways. Shoba takes on longer hours as an editor, often leaving before Shukumar wakes and working late into the night, while Shukumar sleeps in, works less, and halfheartedly tries to reconcile his lost relationship with his wife. Although neither will admit it, both deliberately begin avoiding one another. Shukumar begins working in their nursery of their lost child “…partly because the room soothed him, partly because it was a place Shoba avoided” (Lahiri 8). Their marriage, once overflowing with curiosity and passion, was now filled with annoyance and aggravation.
The hour of ‘dark time’ each of the five nights was a night for reconnection and reconciling for the young couple, but Lahiri shows` her distrust in young couples in times of adversity. Although those five dark nights were a time of unification for the couple, the light returns and brings the couple back to reality. Shoba used this time only to diminish Shukumar’s dreams of restoring their relationship and he realizes that “…she’d rehearsed the lines…this was the point of her game” (Lahiri 21). Shukumar fires back with news that crushes Shoba, showing the vulnerability of the young couple, as well as how knowledge can lead to trust and destruction all at the same time.
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
Initially complete strangers, Mr. Pirzada and Lilia’s family are brought together by a war tearing apart their native land. During this time of war and desperation, Mr. Pirzada, who is visiting America for a year, joins the young narrator’s family for dinner every night as they watch the news together. Lilia is perplexed by Mr. Pirzada; his looks are warming but his actions are perplexing. “His ears were insulated by tufts of graying hair…He had thickly lashed eyes shaded with a trace of camphor, a generous mustache that turned up playfully at the end…” (Lahiri 28). Although Mr. Pirzada has a comforting presence, it was Lilia who is turned to during this time of desperation for Mr. Pirzada as he constantly worries about the well-being of his family. Lilia doesn’t know exactly how to comfort him, but her acts of kindness (“…I prayed that Mr. Pirzada’s family was safe and sound. I had never prayed for anything before…but I decided, given the circumstances, that it was something I should do.” (Lahiri 32)) as well as simple statements like “don’t worry” reach him in a soothing way, letting him know that everything really will be okay.
Interpreter of Maladies
According to Webster’s dictionary, a malady is ‘any disorder or disease of the body’. Mr. Kapasi’s job gives the opportunity to interpret between physically ailing patients and a doctor, but maladies can go much further than just physical; it is sometimes the emotional issue that requires the most recovery.
When Mr. Kapasi picked up the Das family at their hotel, he immediately noticed Mrs. Das’s bored and neglectful attitude towards her family. Despite her sour attitude, Mr. Kapasi is intrigued in Mrs. Das, especially when she shows interest in his work at the doctor’s office. Although an important job, Mr. Kapasi was looked down upon by his wife and was embarrassed that he was never able to fulfill his dream as an international interpreter. “…It flattered Mr. Kapasi that Mrs. Das was so intrigued by his job. Unlike his wife, she had reminded him of its intellectual challenges” (Lahiri 53). Mr. Kapasi’s low self-esteem isn’t his only problem, but his affectionate, yet unreturned feelings to Mrs. Das make it unable for him to think realistically or help her with her internal battles. Mrs. Das expects Mr. Kapasi to have a remedy for the pain and guilt she has that her husband isn’t her son’s father. “Mr. Kapasi felt insulted that Mrs. Das should ask him to interpret her common, trivial little secret. She did not resemble the patients in the doctor’s office, those who came glassy-eyed and desperate…unable, above all, to give words to their pains” (Lahiri 66). Although upset that she only looked to him professionally, Mr. Kapasi is hurting inside because he can’t help out Mrs. Das with her problems. Because of her pain, Mrs. Das can’t go through her life normally, and can’t love her husband or children properly. Lahiri shows that physical maladies may be cured and forgotten, but it’s the emotional damage experienced that can last with us a lifetime.
A Real Durwan
Boori Ma is the durwan of an apartment building on College Street in Calcutta. The residents appreciate the hard work and protection she provides, but it’s her outrageous stories of former riches and delicacies that keep all of the residents entertained. The residents are all grateful for her work and security, but as they begin to want to improve their apartment building, Boori Ma runs out of work and her needs are ignored by many of the residents.
Before the competition to outperform all of the others in renovations, the residents were always friendly and appreciative towards Boori Ma, saying “…she was always welcome; they never drew the latch bars across their doors except at night” (Lahiri 76). Although grateful, the residents began to take advantage of the work and security that came with housing Borri Ma. When their competition to improve the apartment escaladed, the residents ignored Borri Ma, not acknowledging her or paying attention to her needs. “Her morning were long, her afternoons longer. She could not remember her last glass of tea…she wondered when the Dalals would return with her new bedding” (Lahiri 81). When Borri Ma leaves the apartments for long periods of time due to the lack of work, the residents are shocked to find some of their valuable work stolen right from their building. When Borri Ma returns, the residents blame her because she left security post at the door that they were so accustomed to having. “So the residents tossed her bucket and rags, her baskets and reed broom…into the alley. Then they tossed out Borri Ma” (Lahiri 82). It’s sometimes hard for people to trust in others skill and familiarity without it becoming dependent. Lahiri shows that dependency is two way; if one side doesn’t come through, betrayal can happen in an instant.
Sexy
Miranda is a twenty-two year old who is entwined in an affair with a handsome Bengali man named Dev. After meeting at Filene’s Basement, Dev carried Miranda off into a fairytale romance while his wife was away for a few weeks. At the same time, Miranda’s friend’s, Laxmi, cousin’s husband had suddenly left his wife for a young British woman he met on a plane. Even though Miranda sees first hand how an affair affects everyone involved, it is hard for her to stop when Dev treats her in a way no one else ever has. “…Dev was the first always to pay for things, and hold doors open, and reach across a table in a restaurant to kiss her hand” (Lahiri 89).When Dev takes Miranda to his favorite place in the city, the Mapparium at the Christian Science center, and tells her she’s sexy, Miranda feels something she never has. She’s never though of herself as sexy in any way, but Dev made her feel it. “‘You’re the first,’ he told her, admiring her form the bed. ‘The first woman I’ve known with legs this long’” (Lahiri 89).
When Dev’s wife returns, he becomes more distant and limits their meetings to just once a week, on Sundays. On top of that, Laxmi’s cousin and son are coming in for the weekend and Miranda is asked to baby sit the boy during the day. When the boy, Rohin tells Miranda she is sexy, she doesn’t exactly know how to respond. She asks him what sexy means, and he simply responds, “It means loving someone you don’t know” (Lahiri 107).
Miranda finally realizes that this is true; Dev doesn’t love her, and she can’t love him. Although only a boy, Rohin’s version of a comforting and welcoming sexy means much more to her than Dev’s elusive and mysterious meaning. Rohin shows Miranda the things she must realize about the affair. “She would tell [Dev] the things she had known all along: that it wasn’t fair to her, or to his wife, that they both deserved better, and that there was no point in it dragging on” (Lahiri 110). Beauty, or sexiness in this case, is truly in the eye of the beholder.
Mrs. Sen's
Teenagers going away to college, young couples moving in together, or just a want for a fresh start can break apart families and homes every day. But for Mrs. Sen, moving ten thousand miles away to a new country didn’t just tear her from her family, it completely tore her spirit. The Sens are an ill match couple, who don’t understand each other’s needs or feelings, and often block out many problems in hopes of them disappearing on their own. Mrs. Sen’s longing for her homeland, combined with Mr. Sen’s frustration in his wife’s inability to adjust to America creates tension and intolerable emotions within the household.
As soon as Eliot enters the Sen’s house for his afternoon babysitting, he understands this: “Two things…made Mrs. Sen happy. One was the arrival of a letter from her family…The other thing that made Mrs. Sen happy was fish from the seaside” (Lahiri 121, 123). Mrs. Sen wants so badly to be back in her homeland that she imitates all their customary ways of cooking, along with their traditional dress. The subject causing most tension in the household is the topic of Mrs. Sens receiving her drivers license. Mr. Sens tries to force her into the unfamiliar situation when he is aware of her displeasure of cars, while Mrs. Sens finds it selfish of her husband if he doesn’t drop everything to drive her everywhere she wants to go. Mrs. Sens even uses her need of transportation to punish her husband. By making him drop everything just to take her to the store or market, Mrs. Sens tries to make her husband understand how she felt when she was asked to drop everything to move to America. “Tell me, Eliot. Is it too much to ask for?” (Lahiri 125). Mrs. Sens reprimands her husband with her constant dependency, while Mr. Sens forces his wife to exist in an environment she hates. For this couple to live peacefully, both must make sacrifices and understand the feelings that the other experience daily.
This Blessed House
Newlyweds Sanjeev and Twinkle have recently moved into their first home together, and when unpacking they begin to find numerous amounts of Christian themed paraphernalia. After finding a small statue of Jesus, she later finds “a 3-D postcard of Saint Francis…a wooden cross key chain…a framed paint-by-number of the three wise men…a tile trivet depicting a blond, unbearded Jesus, delivering a sermon on the mountaintop…” (Lahiri 137). Although Sanjeev finds these items silly, especially because they’re Hindu, Twinkle is intrigued by them and searches the house out for them. She displays them all on their mantle, even though Sanjeev is quite embarrassed by them. At the couple’s housewarming party, all the guests are interested by the findings and search the attic, where they find a large silver bust of Jesus Christ. Even though Sanjeev begins to hate the findings more and more, he gives into Twinkle’s desires and displays them throughout the house.
After we find out that Sanjeev and Twinkle have only known each other for four months and were initially set up by their parents, it makes much more sense as to why their personalities contradict each other’s so much. While Sanjeev is uptight, hardworking and determined, Twinkle is carefree, easy going, and personable. “Certain things nettled him-the way she sometimes spat a little when she spoke, or left her undergarments after removing them at night at the foot of their bed rather than depositing them in the laundry hamper.” (Lahiri 142). Sanjeev often feels like he must guide Twinkle, like she is still a child, and even questions if he really loves her. Sanjeev’s anger at the Christian paraphernalia is unnaturally overwhelming, and may stem from his annoyance of Twinkles interest in them, and lack of interest in him.
The Treatment of Bibi Halder
“The Treatment of Bibi Halder” opens with a list of ridiculous remedies for Bibi’s ‘mysterious’ disease, including “stinging poultices…massaged eucalyptus balm…herbal infusions…amulets warning against the evil eye…auspicious stones…” (Lahiri 158). Many of her neighbors and friends try to expose her to normal, everyday activities, but when Bibi finds out that the cure for her disease is to find a husband, her attacks become more frequent and she enters states of misery. As her anguish continues, BiBi’s cousin’s wife becomes pregnant, banishing her from the house. Although she is allowed back into the house after the baby is born, she is soon kicked out with little money after the baby becomes deathly ill. Unknown to all, Bibi is pregnant when she is kicked out. Once she delivers her son though, her mysterious illness disappears.
Bibi’s illness was obvious; over imaginative and exaggerative. “Anticipation began to plague her with such ferocity that the thought of a husband, on which all her hopes were pinned, threatened at times to send her into another attack.” (Lahiri 160). Because everyone blew her situation out of proportion, Bibi felt that she could as well, often declining invites to go out with friends, or going out of her house at all. After the birth of her son, we learned that the most impacting remedy for Bibi was the birth of her son. Learning responsibility, and modesty, Bibi is finally cured. “Apparently some activity was what the poor girl needed all along (Lahiri 162).
The Third and Final Continent
The young, male narrator of “The Third and Final Continent” has recently moved from India, to London, to America to fill a job working at the Dewey Library of MIT University. Once in America, he moves into a boarding house run by Mrs. Croft, a one hundred and three year old woman with a very proper upbringing. The narrator and Mrs. Croft become closer as he learns to understand and respect her background and stubbornness, and by the end of the summer his wife, Mala, has received her papers to come to America. Although strangers with absolutely no fondness for one another, Mrs. Croft brings the two newlyweds together, helping them to more fully love and connect, serving as a base to get through all the difficulties thrown at them.
This story serves as base for many transitions and changes for the characters. The narrator, as well as his wife Mala, must both transition into lives in America and as a married couple. Both of these characters were young and strong willed, allowing them to do what was expected of them, even in the most difficult of situations. The changes in Mrs. Croft’s life, though, are tougher for her. Even after adjusting for over one hundred years, her incapability to take care of herself and perform even the simplest of tasks, like opening cans, is the hardest adjustment she has had to make. It’s hard for many people, especially the narrator, to see Mrs. Croft in such a vulnerable situation because they are so used to viewing her as the wise and solid rock of the boarding house. It is Mrs. Croft and Mala’s ability to fulfill duties and tough out the pain, though, that makes the adjustments and changes easier and smoother for all involved.
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