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About Me :)

My name is Ann Jacob and I am a senior in high school. I love reading, riding my bike, and baking. I was very interesting in reserching Jhumpa Lahiri becasue I fell a connection to her becasue I am also an imigrant Indian child and I enjoyed reading about similar struggles I have faced. I also really enjoyed finding what really is the catalyst to self transformation. See if you can find what I thought it was through my blog. I'd love to hear what you think is the catalyst to self-transformation. Comment on my page so we can discuss! Thanks and enjoy!

"A Tempory Matter" MC

Read the attached excerpt from “A Temporary Matter” from Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel “Interpreter of Maladies.” Then answer the questions below.

Interpreter of Maladies: A Temporary Matter

 

1. What is the reason that Shukumar and Shoba have been skirting around each other before their candlelit dinners?

A.    They have fallen out of love

B.     They are still uncomfortable with each other after being arranged to marry

C.     Shoba is having an affair

D.    They are growing apart due to their occupations

E.     They lost their baby and don’t know how to cope.

 

2. Why does the truth represent in their Shoba and Shukumar’s nightly truth game?

I.       Their truth represents how they are finally coming back to become closer to each other.

II. The beginning of a new type of relationship with the couple

III. A time of preparation for their uncertain future

1. I
2. II
3. III
4. I and III
5. II and III

3. The passage suggests that their dinners before their candlelit dinners were
1. Callous and contemptuous
2. Serene and reflective
3. Cynical and hubristic
4. Lugubrious and solitary
5. Derisive and churlish

4. What did the darkness provide for the couple that the light could not?
1. A way to mask the unknown
2. A chance to be ingenuous
3. A method to be deceitful
4. A non-binding conscious
5. A technique to ease back into their old habits

5. Why does Shukumar finally tell Shoba the truth he’s been hiding about their baby?

I.       To hurt Shoba like she hurt him

II. To share a loving memory, in this period of pain and agony

III. To release a burden off his chest

A. I

B.II

C. III.

D. I and III

E. II and III

 

"A Temporary Matter" Answers and Explanations

Multiple Choice Answers and Explanations

“A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri

1.      E

It is not A because the passage does not directly say anything about love; just their manner around each other. It is not B because there is no indication of whether or not they had an arranged marriage or not. It is no C or D because it doesn’t say either of those in the passage. In this passage it is important not to inference. Shukumar also says he doesn’t want her to be pregnant again because he doesn’t want to pretend to be happy.

2.      C

It’s not I because although the audience thinks their getting closer, Shoba actually has bad news for their relationship. III is not the answer because although they have an uncertain future, Shukumar is not preparing, although Shoba might be. It is II because, good or bad, they are beginning a new type of relationship.

3.      D

It is not A because it means insensitive and scornful, which neither are. It is not B because although it is quiet, it is not calm. It may be reflective, but the first part doesn’t fit. It is not C because hubristic means overly prideful, and neither of them are prideful. It is not E because that choice means contemptuous and rude, which neither of them are. D is right because lugubrious means mournful and they are essentially on their own, even in the presence of each other.

4.      B

It could be A because Shoba is hiding her news form Shukumar, but it is not the best answer. It is not C because Shoba is not trying to be deceitful; she is just waiting for the right time to tell her husband. It is not D because their truths are not non-binding. If anything it bonded them closer together. It is not E because their talks in the dark were never started before the incident. It is B because it lets them tell the truth after being silent for a long time.

5.      E

It is not I because Shukumar specifically says he didn’t tell her because he loved her. It is II and III because even though the memory is painful, it is her truth to know also. III because he held that burden for a long time from her. She didn’t have to feel the pain and he wanted to share his sorrow.

"If" Poem and MC

Read the “If” by Rudyard Kipling. Then answer the questions.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

1. What “two imposters” is Kipling referring to in line 11?
1. All men (l. 3)
2. Kings (l. 26)
3. Triumph and Disaster (l. 10)
4. Winnings and loss (l. 17 and 20)
5. Foes and friends (l. 27)

2. What does “sinew” address in line 21?
1. Knowledge
2. Friendships
3. Doubts
4. Virtue
5. Strength

3. Who is the speaker of this poem?
1. A grandfather to his grandson
2. A father to a his son
3. A king to his nobleman
4. An old man to a young stranger
5. A sage to an ignorant adolescent

4. What is the tone of the poem?
1. Pedantic
2. Arrogant
3. Solemn
4. Didactic
5. Haughty

5. In lines 25-26, what does Kipling say a leader must do?
1. Not allow others to offend you
2. Stay true to yourself, no matter who you converse with
3. Dream for change but don’t make it the only goal
4. Learn from both victories and failures
5. Not allow bad times to ruin the vision

"If" Answers and Explanations

Multiple Choice Answers and Explanations

“If” by Rudyard Kipling

1.      C

The answer is not A because he says that men can’t be trusted, not that they are the imposters. It is not B because he warns against being like a king in manner, not that kings are dangerous, lecherous creatures. It is not D because although winnings and loses could hurt you, they don’t hide from the truth. It is not E because although Kipling refers to friends and foes as partially dangerous, he just advises to proceed with caution. It is C because he explains that triumph and disaster can be taken as good and bad, but if one takes them as both good, one will grow.

2.      E

This one is a tricky one, but the answer is E because Kipling focuses on a common term of heart mind and body. Thus, “sinew” is talking about body and parallel to body is strength.  It is not A because mind has already been addresses. It is not B because the line addressed doesn’t mesh with outside sources. It is not C or D because they are both part of the mind, and again, the mind has already been addressed.

3.      B

Although, the last line ends with “my son!”, don’t be quick to pick B because son could just be used as a nickname of sorts. In this case though, it is clear from the context and tone that an older person is giving advice to a younger one. It is not C because the tone is more jovial and friendly than formal. It is not D because the tone conveys a sense of familiarity. It is not E because nowhere in the text does it mentions the boy’s response.  Between A and B, one must inference from the text and the tone is that of a close father-son relationship.

4.      D

The poem is advising a young boy on how to live life. It is not A because pedantic means to know obscure details. It is not B because the speaker is not acting like he knows everything about the world and how to live in it. It is not C because the speaker is not reminiscing or wallowing in thoughts of the future. It is not E because he is not acting like he as travelled the world, knowing all it’s riches. Didactic something one can learn by and this poem is meant to advise and teach a boy.

5.      B

In the poem, the speaker advises many things but specifically in lines 25-26, Kipling says a leader must stay true to oneself, not matter whom you converse with. It is not A because A is addresses in lines 1-2. It is not C because C is addresses in line 10. It is not D; lines 11-12. Not E; 15-16.

Poetry Essay #1: Dig to the Core

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature B

Dig to the Core

 “Digging” by Seamus Heaney demonstrates how although your roots hold you in place, you still must dig for your own identity. I noticed similarities within this poem and my second novel, “Unaccustomed Earth”, and specifically the short story, “A Choice of Accommodations” by Jhumpa Lahiri. Both “Digging and “A Choice of Accommodations” convey similar themes of identifying your roots but creating your own story. I enjoyed this poem because it was easy to read and understand, yet it had many internal themes and meaning that were quite intriguing. To start, the title “Digging” not only indicates the physical action but also digging for your identity. In Heaney’s poem, the speaker, not specifically Heaney, is a writer, watching remembering, and respecting his father and grandfathers work as farmers, hoping that his work will rise in merit to their level. In the first stanza, as the speaker watches his father below, his mind begins to wander, imagining how differently he will evolve compared to his familial roots. Throughout the entire poem, there is no rhyme scheme. By choosing to omit this part of the poem, the poet allows the poem to flow slowly, permitting the speaker to reminisce over the past and prepare for his future.

The speaker also references many earthly symbols such as the “living root” (Heaney l.27). The poet incorporates this stylistic device into the poem in order to create numerous meanings and to give depth to the poem. In the speaker’s case, the roots not only stand for familial roots but also references the nature of roots. Roots gather minerals and water to give the plant energy in order to grow. Similar to the plant, the speaker also gathers energy to begin digging a new life. The speaker says that although he’s got “no spade to follow men like them….I’ll dig with [my pen]” (Heaney 1. 28, 31). In connection with “A Choice of Accommodations”, I am able to see the parallel between the speaker and Amit. Amit is a Bengali man who has a faint resentment to his parents ever since he was “stunned by his parents’ decision” to drop him off at Langford boarding school (Lahiri 95). Nonetheless, he strives for their approval, although he does not follow the typical Bengali life mentality; he married an older, Caucasian women and didn’t make doctor from Columbia, and instead chose to begin writing for a journal. Throughout the story, as Amit and his wife, Megan, attend a wedding at Langford, Amit remembers how it all began. After being emotionally detached from his parents and wife for some time, Amit begins to see what he has been hiding from and with his “heart beating rapidly,” he begins to rekindle his relationships with his parents and wife (Lahiri 127).  The connecting themes of identity and approval of authority figures allows these two works to mesh in a way that conveys the need to find one’s identity.

Poetry Essay #2: Do Not Despair

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature B

Do Not Despair

“If” by Rudyard Kipling is about staying true to yourself and living in a way that you can be proud of. I saw parallel between “If” and “Interpreter of Maladies”, specifically the story, “A Real Durwan” by Jhumpa Lahiri. Both “If” and “A Real Durwan” convey similar themes of staying true to your identity. In the first stanza, the speaker tells the audience to be true to his or herself and to do what is morally right by not “[talking] too wise” (Kipling l.8) in a way the he would regret in the future. The second stanza held my favorite line of the entire poem. The speaker says, “If you can meet Triumph with Disaster / And treat those two imposters the same” (Kipling l. 11-12). Kipling capitalizes Triumph and Disaster to indicate the importance of these opposing angles of life. Kipling means that with victory or failure, you should treat them the same and learn from both. Interestingly, when some other writers write about triumph or disaster, they allocate separate emotions to each outcome, yet Kipling turns that notion on its head.

The second half of the poem magnifies the pits that the reader could fall into. The third and fourth stanzas speak about never giving up even in the biggest of failures. The dialogue is used to illustrate the point that no matter what, one must “Hold on!” and rough out the storm (Kipling l.24). At the end of the stanza, he warns the reader to “never breathe a word about your loss” (Kipling l.20). Looking at this, it may seem as though Kipling doesn’t want to pity one’s stories of despair, by really, in the context of the third stanza, he is explaining to his audience not to overuse despair for the concern that it could bring one down into a dark place. Throughout the poem, Kipling makes the use of simple language and advice to indicate that in life, there are many obstacles but the only thing that matters is how you process it and continue to live without dragging your past behind you.

When comparing “If” and “The Real Durwan”, a parallel was struck between the poem and the old woman, Boori Ma. Even though the neighbors say that “Boori Ma’s mouth is full of ashes” they still love her dearly (Lahiri 72). When all the young neighbors begin renovating the neighborhood, being greedy with material goods, Boori Ma stays away, watching from afar, but managing her duties. Boori Ma is moral and caring, features that are changing within the neighborhood. At the end of the story, when Boori Ma is stripped of her life savings and thrown onto the streets by her entire neighborhood, she is indifferent. She is the epitome of a strong woman. She picks and dusts herself off, and continues along the way, hardly pausing to look back. Boori Ma never complains and refuses to let events or people drag her down. She is the type of person to strive be to be as Kipling says.

Prose Essay #1: In with the New, Out with the Old

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature B

In with the New, Out with the Old

            Everywhere you go, no matter where across the globe, you here, “Respect your elders!” Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Interpreter of Maladies uses Boori Ma’s simple actions and Bengali culture guidelines to convey that even in places where age is revered, materialistic items can make people change their ways.

            Jhumpa Lahiri uses the short story “The Real Durwan” to share that sometimes, even when roots of knowledge are held deep, they can be ripped out by the selfish want f materialistic goods. Boor Ma, at “sixty-four years old” was the “sweeper of the stairwell” (Lahiri 70). Everyone in the building loved and respected Boori Ma. All the residents “assured Boori Ma that she was always welcome” and “they never drew the latch bars across their doors” to prevent her from coming over to their houses (Lahiri 76). As an old woman who did all the handiwork around the complex, Boori Ma was revered among the residents. She took care of them all, enveloping a grandmother-like role. The building was simple. They all did hard labor to live how they did but Boori Ma’s simple action of sweeping the stairwell made everyone feel like family. However, in a turn of events, the relatively young couple, whom were all happy with their lives, decided they wanted more in their life, more of a life filled with measurable success.

            Despite Bengali culture that states to respect your elders, the neighborhood was beginning to realize the worth of material good, leaving Boori Ma to fend for herself. One day, one of the neighbors, the Dalal’s, for two washing basins- one for their house and one for their friends in the neighborhood to use. Mr. Dalal had gotten the gift for Mrs. Dalal after having a particularly successful day at work. As more and more people began to use the basin, the other wives became jealous. They demanded their own basins, paint to make their houses look nicer, telephones- the demands were endless. Soon, the stairwell was busy with workers and Boori Ma could hardly head upstairs to her room or sweep the stairwell. To Boori Ma, sweeper of the stairwell, accepting of this change felt like her place had been taken; so she began to walk around town to keep to herself. After sleeping restlessly and having nothing to sweep, “Boori Ma started circling the neighborhood” (Lahiri 81). After a few days of wandering, Boori Ma was robbed of her life savings and keys to the neighborhood. Upon returning to her home, she found an angry mob of what used to be her friends, accusing her of giving away the neighborhood’s wealthy secrets to robbers. They told Boori Ma that they were sick of “putting up with her lies” and that she was actually tricking them and “inform[ing] the robbers” of the new wealth that had been accumulating in the neighborhood (Lahiri 82). Finally after bullying old Boori Ma, they threw out her belongings on the road and never looked back. Lahiri shows that when material wealth is concerned, people often forget their morals.

            By using simple actions and cultural rules, Jhumpa Lahiri, of Interpreter of Maladies, establishes that even in places where age comes with respect and love, money-oriented items can make people change their ways.

Prose Essay #2: Tumultuous Relations

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature B

Tumultuous Relations

            Relationships come with happiness or anger and can leave the same as well. Jhumpa Lahiri, author of “Unaccustomed Earth”, uses cultural background and tone shifts to establish that in unstable relationships, without change, it is impossible to live in harmony with another person.

            Jhumpa Lahiri uses the short story “Only Goodness” to share that although a relationship may have made it through the years, when one grows weary, despite cultural similarities, the relationship will be tested to see if it can rough the storms.  When older sister Sudha finally reconnects with brother Rahul, it is clear to see the strained relationship of a “brother with a drinking problem” and her beloved parents that have given up so much for their children (Lahiri 143). Jhumpa Lahiri uses cultural backgrounds to show the intricate web of relationships within the Bengali culture. As immigrants from Bengal, Sudha and Rahul’s parents were proud to brag that their children were going to prestigious colleges. To Indians, culture, academics, and poise is everything, but to Rahul, it didn’t matter. His continuous shame brought to his parents by various activities piled up. A few years after graduating high school, Rahul drops out of college, get into heavily drinking, and moves back into his parent’s house. These actions and Rahul’s place now are unspeakable to his parents who once proudly celebrated him for his works. Despite living a grim life with his parent, not future ahead, Rahul continuously refuses to change, ultimately disconnecting his relationship with his parents.   

            Through ‘Only Goodness”, Lahiri uses tone shifts to indicated the strained relationship between Sudha and Rahul.  Throughout the story, Sudha, desperate to help Rahul clean up his life, repeatedly attempts to bring him to a place where he can change. Despite her efforts, Rahul objects and “seemed always to be in a slightly bad mood” (Lahiri 139). When Rahul and Sudha were children, Sudha brought Rahul his alcohol. But now, as a teen and adult, Rahul still expects Sudha to make “trip to the liquor store” just for him, an action Sudha does with hesitation, not realizing her contribution to his addiction (Lahiri 131). Fed up with fueling his alcoholic habits, Sudha stopped enabling Rahul but this action only turns their relationship sour. Once, a sibling pair that taught each other the ropes of American life, has now turned into a volatile affiliation, containing distrust, hate, and avoidance.  When Sudha stopped being the enabler, Rahul’s anger broke out. Tones once playful have now turned to annoyance and anger. Sudha and Rahul’s precarious relationship, even when Rahul tries to change is doomed for failure as he reverts beack to his old habits, putting others in danger.  

By using mood shifts and cultural backgrounds, Jhumpa Lahiri, author of “Unaccustomed Earth” established that in Bengali relationships, change is essential if the goal is to live in peace.

AP Prompted Writing #1: Running from the Past

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature

2007. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Running From the Past

            It is widely debated whether or not the past can “haunt” you and if one has the ability to change their future from their past. This gray area couldn’t be truer than that for Rahul. Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Unaccustomed Earth: Only Goodness, uses chronological order and the stereotype of a typical Bengali lifestyle to demonstrate how the past molds people into who they are and who they will become.

            Jhumpa Lahiri proves that the past controls the future. “It was Sudha who’d introduced Rahul to alcohol” that started a lifelong addiction (Lahiri 128). But, regardless of who started it, it was Rahul who allowed the temptation to overpower him. Typical of an Indian lifestyle, Rahul graduated in the top of his high school class and landed a spot at the prestigious Cornell University. But, his luck quickly soured because after a mere two semesters at Cornell, Rahul began getting C’s and D’s and took up film and literature, while “dropping biology and organic chemistry (Lahiri 139). Once so content with Rahul, even bragging to their friends about his accomplishments, Rahul’s parents now bend their heads in embarrassment, the shame driving them to lie about their son’s status. Despite this humiliation, when older sister Sudha tells their parents that “Rahul might have a drinking problem”, their parents surprisingly refuse to put the blame on Rahul, instead pinning it on the American life system (Lahiri 143).

            Jhumpa Lahiri allows the audience to see a break for Rahul to change and the effects it has on him. After many tense, crumbling years of living under his parent’s roof, dropping out of college, working a lowly job at the Laundromat, and continuing to fuel his addiction for alcohol, Rahul finally takes off, even stealing his mother’s gold dowry to pay for his new lifestyle.

            Lahiri proves that the past controls a person’s future through Rahul’s journey. After over a year of isolation, Rahul finally contacts Sudha and tells her about his new life. He tells her “I’m sorry”, that now he’s now standing on his own two feet working as a “line cook”, he’s back with his old girlfriend, and he “started rehab” to fix himself (Lahiri 161). Sudha, frantic to rush Rahul a reply in fear that he will leave again, tell him to come to her home soon. When Rahul gets leave from work, he makes the journey to Europe to visit Sudha, her husband Roger, and their new baby boy, Neel.

Lahiri toys with the possibility of change in the future upon Rahul’s arrival to Sudha’s home. Rahul seems calm and content, even refusing the glass of wine offered at dinner the first night. After a spending over a week with his sister’s family, Rahul encourages Sudha and Roger to enjoy a date night and let him bond with Neel. Seeing Rahul for the past week, Sudha and Roger both see a change and agree to a relaxing evening. After dinner and a movie, Sudha and Roger return home, absolutely horrified. After screaming Rahul’s name, they find their precious baby in the tub without any supervision. Neel was “sitting without the plastic ring they normally put him in so he wouldn’t tip over…and the water was up to his chest and no longer warm. One slip and [Neel] would have been faced down”, drowned (Lahiri 169-170). Furious, Sudha and Roger find a passed-out Rahul, nursing a “glass [of alcohol] tucked under his arm” (Lahiri 170). Rahul, after a harsh briefing of the night before , is thrown out into the streets, forced to fend for himself, wallow in his irresponsibility, and return to his pathetic life and detrimental addiction.

Jhumpa Lahiri proves to the audience that the past is impossible to run from. From Rahul’s college parties to leaving a baby in water unattended, despite rehab and change, Lahiri shows that the past does control the present and future no matter how much effort is put toward change.

AP Prompted Writing #2: Change

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Change

            Whether or not people change is widely debated. Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Unaccustomed Earth: Unaccustomed Earth, uses conflicts between Ruma and her father (Baba) to investigate whether or not people have the ability to change in the terms of love when the right circumstances appear.

            Ruma and her father have always have been cordial to one another but Ruma always doubted his love for her and her mother. When Ruma’s mother dies after “react[ing] adversely to the Rocuronium used to relax her muscles” during her surgery, a gap forms between father and daughter (Lahiri 20). Before the tragic accident, Ruma had “arranged a packaged tour to Paris for her mother and herself” but after her mother’s death, since Ruma wasn’t going, Baba asked “if it would be all right for him to reserve the tour in his own name” (Lahiri 20). Ruma, in a daze from the misfortune, says yes but she wonders about how much love there was in her parent’s relationship, but dismisses the trip as her father’s form of grieving. Yet despite this dismissal, there is a small nagging feeling within Ruma that widens the invisible gap between the two of them.

            Another source of conflict stems from Baba’s refusal to stay with Ruma and her family iin Seattle. Ruma, once “angered” by the “presumptuousness” of her parent’s impromptu visits, can’t wrap her head around her father’s refusal to come live with her and her family (Lahiri 5). Wanting to share the grief of losing her mother and his wife together, Ruma questions Bab’s method of grieving and again the love he had for his wife. She tries to understand the reasons for her father’s denial but come up empty handed besides her reasoning of the “nonexistent love” between her parents (Lahiri 52).

            Throughout most of the story, Baba is at Ruma’s home after a recent vacation, making a quick visit before travelling again. As the days pass with Ruma, Baba, and Ruma’s son, Akash, Ruma sees a change within her father. He is more independent, caring and connectable. As Ruma observes Baba reading to Akash, it finally dawns on her that “for the first time in his life her father had fallen in love” (Lahiri 40).  

            Soon, it is time for Baba to leave for another vacation. After he departs, Ruma finds a postcard addressed to a “Mrs. Bagchi.” As “she stared at the card, [she] instantly knew…the evidence [proved] that it was not just Akash her father had fallen in love” with (Lahiri 58). Suddenly all the pieces fit together for Ruma. Why her father had not grieved as she had for her mother, why her father went on such bountiful trips, and why her father refused to move in with her, even upon her request. The reason? Mrs. Bagchi.

            As Ruma rewinds and deciphers all of Baba’s words and actions over the past couple weeks, she realizes that her father didn’t actually love her mother. Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Unaccustomed Earth: Unaccustomed Earth, uses conflicts between Ruma and Baba to prove that people can change to love; it is just a matter of being in the right time, place, and company. For Baba, the freedom of the world in his travels, meeting new people, and coming to learn about Akash changed his hard heart into one that actually had the capacity to hold love for others.

AP Prompted Writing #3: The Christian Marraige

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature

2003, Form B. Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures -- national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question. Select a novel or play in which a character responds to such a cultural collision. Then write a well-organized essay in which you describe the character’s response and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.

The Christian Marriage

            Everyone has heard that in marriage, there are certain similarities a couple should have; same ideals in children, money, religion, etc. For Twinkle and Sanjeev, their mutual choice in religion wouldn't have even garnered a second look until their move into their new home. Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Interpreter of Maladies: This Blessed House, uses the Christian faith and the pressures of a newly married couple to demonstrate why marriage status is based largely on religious affiliation.

            Jhumpa Lahiri explores why religion should be a common ideal within marriage. Newly married Hindus, Twinkle and Sanjeev, are moving and cleaning their new home. Upon cleaning, Twinkle begins discovering Christian paraphernalia sprinkled all across the home, starting with a “white porcelain effigy of Christ” (Lahiri 136). In discovering these items, Twinkle, a woman who used to center her life on Hinduism, begins to see the beauty of Christianity.  As Twinkle allows Christianity to envelope her, she begins to “question her roots” (Lahiri 139). Once a religion she was expected to follow and thought she believed in completely, Twinkle begins to questions the basis of how her parents raised her and her past. She wonders how such a magnificent religion could have been hidden from her for so long. Even though she is in love with this newfound entity, in a flash of traditional religious pride, Twinkle accuses the old owners of the home of “attempt[ing] to convert people” (Lahiri 138). Just as quickly as she accuses the old homeowners though, she finds herself wondering “What else do you think we’ll find?” (Lahiri 138). As she finds more and more Christian art and sculptures in her home, she begins to distance herself from her Hindu religion. Twinkle feels like a part of her identity was essentially hidden from her and she, in some ways, feels betrayed by her family and her culture. This feeling of betrayal is held underneath while she prioritizes her “treasure hunt” for the hidden items, paralleling the treasure hunt she feels for her true identity with religion, even the growing tension of differing religions.

Through Twinkle and Sanjeev’s relationship, Lahiri searches for why religion should be a common trait between spouses. Despite Twinkle’s newfound joy and curiosity with Christianity, new husband Sanjeev is not pleased. A devout Hindu himself, Sanjeev feels betrayed as well-by Twinkle. In their new home, a clean slate, Twinkle begins to tarnish his strong faith and identity. Although Twinkle sees Sanjeev’s discomfort, she continues her pursue this unknown part of herself. When Twinkle pleads to keep some of the items, Sanjeev “compromise[s] to place the [Virgin Mary] statue…at the side of the house” instead of throwing it away or keeping it in the front (Lahiri 149-150). But as time passes, Twinkle grows restless with Sanjeev’s close-mindedness and places her Christian paraphernalia wherever she pleases.

The colliding religious cultures eventually take a toll on Twinkle and Sanjeev’s relationship. Soon after, Twinkle and Sanjeev begin to resent each other for the separation that has become present between them as a result of this new religion. Twinkle, feeling the strains of their relationship often “need[s] a cigarette” while Sanjeev “feel[s] irritated’ with Twinkle “continuously” (Lahiri 155). Through the emergence of a new religion, Lahiri proves how Twinkle and Sanjeev begin to see the importance of having a common religion within a marriage.

By allowing Twinkle to expand and transform her faith, Lahiri’s audience is able to see the effect that colliding religions has on self-identity and the adventure one must embark upon to find the truth in oneself. As well as Twinkle’s change, differing religions shed light onto the importance of sharing a religion in a marriage. Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Interpreter of Maladies: This Blessed House, proves that marital status is dependent on mutual faith by using the Christian faith and the pressures of a newly married couple to explain that without the basis being mutual, disaster is probable to ensue.