Thesis statement
Shukumar’s struggle in accepting the baby’s death changes his attitude towards his marriage.
5 main points with subpoints plus textual evidence1.Shukumar now noticed that Shoba prefers to spend much time away from him.
-recently she had always been neat and tidy but now it is the other way round.
-‘Shukumar moved her satchel and her sneakers to the side of the fridge. She wasn’t this way before. She used to put her coat on a hanger, her sneakers in the closet, and she paid bills as soon as they came. But now she treated the house as if it were a hotel. The fact that the yellow chintz armchair in the living room clashed with the blue-and-maroon Turkish carpet no longer bothered her. On the enclosed porch at the back of the house, a crisp white bag still sat on the wicker chaise, filled with lace she had once planned to turn into curtains.’
( page 6 )
-made Shukumar to take on all the responsibilities and he feels that she is not even bothered to clear her own things.
-made him to be more distant from his wife and have also begun to show some hatred towards her.
-‘The more Shoba stayed out, the more he wanted to stay in, not even leaving to get the mail, or to buy fruit or wine at the stores by the trolley shop.’ ( page 2 )
-so both of them have different ways of living together.
2.Shukumar’s attitude towards his duty as a husband and a student.
-currently working on his dissertation on agrarian revolts in India.
-had once been a dedicated student but after the baby dies, he has lost his motivation entirely. This is stated on page 4 “That and the summer should give you a good push,” his adviser had said. “You should be able to wrap things up by next September.”
-“But nothing was pushing Shukumar. Instead he thought of how he and Shoba had become experts at avoiding each other in their three-bedroom house, spending as much time on separate floors as possible.” ( page 4 )
-on page 5 when ‘It was often nearly lunchtime when Shukumar would finally pull himself out of bed and head downstairs to the coffepot, pouring out the extra bit Shoba left for him, along with an empty mug, on the countertop.’
-shows that she no longer contributed to the household chores leaving Shukumar to handle them.
-Shukumar has regretted listening to his wife when he knows that at times as this he should have been sitting next to his wife giving her love and moral support.
-‘Six months ago, in September, Shukumar was at an academic conference in Baltimore when Shoba went into labor, three weeks before her due date. He hadn’t wanted to go to the conference, but she had insisted; it was important to make contacts, and he would be entering the job market next year.’ ( page 2 -3 )
3. Shukumar dines separately, increasing their sense of alienation and lack of
communication
‘For months now they’d served themselves from the stove, and he’d taken
his plate into his study, letting the meal grow cold on his desk before
shoving it into his mouth without pause, while Shoba took her plate to
the living room and watched game shows, or proofread files with her
arsenal of colored pencils at hand.’ ( page 8 )
-gives us the impression that he is beginning to lead his own life.
-he knows that whatever he tells or advises Shoba will never work because she is the one who is digging her own grave.
-Shukumar now has to stand on his own feet since she does not even bother to go to the kitchen to cook. ‘He combed through her cookbooks every afternoon, following her penciled instructions to use two teaspoons of ground coriander seeds instead of one, or red lentils instead of yellow.’ ( page 7 )
-Shukumar knows that ‘If it weren’t for him, he knew, Shoba would eat a bowl of cereal for her dinner. ( page 8 )
-Shukumar now has to stand on his own feet since she does not even bother to go to the kitchen to cook.
4.The power outage adds an element of suspense as it shows up the characters’
Differences.
-during this time, Shukumar recalls a moment when ‘He remembered their first meals there, when they were so thrilled to be married, to be living together in the same house at last, that they would just reach for each other foolishly, more eager to make love than to eat.’ ( page 10 )
-now he has to follow through the formal way of addressing and eating. ‘He refilled the wine in her glass. She thanked him. They weren’t like this before.’ ( page 12 )
-he treats Shoba as someone different.
-a turn of events is brought in with the power cut where the veil of darkness provides them with a barrier. Earlier they used to try and avoid facing each other but now in the darkness they are saved from facing each other even though they are together.
-Shoba tells Shukumar about her plans to shift to another apartment as ‘They’d been through enough. She needed some time alone.’ ( page 21 )
-‘It sickened Shukumar, knowing that she had spent these past evenings preparing for a life without him.’ ( page 21 )
-it is clear to him that ‘This was what she’d been trying to tell him for the past four evenings. This was the point of her game.’ ( page 21 )
-the game is not over yet and now it is Shukumar’s turn to confess.
-Shukumar’s heartbreaking revelation which he has kept since the stillbirth of their child. He tells her “Our baby was a boy,”… “His skin was more red than brown. He had black hair on his head. He weighed almost five pounds. His fingers were curled shut, just like yours in the night.” ( page 22 )
-‘Before the ultrasound she had asked the doctor not to tell her the sex of their child, and Shukumar had agreed. She wanted it to be a surprise.’ ( page 21 )
-both of them begin to realize what they have done.
5. Shukumar first fully welcomes the thought of being a father and envisions
having several children.
‘He imagined himself gripping the wheel, as Shoba turned around to hand
the children juice boxes.” ( page 3 )
-such an ironic situation makes one understand how much it means to bring a new soul into the world.
Guess what! Next I’m going to do my powerpoint presentation.
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