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
At first glance the title, A Temporary matter, refers to the electricity being shut off in Shoba and Shukumar’s, a young Indian couple’s, house. However that isn’t the only thing the title refers to. Upon reading further one thinks that the title could also refer to Shoba and Shukumar’s estrangement, thinking that it is only a ‘temporary’ matter and will soon be resolved. This belief is fostered by the healing, that seems to happen during the five dark nights without electricity, between Shoba and Shukumar “something happened when the house was dark…they were able to talk to each other again” (Lahiri 19). When the story is over, one realizes this is not the case. Shoba was only using the five nights of darkness as a way to distance herself from Shukumar, rather than bring the two of them back together “it sickened Shukumar, knowing that she had spent these past evenings preparing for a life without him” (Lahiri 21). At the end of the week by the time the electricity came back on, Shoba’s secret was out. She had been preparing to leave him for quite some time. Shukumar retaliates by telling her the sex of their stillborn child. This was one thing that Shoba had never wanted to know “now it was his turn to speak…there was something he’d sworn never to tell her…she had wanted it to be a surprise” (Lahiri 21). The light that was shed on them was literal as well as metaphorical. At the end of the story we see that Shoba and Shukumar’s relationship is referred to by the title as well, a temporary matter. At the first sign of tragedy and hardship, their relationship fell apart making their relationship a temporary matter, something that couldn’t hold up under strain.
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
One of the most interesting characters in this story is Mr. Pirzada. He is a foreigner that feels slightly out of place in America. He visits Lilia’s family in order to feel closer to home, because like Lilia’s parents he is from the area of India, Dacca.
His wife and seven daughters are somewhere in war-torn Dacca and he feels very far from them. Every time he comes to dine with Lilia’s family, he brings Lilia some candy or gift. This impulse may stem from the fact he feels impotent about the lack of things he can do for his daughters “each week Mr. Pirzada sent comic books to each of his daughters, but the postal system had collapsed and he had not heard a word of them in over six months” (Lahiri 24). Mr. Pirzada tries to make up for the fact that he cannot give his daughters things by spoiling Lilia. By doing this he feels closer to Dacca and his family. Mr. Pirzada had another way of feeling closer to his family “unlike the wrist watch, the pocket watch was set to the local time in Dacca, eleven hours ahead”(Lahiri 30). The wrist watch set to American time and the pocket watch set to Dacca time symbolize Mr. Pirzada’s sense of displacement he feels. The pocket watch which is closer to his heart than the wrist watch symbolizes he feels closer or wants to feel closer to Dacca. The worse the situation gets in Dacca the more and more time he spends with Lilia’s family “I remember some nights helping my mother spread a sheet and blankets on the couch so Mr. Pirzada could sleep there” (Lahiri 40-41). The more perilous the situation gets in Dacca the more he needs to feel closer to his family. When the situation in Dacca gets out of hand just being with Lilia’s family is not close enough to his family. He flies back to Dacca “Mr. Pirzada flew back to his home in Dacca, to discover what was left of it” (Lahiri 41). At the end of the story the narrator finally realizes how Mr. Pirzada felt missing his family by the emotion she feels missing him “it was only then that I knew what it meant to miss someone who was so many miles away, just as he had missed his wife and daughters” (Lahiri 42).
Interpreter of Maladies
Mr. Kapasi, an Indian cab driver, is also an interpreter of maladies. He works in a doctor’s office interpreting what Gujarati patients say since the doctor doesn’t speak Gujarati. In this way is, very literally, an interpreter of maladies. When an American tourist family who has roots in India hires him to give them a tour of the Sun Temple at Konarak, we see that he is an interpreter of maladies in more ways than one. The American tourist family, which is composed of Mr. and Mrs. Das, and the children Ronny, Bobby, and Tina, seem to be disconnected. Mr. Das seems only interested in his camera, Mrs. Das is only interested in herself and neither of them pay the children very much attention. At first Mr. Kapasi is slightly attracted to Mrs. Das because she seems to be interested in him and his occupation as an interpreter “her sudden interest in him, an interest she did not express in either her husband or her children, was mildly intoxicating” (Lahiri 53). But the more he talks to her the more he feels like he is back at his job in the doctor’s office, interpreting maladies. She confides in him that Bobby isn’t Mr. Das’ son but Mr. Das doesn’t know it and how terrible the whole situation makes her feel. He is understandably shocked as to why she, a perfect stranger, would tell him about her personal matters. She says she told him about this because he interprets maladies for others and “I was hoping you could help me feel better…suggest some kind of remedy” (Lahiri 65). Although Mrs. Das didn’t need him in the pressing, physical way the Gujarati patients do “Mr. Kapasi believed it was his duty to assist Mrs. Das” (Lahiri 66). He asks her “is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das, or is it guilt” (Lahiri 66) thus interpreting her malady to be guilt. She needed Mr. Kapasi in the same way the Gujarati patients did, to understand and interpret maladies.
A Real Durwan
Although the story never actually describes what a durwan is, it is very similar to a mix between a doorman and bodyguard. Boori Ma, the old woman who sweeps the stairwell of an apartment building, is sort of a durwan for the building as well “over the years Boori Ma’s services came to resemble those of a real durwan” (Lahiri 73). Boori Ma loves to tell anyone who will listen that she once was a rich woman surrounded by every luxury and happiness. Although her stories are exaggerated and full of contradictions the people in the apartment building aren’t positive she is lying “her rants were so persuasive, her fretting so vivid, that it was not easy to dismiss her” (Lahiri 72). She constantly contrasts her luxurious former life with the way she lives now comparing the apartment building very unfavorably with her former life. However it doesn’t seem to bother anybody that she denounces the condition of the apartment building, for they (the residents) are equally poor “no-one in this particular flat building owned much worth stealing” (Lahiri 73). And even though everyone is poor, they are thankful for Boori Ma’s work on their behalf. Basically everyone is happy, because everyone is equal. That is until Mr. Dalal installs two sinks in the apartment building. One of the sinks is installed in the Dalal’s apartment, and the other is installed on the stairwell for use by the other residents. While this seems to be a good idea at first, the fact that the Dalals have their own sink causes resentment among the other people in the apartment “the Dalals had their own sink; why did the rest of them have to share” (Lahiri 79). The others were determined to be equal with the Dalals “are the Dalals the only ones who can improve the conditions of this building” and started making renovations of their own. This causes the stairwell of the building to become crowded with workers, forcing Boori Ma to walk the streets in order to avoid the chaos. While she is gone the apartment is robbed and the residents, searching for someone other than themselves to pin the blame on, accuse Boori Ma of informing the thieves. Even though Boori Ma’s life savings were stolen as well, the residents have no pity on her and force her to leave. This story shows that the human desire to have everything equal, all of the time, is not always a good thing.
Sexy
Sexy is the story of an affair. Miranda, the main character, meets an Indian man named Dev at a department store and they start having an affair. His wife is going to India for a couple of weeks so Miranda has little or no qualms with what she is doing “somehow, without the wife there, it didn’t seem so wrong” (Lahiri 88). Miranda’s affair with Dev is paralleled by the affair her coworker, Laxmi’s, cousin’s husband is having. Laxmi discusses every aspect of the affair with Miranda, and even though she (Miranda) is hearing firsthand the effects an affair can have on a marriage, she still continues to see Dev. Laxmi says that her cousin will eventually forgive the wandering husband for the sake of their (cousin’s) child. Laxmi says if her husband ever was unfaithful she would change the locks and “She turned to Miranda. ‘Wouldn’t you?’ She nodded” (Lahiri 92). Thus we can see that Miranda agrees with this critical view of infidelity even though she is causing another woman’s husband to be unfaithful. This leads us to conclude there are other reasons that Miranda is having an affair with Dev. The biggest of these is Miranda’s insecurity. She loves Dev, and continues the affair with him because he makes her feel that she is irreplaceable to him “Miranda felt that he understood her—understood how she felt” (Lahiri 89). She thinks she sees proof of this in the little things he does for her “Dev was the first to always pay for things, and hold doors open, and reach across the table to kiss her hand” (Lahiri 89). Once when they were at the Mapparium he whispered the words ‘you’re sexy’, “she felt them under her skin near and full of warmth” (Lahiri 91), because she needs this kind of love, she needs to have an affair with him. When Miranda watches Laxmi’s cousin’s child so Laxmi can help her cousin forget her troubles for a little bit Miranda’s whole viewpoint changes. The little boy, Rohin, tells her that she is sexy. Intrigued that he would use the same words as Dev, she asks him what sexy means. He tells her “it means loving someone you don’t know” (Lahiri 107). This confuses Miranda because Dev used the same words for her and she thinks that he knows all about her and is thus irreplaceable to him. She calls him and asks him if he remembers what he whispered to her at the Mapparium. He doesn’t and she is crushed because she sees this as proof that he doesn’t know her and she is irreplaceable to him. She gradually breaks off the affair between her and Dev.
Mrs. Sen’s
Mrs. Sen, an Indian woman, watches Eliot after school, since his mother works late. Although she lives in the United States, because of her husband’s work, her heart is in India. For example she refers to India as her home rather than the place that she lives “‘at home you know, we have a driver’ ‘and that’s all in India?’ ‘Yes’” (Lahiri 113). Living in the United States causes Mrs. Sen to feel disconnected as if her identity is back in India. This is shown when she speaks on the phone to relatives in India and seems like she is no longer in the room “though she stood plainly before him, Eliot had the sensation that Mrs. Sen as no longer present in the room” (Lahiri 122). Referring to India Mrs. Sen remarks, “Everything is there” (Lahiri 113). This is a very illuminating remark, as it shows her feelings regarding her attitudes towards her life. These attitudes are shown in some of her daily activities. Mrs. Sen, unlike most women in the United States, doesn’t know how to drive. She is very insecure about her driving and although she practices faithfully, she dislikes it. She keeps at it because she hopes it will make her life better “Mr. Sen says that once I receive my license, everything will improve” (Lahiri 119). But driving is a very American skill to her, and because she sees her identity as Indian she isn’t very proficient at it. Her ineptness at driving is paralleled by her proficiency in the kitchen. Everyday she cuts up vegetables for Indian dishes that she makes, and is quite good at it, simply because it is an Indian activity “she split things in half, then quarters, speedily producing florets, cubes, slices, and shreds. She could peel a potato in seconds” (Lahiri 114). She is completely confident and secure in herself while she is doing an activity that makes her feel close to her family and identity in India “all the neighborhood women bring blades like this one, and then they sit in an enormous circle slicing fifty kilos of vegetables through the night” (Lahiri 115). When Mrs. Sen has to face American things she retreats within herself “he saw how that same stream of cars made her knuckles pale, her wrists tremble, and her English falter” (Lahiri 121). When Mrs. Sen gets fed up with driving and says “‘No more, I hate it. I hate driving. I won’t go on’” (Lahiri 131) one can conjecture that she is referring to her life in the United States as well.
This Blessed House
One of the most interesting aspects of “This Blessed House” is the relationship between Sanjeev and Twinkle, a young Indian couple. They come from opposite ends of the personality spectrum. Sanjeev is methodical, conscientious, and very conscious of how he appears to the rest of the world. He worries about his height, “[he] had wished ever since he had stopped growing that he were just one inch taller” (Lahiri 140), his profile “his cheeks had a plumpness to them this detracted, he feared, from what he hoped was a distinguished profile” (Lahiri 140), and his social appearance. This is shown when he forbids Twinkle to put the statue of the Virgin Mary on their front lawn “Twinkle, I can’t have the people I work with see this on my lawn” (Lahiri 147). Twinkle is the exact opposite. She is fun-loving, impulsive, and entirely unselfconscious. When Sanjeev and Twinkle go to eat dinner in Manhattan she drags Sanjeev outside his comfort zone “and when they left she insisted that they dance a tango on the sidewalk in front of strangers” (Lahiri 140). Instead of getting upset and indignant over the all the Christian objects they find in their new house like Sanjeev does, she is delighted and treats it as if it were a game “‘every day is like a treasure hunt’” (Lahiri 141). Sanjeev doesn’t fully understand Twinkle because her nature is so alien to his own, and he realizes it “It was a quality he did not understand. It made him feel stupid, as if the world contained hidden wonders he could not anticipate, or see” (Lahiri 142). She doesn’t understand him that well either “‘why does it matter to you so much what other people think?’” she doesn’t understand his preoccupation with this because she doesn’t care what others think. This distance between the two can be accounted for when one realizes they had a sort of an arranged marriage “at the urging of their matchmakers they married in India” (Lahiri 143). He admits to himself that “he did not know if he loved her” but rather married her because he felt he needed a wife. His attitude towards her changes at the end of the story because he sees the admiration his coworkers express for her. When she is very upset that he won’t let her put the statue on the lawn he compromises with her, something he had never done before “in the end they settled on a compromise: the statue would be placed in a recess at the side of the house” (Lahiri 149). Even the irritation he feels towards her because of the dissimilarity of their temperaments somewhat disappears by the end of the story “but instead of feeling irritated, as he had ever since they’d moved into the house together, he felt a pang of anticipation at the thought of her rushing down the staircase” (Lahiri 155). So despite their differences, the reader comes away with the feeling that their marriage will work out.
The Treatment of Bibi Haldar
Bibi Haldar, an epileptic, had two dreams. The first was to be cured, and the second was to get married. For the former she had tried many different things from medicinal to spiritual cures but nothing seems to work “holy water…, auspicious stones…, herbal infusions…, x-rays…, probes…, injections…, vedic verses…” (Lahiri 158-159). For the latter she just voiced her desire to be married to anyone who would listen “is it wrong to envy you, all brides and mothers, busy with lives and cares? Wrong to want to raise a child?” (Lahiri 160). But even though Bibi wanted all both of these things desperately, even she didn’t see much hope “admit it, I will never be cured, never married” (Lahiri 161). Most of the people around her, although they too saw no hope for her dreams, didn’t blame her for them “Bibi wanted a man. She wanted to be spoken for, protected, like the rest of us” (Lahiri 160). In fact some people thought that her sickness was strongly related to the fact that she couldn’t get a husband “the thought of a husband, on which all her hopes were pinned, threatened at times to send her into another attack” (Lahiri 160). When a doctor echoed this thought by declaring marriage the only cure for Bibi, she became optimistic “needless to say, Bibi was delighted by the diagnosis” (Lahiri 162). Forgetting about her work in her cousin’s, Haldar’s, store; she concentrated solely on the ‘capture’ of a man “She polished her toenails and softened her elbows. She applied glycerin to smooth her lips, resisted sweets to reduce her measurements” (Lahiri 162). Her cousins were very unsupportive of her efforts in this direction “what can’t be cured must be endured. Besides who would marry her? The girl knows nothing about anything” (Lahiri 163). When her cousin gives birth, her dislike turns into animosity “she says I’m contagious, she says I’ll spoil the baby” (Lahiri 167). Bibi gets relegated to the roof of the house and goes into a sort of depression refusing to go anywhere or do anything. Her cousins move somewhere else and Bibi is left all alone “We did not disturb her. Some of us began to wonder if she was dying. Others concluded she had lost her mind” (Lahiri 171). When the neighbors find out that Bibi is pregnant, they are shocked, but after she gave birth she appeared to be completely cured. Although they never found out who the father was, Bibi was cured, and that was all that mattered.
The Third and Final Continent
This story is about the profound impact one person can have on multiple people’s lives. The narrator, an Indian who works at MIT, has had many moves in his life. He was from India originally, went to England for schooling, and ended up in the United States because of a job offer. He has had to adapt himself to many things life in England as compared to India, life in the United States as compared to England, but he cannot seem to adapt himself to one of the biggest changes in his life, his arranged marriage. With his new bride due to arrive from India as soon as her passport and green card are ready, he must prepare for her. His landlady, the 103-year old Mrs. Croft, is extremely eccentric and he doesn’t know what to think of her at first, but eventually he comes to realize what a remarkable woman she is “now that I knew how very old she was, I began to worry. I worried that something would happen to her” (Lahiri 188). He boards with her while preparing a house for Mala, his wife. When she first arrives in America, he thinks his fears are justified, he thinks he will never adjust to his marriage “I waited to get used to her, but a week later we were still strangers” (Lahiri 192). On an impulse while showing Mala around town, he takes her to Mrs. Croft’s to show her where he lived before she came. When Mala sees how kind he is to Mrs. Croft she feels closer to him, and when he sees Mala and Mrs. Croft together he appreciates all she sacrificed to marry him “for the first time since her arrival I felt sympathy. Like me, Mala had traveled far from home” (Lahiri 195). For the first time the two connected and actually thought of each other as people with feelings rather than an obligation or a duty “for the first time, we looked at each other and smiled” (Lahiri 196). The narrator realizes the impact Mrs. Croft had on his life “I like to think of that moment in Mrs. Croft’s parlor as the moment when the distance between Mala and me began to lessen” (Lahiri 196).At the end of the story we learn of the narrator’s and Mala’s successful marriage “‘Remember?’ Mala says, and smiles, amazed, as I am, that there was ever a time when we were strangers” (Lahiri 197)
, but one can surmise that without Mrs. Croft, their marriage would have never worked out as well as it did.
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