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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In “A Temporary Matter”, the main characters Shoba and Shukumar have a very distant relationship due to the loss of their first child. Their baby died in birth, which caused their relationship to grow further apart every day. Shukumar was away on business when Shoba went into labor three weeks early. He did not want to go but Shoba made him go. “He hadn’t wanted to go to the conference, but she insisted; it was important to make contacts, and he would be entering into the job market next year.” (Lahiri 2-3). Now they will not even eat dinner together. Shoba piles herself with work to do every night and Shukumar just does not want to talk to her and indulges himself in his dissertation. However, this starts to change when the power company has to cut the power to work on the power lines every day for a week, at dinner time. Now Shoba and Shukumar eat together for dinner every night of that week by candle light. Shoba wants to play a game that she used to play as a girl at her grandmother’s house when she was little. The game is where both Shoba and Shukumar have to tell each other something that they have never told each other before. This gets to be a very honest game where they tell each other things that they told themselves they were never going to tell. Shoba wanted to play this game so that she could build up to her final story that she was moving out to an apartment.
This story makes a strong point that when young couples are faced with adversity that they do not want to try to fix, the relationship will end. The couple chooses to take the easy way and end the relationship rather than put in the work needed to solve their problems. A relationship takes a significant amount of effort to make it work. When adversity or a challenge comes along in a relationship, both persons need to put forth the effort needed to fix it. The couple cannot avoid each other when the challenge comes or the relationship will fall apart like Shoba and Shukumar’s did. The story shows that avoiding a problem can destroy a relationship.
In the story “When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine”, the main character Mr. Pirzada has a very interesting role in the story. He has a very difficult crisis on his mind, that is his family is stuck in East Pakistan during its civil war. His wife and seven daughters are on the run from the horrors of the war. He tries to not let this bother him while he is over at Lilia’s house to dine, in America, almost every night. He acts as a grandfather to Lilia especially when he gives her candy every time he comes to visit. “He reached into his suit pocket and gave me a small plastic egg filled with cinnamon hearts.” (Lahiri 29). He does his best to spoil Lilia like a grandfather or a father would do for his child or grandchild. Grandfathers have the characteristics of compassion and unconditional love for their grandchildren. Mr. Pirzada tries to do all he can for Lilia to treat her as his own daughter, to fill the gaping hole that he has for the unknown knowledge of the whereabouts of his own daughters. He shows his great compassion for Lilia for wanting to guide her on her trick-or-treating route. He wants to do all he can to protect her at all times from all danger. He does not want to lose her like he feels he has lost his own daughters. This is his expression of unconditional love for her by wanting to protect her at all times. Mr. Pirzada acts like Lilia’s grandfather even though he barely knows her. He is full of love and compassion for children.
In the story “Interpreter of Maladies”, the Das family is taking a tour of famous historical cites, in India, from Mr. Kapasi. Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das create somewhat of a bond on the car ride to the Sun Temple. Mr. Kapasi tells the whole Das family what he does for a living, besides being a tour guide, and Mrs. Das is the only one who shows any interest in it. Mr. Kapasi interprets patients when they describe their illnesses to the doctor. Mrs. Das thinks it is romantic and wants Mr. Kapasi to continue to tell more stories about his job. Mr. Kapasi really appreciates this from Mrs. Das because his own wife shows no interest in his job. He starts to grow attached to her and wants to spend more time with her. “Mr. Kapasi was beginning to dread the thought of dropping them off. He was not prepared to begin his six-week wait to hear from Mrs. Das. … It was then that he suggested visiting the hills at Udayagiri and Khandagiri,” (Lahiri 60). Mr. Kapasi wanted to spend some time with Mrs. Das alone, so he could talk to her and explain how he felt about her. He was in luck when Mrs. Das chose to stay in the car instead of joining her family to look at the caves in the sides of the hills. Mrs. Das began telling Mr. Kapasi a very important and dear secret. She told him how her husband was not the father of one of their children, Bobby. She told Mr. Kapasi this story hoping that he could give her a remedy to solve all the pain that the incident is causing her, since he was an interpreter. However, he did not have a remedy for her problem. Then when they both left the car Bobby was missing. They found him being attacked by the monkeys that were in the woods. Mr. Kapasi saved him and brought him back to his family. When he was given to his parents they both showed their love for him by caring for him. This was the first time on the whole trip that Mrs. Das showed any love for her children.
This story shows that carrying a heavy burden of guilt will affect every aspect of one’s life. Mrs. Das not telling her husband that Bobby was not his son, caused her to lose love for her entire family. One must tell the honest truth at all times or one will be burdened for life about their action. Mrs. Das did lift her burden off somewhat by telling Mr. Kapasi her secret. She also realized that she was not expressing her love for her children when she saw her son being attacked by monkeys
In the story “A Real Durwan”, a little old lady named Boori Ma is the cleaning lady and durwan of a small rundown flat in Calcutta. A durwan is someone who watches over a place as a security guard. The other residents in this little flat listen to the extravagant stories of Boori Ma’s previous lifestyle everyday as she sweeps the stairs of the building. Before Boori Ma was deported to Calcutta she claims she had many luxuries. For instance, she said “Our bathwater was scented with petals and attars. Believe me, don’t believe me, it was a luxury you cannot dream.” (Lahiri 78-79). Many of the residents would get annoyed form Boori Ma’s claims of luxury and would assume that she was lying. When one of the residents, Mr. Dalal, gets a promotion at work and improves the current state of the flat, many people get infuriated and jealous. So the rest of the residents sell their prized possessions to buy new improvements for the flat. Boori Ma cannot clean the flat while the workers are there so she walks around town instead. However, while she is gone the flat gets robbed. Someone stole the basin that was located in the lobby of the flat. All the residents blame Boori Ma for this incident because she was not doing her job of being the durwan. Because of this, the residents kick Boori Ma out of the flat to fend for herself. “So the residents tossed her bucket and rags, her baskets, and reed broom, down the stairwell, past the letter boxes, through the collapsible gate, and into the alley. They tossed out Boori Ma.” (Lahiri 82).
Boori Ma acted as a very good durwan when she was posted there. Even though she left to go shopping the other residents could have acted as the durwan, but instead they all blamed her when the basin went missing. Even though she told far-fetched stories, they were harmless. She was too good-hearted of a person to send robbers to the flat to steal the basin. The residents jumped to an irrational conclusion that she arranged for the theft. The other residents were foolish to blame Boori Ma for the basin being stolen and then kicking her out of her home.
In the story “Sexy”, the emotionally confused main character, Miranda, is having trouble understanding her current relationship. She is in an affair with a man named Dev, who is married. Her best friend Laxmi, has a cousin whose husband just left her for someone who he meet on an airplane. Miranda learns from Laxmi the horrible troubles an affair can cause for the others spouse. This makes Miranda think that she might be doing something awful. Miranda and Dev have been together for a couple of weeks when Laxmi’s cousin and nephew come to town to visit. Miranda volunteers to take care of Laxmi’s nephew while she and her cousin go out on the town. Laxmi’s nephew, Rohin, and Miranda create a special bond together while they spend the day together. When Miranda models a cocktail dress for Rohin, because he wants to see her in it, he calls her sexy. Rohin who is only seven years old knows this word for some odd reason. When Miranda questions Rohin on the meaning of this word he responds with a very intellectual answer. “It means loving someone you don’t know.” (Lahiri 107). This takes Miranda aback because Dev had called her sexy. Rohin’s response makes Miranda think that Dev does not appreciate her and does not really know her. Their relationship eventually dies out because of this amazing answer.
This story shows that an affair is not a true relationship. It is just a physical relationship and not an emotionally based relationship. Miranda wants and needs an emotionally based relationship and not a purely physical one. This story makes the point that sex based relationships never last and for a relationship to last a couple needs to have an emotional connection.
In the story “Mrs. Sen’s”, the main character, Eliot, who is eleven years old, has to stay at the Sen’s house everyday after school. Mrs. Sen is Eliot’s babysitter while his mother is at work. Mrs. Sen came to America with her husband so he could work at the university. Mr. and Mrs. Sen do not get along the greatest. Mr. Sen focuses on his work most of the time, while Mrs. Sen cooks all day. Mrs. Sen does not understand why Mr. Sen cannot leave his work to run an errand for her. “When Mrs. Sen did not reply, he untied his sneakers and returned to the living room, where he found her on the sofa, weeping. … she murmured something about a meeting Mr. Sen was required to attend. … “Tell me, Eliot. Is it too much to ask?” (Lahiri 124-125). Mrs. Sen was asking Mr. Sen to drive her to the fish market for her to pick up some fish. Mrs. Sen cannot comprehend why Mr. Sen cannot drop everything he is doing at work and drive her to the fish market. Mrs. Sen cannot drive so she needs Mr. Sen to drive her everywhere. Mrs. Sen has much trouble with adapting to the American environment from her Indian culture. This makes it even harder for Mrs. Sen to understand why Mr. Sen cannot do simple tasks. Mr. and Mrs. Sen do not have a true love for each other. “Eliot looked through the tiny window in the camera and waited for Mr. and Mrs. Sen to move closer together, but they didn’t. They didn’t hold hands or put their arms around each other’s waist.” (Lahiri 130). This shows that their marriage was a bad match since they do not even want to touch each other in picture.
The extra responsibilities required to take care of Eliot overwhelms Mrs. Sens. Mrs. Sen not being able to drive frustrates her and Mr. Sen. She looks at her situation as if she receives her driver’s licenses then everything will change for the better. Eliot goes with Mrs. Sen to the fish market one day and she gets into an accident. This creates more problems for the Sens because now they have to fix their car as well as their relationship. The Sens did not want to notice their troubles, however, their differences become more noticeable while Eliot is staying with them.
In the story “This Blessed House”, Twinkle and Sanjeev have just gotten married and moved into a new house. Within this new house, the couple finds many hidden Christian relics. “There was a 3-D postcard of St. Francis… a wooden cross key chain … There was a framed paint-by-number of the three wise men… There was also a tile trivet depicting a blond, unbearded Jesus …” (Lahiri 137). Twinkle adores all of the relics and places them on the mantel in the living room. Sanjeev, however, despises them and wants to throw them all away. They are Hindus, but Twinkle really loves all the Christian relics and wants to display them throughout the house. As Sanjeev and Twinkle continue to clean up the house they find more relics. For instance, they find a poster of a weeping Jesus, and when they are raking the leaves they find a waist high statue of Mary. During their party Twinkle continues to respond to comments from their guests on all of their Christian relics. She calls it her own treasure hunt. So the whole party searches the house for more relics. They all end up in the attic and find a thirty pound bust of Jesus. Sanjeev reluctantly puts the bust on top of the mantle. Even though Sanjeev hates all of the relics, he puts them up for his wife whom he loves.
The relationship between Twinkle and Sanjeev is strong and durable. Even though they only knew each other for four months before they got married, they treat each other with respect and will put up with all that the other does. In Sanjeev’s case, he has to put up with Twinkle’s knack for all the Christian relics and her laid back behavior. Twinkle deals with Sanjeev’s up tight behavior and his negative feeling towards the relics. They have their disagreements over the relics but they solve them with compromises. This then makes their relationship stronger and makes them closer together because now they know that they can resolve all of their difficulties and differences.
In the story “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”, the main character, Bibi, is troubled by a very intriguing illness. “an ailment that baffled family, friends, priests, palmists, spinsters, gem therapists, prophets, and fools.” (Lahiri 158). No one can figure out the illness that is plaguing Bibi. She has had this illness for most of her life, so she never really experienced the joys of childhood or how to be a woman. She never really learned how to cook or to sow or how to do other tasks that a woman would need to now when she would get married. Eventually, a doctor diagnosed her that she needed to get married and all of her symptoms would go away. Bibi is obsessed with trying to get married now and will stop at nothing to get engaged. She puts an ad in the paper to get a man. She is living with her cousin Haldar who does not like being her caretaker. In fear of Bibi getting Haldar’s new baby daughter ill he makes her sleep in the storage room away from the baby. Bibi’s cousin, his wife and daughter eventually move away leaving Bibi a small amount of money to live off of and the store that he used to run. Since they abandon her, the neighbors start to take care of her. After a while Bibi loses touch with her neighbors and they get concerned about her well being. Then figure out that she is pregnant, and help her through her pregnancy and labor. No one knows how she became pregnant however, after the child is born she becomes a whole new person. Her illness disappeared and she can now take care of herself and her child.
By having the responsibility of taking care of another person lifted Bibi’s illness off of her. She was acting like a child wanting the attention from everyone and not wanting any responsibilities. Bibi only needed to learn that she was not the center of the world and that she needed to be able to care for herself on her own, and by being able to care for herself she can care for others.
In the story “The Third and Final Continent”, the protagonist is from India and moves from London, England to the United States. Before he moves to the United States he returns to Calcutta, India to marry his fiancé. The wedding was arranged by the protagonist’s brother and sister-in-law, to a woman he has never met before. After the protagonist marries his wife, he moves to Boston, Massachusetts, for a job working in the Dewey Library, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He ventures there before his wife can join him because she has not obtained a green card yet. The protagonist has to gain enough money so that he can live in an apartment until his wife arrives and then move into a bigger apartment for the both of them. So he rents out an apartment for a one hundred and three year old woman at eight dollars a week. The lady’s name is Mrs. Croft and she really needs a large amount of care given to her. Mrs. Croft is very nice to the protagonist and talks with him every evening he comes home. He stays there for about six weeks until his wife arrives and then moves out to a new apartment.
The protagonist has mixed feelings about his wife coming to live with him because they are strangers to each other. “I did not embrace her, or kiss her, or take her hand. Instead I asked her, speaking Bengali for the first time in America, if she was hungry.” (Lahiri 191). The protagonist and his wife Mala now live together in America. They are just acquaintances that sleep in the same bed. After they start to talk more together and learn more about one another they start to grow attached to each other. “I knew in my heart one day her death would affect me, and stranger still, that mine would affect her.” (Lahiri 195). For their relationship to start to work they just needed to open up to one another like a normal couple does. They now respect each other and have a son who attends Harvard University. They, as most couples need to do, consoled one another when the other was hurt and comforted them. They became very close to each other overtime, by learning about each other everyday.
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