A Temporary Matter Jhumpa Lahiri

In the short story “Interpreter of Maladies” the narrator is inside Mr. Kapasi’s head, so we see the story from his point of view; moreover he is one of the protagonists in this short story. However, in this story we can see another protagonist – this is Mrs. Das. Mr. Kapasi observes the Das family, their habits and manners, their relationships within their family and comes to some conclusions about Mrs. Das after their tet-a-tet conversation. In this conversation, Mrs. Das has partially opened up her soul for Mr. Kapasi; however, Mr. Kapasi will not help Mrs. Das because his sympathy for her diminishes when he hears her confession about her son Bobby. Even though Mr. Kapasi does not truly understand Mrs. Das, this trip through India is

Relationships, one of the key factors of the advancement of humanity. We all are surrounded by relationships, some may be easier to identify than others. But one relationship which stands out greater than the rest is the one between a married couple. These people are usually from completely different families and unite together to decide to spend the rest of their lives together. But sometimes the relationship does not work out. We can witness this in Sinclair Ross’s short story The Painted Door, in which Ann a farmer’s wife who has cheated on her husband John, which has brought the end of Johns life and ultimately the end of their relationship. It is arguable that the reason behind Ann cheating and bringing the end to their relationship arguably is isolation, neglection and lack of understanding, but what is the root cause of all these problems in their relationship? The answer is simple lack of communication. Thus, it is the lack of communication which has caused isolation, neglection and the lack of understanding of each other in the relationship, resulting in the failure of the relationship.

In everyday life, a relation is always identified as trust and support. In this novel, a relation between a husband and a wife is shown in a different way. Min, one of the characters in the story, is shown losing her mental stability and is living with her two children. She did not have any contact with her husband in few years and neither did he try to contact

Often times in relationships people tend to drift apart from each other due to their inability to be committed to each other for an extended period of time. Liam and Gabriella from the short story “Bluffing” by Gail Helgason demonstrate their incompetence to maintain a full commitment to one another, which results in Gabriella realizing that her relationship with Liam has come to a fork in the road. Liam has to choose between her, and his hiking career. Whereas John and Ann from the short story “The Painted Door” by Sinclair Ross exhibit their ability to stay together as well as be understanding, truthful, and communicative with one another. They have all the fundamental keys to a healthy relationship.

When both involved do not effectively communicate with each other, a distant marriage may lead to discontent for all. Sinclair Ross’s short story, “The Painted Door”, deals with the growing dissatisfaction and loneliness of a farmer’s wife, Ann, who feels alone as her husband deals with the harsh conditions of the environment. This story demonstrates how deeply communication can affect a marriage, be it bad or good. One of the most fundamental elements of a healthy relationship is communication. Lack of communication in a relationship can result to severe consequences. Irrespective of the kind of relationship, lack of communication magnifies issues in a relationship undermining the very foundation of the relationship. The success of any relationship relies on one's ability to communicate well. Communication is important in relationships as it allows us to share our interest, concerns, support each other. John is a simple farmer who thinks the only way he can please his wife, is by working all day to earn money for her. However, Ann would prefer he spend more time with her. Their relationship is stressed even further when Ann is left at home alone with nothing to think about but their relationship because John has to go to his father’s house. The terrible snow storm accentuates Ann’s feelings of loneliness and despair. These feelings lead Ann to seek comfort and companionship from Steven, the attractive friend of her husband, John, thus leading to John's suicide.

Ann felt eager challenged, her desires for Steven were appearing without her awareness. There was no thought or motive, no understanding of herself as the knowledge persisted. Their marriage has neither communication nor happiness, cause by the conflict of Ann vs herself.

After this first point of contact, the couple enters the next interpersonal stage of 'involvement,' as they get to know one another. Despite their differences, they become convinced that they have a future together and view their differences as potential positives rather than negatives. The couple moves in together and begins to establish greater intimacy. Unfortunately, it is at this juncture that the relationship begins to fall apart, as they try to establish a more private form of 'intimacy,' even though they are publically a couple.

His arranged marriage is struggling because his wife cannot recover from her sorrow over the loss of their young son. Mrs. Das’s sudden interest in his job makes him start his romantic imagination journey. When the Das family has lunch, Mr. Kapasi is invited to join with them. Then, they take the photograph which Mr. Kapasi happens to sit next to Mrs. Das. At the time, Mr. Kapasi feels that he is the best match with Mrs. Das as both of them have the same maritally unsatisfied circumstances. Mrs. Das asks for Mr. Kapasi’s address to send the photograph that they have taken. For her, asking Mr. Kapasi’s address is nothing, but for Mr. Kapasi, writing his address on the scrap paper becomes the way to begin his romantic relationship.

Like in “Hills like White Elephants,” the lack of communication in this story is causing a crisis in the characters’ relationship. The couple is going through this critical situation because they can’t find a mutual base for their marriage. The husband and his wife are in different levels of maturity. He is already a grown up man who doesn’t care for a cat that is getting wet in the rain, while the wife still presents a childish behavior.

Interpreter of Maladies focuses on communication as one of the universal themes throughout the book. The stories demonstrate how communication is the key to the success or failure of relationships. While there are instances when communication is effectively employed and therefore enabled the characters to build strong and intimate connections, there are examples of where communication was superficial or ineffectual, leading to unstable, limited relationships. Jhumpa Lahiri illustrates the importance of communication within relationships by allowing readers to experience the consequences and advantages that have developed as a result throughout the short

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ Mr. Kapasi , the main character, seems to be a person with mixed feelings. He does not seem to have fixed stand neither in his job nor on his thoughts. His thoughts and experience are structured by the strict cultural society of India. His hidden wants and desires suppressed by the community rules are looking for way to come out. The consequence is his changing thoughts and desires which at different parts of the story appear differently and brings

“They wept together, for the things they now knew.”(104) The last sentence of the first story in Interpreter of Maladies, reveals the cruelty of the elapsed romance in a marriage. In the two collections, A Temporary Matter and The Third and Final Continent, Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrates that a marriage can be either uplifting or discouraging depends on the mindset held by the couple and the strength of human bonding. Lahiri emphasizes the significance of mindset and human bondings through the ending of the two stories. The endings of the two stories are polar opposite : In A Temporary Matter, Shukumar and Shobha weeps for the termination of their relationship; The Third and Final Continent, by contrast, the protagonist(MIT) enjoys a fairytale-like

In the movie “ why did I get married” it opens by showing all the couples and their problems that they are going through. These couple are all successful and friends with each other. The group of friends once a year plan a trip out to a random location to get away and spend time with their significate other. The point of the trip was not only to hangout with their friends but also for the couples to get to know each other more and remember why they got married from the beginning. As the group all worked on their relationship, a couple did not want nothing to do with each other except that what mike wanted. Mike was an ass to shiela that critized her about being obbesed and ugly she was. Shiela ignored all the rud comments that was given to her by mike her husband because she believed that if he see her how hard she trying to save their marriage he might want to give it a chance to be happy. Mike and shiela did not end up working out because they ignored the five stages which are initiating, experimenting, intensifying, intergrading, and boding. These five stages could of save and fix relationshipos if both parties are willing to try.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story, “A Temporary Matter,” presents the failing marriage of an Indian couple, Shoba and Shukumar. Lahiri illustrates how the grief of losing someone can lead to a broken relationship. Shukumar and Shoba have been ignoring each other since Shoba had a miscarriage. The tragedy changes the way they treat each other. Their grief makes both of them become two different people. A temporary matter has forced them to communicate with each other and since then, Shukumar and Shoba are comfortable talking to each other and even making love with each other. This temporary matter has somehow temporarily reconnected them together. Jhumpa Lahiri intentionally uses the symbols of darkness, light, house, the baby and neighbors to represent a broken relationship of a married couple.

A Prominent saying state – “Good Communication is the key to a healthy relationship or marriage”; whether it may be verbal or non-verbal. Many marriages end up in divorce, because of neglecting to communicate