Yahoo!!! My final Position Paper completed!

‘A Temporary Matter’ by Jhumpa Lahiri

Prepared by Saabdev Kumar Sabapathy

Thesis statement
Shukumar’s struggle in accepting the baby’s death changes his attitude towards his marriage.

For my position paper, I would like to look at the main issue arising in ‘A Temporary Matter’ that is the baby’s death which caused a struggle within Shukumar and made him change his attitude towards his marriage. Jhumpa uses various ways to show how the stillbirth of the baby can bring a big difference in the family. This can be seen through the problem or the challenges which Shukumar faces throughout his life.
Firstly, the story deals with the deterioration of marriage after the husband and wife come to know that their baby has been born dead. The story takes place over five days, beginning March 19, at a Boston suburb. During this week, when they have to cope with a one-hour power outage each evening, Shukumar recalls the problems that have caused changes in the way he and his wife relate to each other since the stillbirth of their child six months ago. Shukumar now noticed that Shoba prefers to spend much time away from him. Until recently, she had always been neat and tidy but now it is the other way round. This is clearly stated on page 6 where ‘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.’ This has made Shukumar to take on all the responsibilities and he feels that she is not even bothered to clear her own things. It has made him more distant from his wife and he has also begun to show some hatred towards his wife. In fact, on page 2 it is stated that ‘The more Shoba stayed out, the more she began putting in extra hours at work and taking on additional projects, 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.’ So both of them have different ways of living together.
The idea of struggle and coping in accepting the baby’s death is further shown through Shukumar’s attitude towards his duty as a husband and a student. He is currently working on his dissertation on agrarian revolts in India and trying to complete the final chapters of his work. He 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.” Shukumar has really lost the urge to work on his research and he has lost all the hope and happiness that he once had. ‘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. He thought of how he no longer looked forward to weekends, when she sat for hours on the sofa with her colored pencils and her files, so that he feared that putting on a record in his own house might be rude. He thought of how long it had been since she looked into his eyes and smiled, or whispered his name on those rare occasions they still reached for each other’s bodies before sleeping.’ (page 4 - 5). This is further supported on page 5 when ‘It was often nearly lunchtime when Shukumar would finally pull himself out of bed and head downstairs to the coffeepot, pouring out the extra bit Shoba left for him, along with an empty mug, on the countertop.’ It clearly shows that, she no longer contributed to the household chores leaving Shukumar to handle them. He is almost becoming a recluse. On page 2 to 3 we see that 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.’ As a result he has to do what she says. Shoba is more concern on her job and never worries about the baby which she is going to deliver whereas Shukumar really concern for his wife and the baby but he has no choice except to listen to her.
Furthermore, for months 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). It gives us the impression that Shukumar 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. As a husband and a student, 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). But above all, Shukumar knows that ‘If it weren’t for him, he knew, Shoba would eat a bowl of cereal for her dinner.’ (page 8). As a reader, I discovered that because he cares for his wife he is forcing himself to do the cooking. I find that this discovery is important because as a reader, I can clearly see Shukumar’s distress at handling all the housework.
I also find that 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). But 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). This line clearly shows that Shukumar has changed his dining habit where he now treats Shoba as someone who is different. Here, a turn of events is brought in with the power cut where the veil of darkness provides them with a barrier. Darkness is the agent that takes them on a path of self-discovery and recovery through confession. In other words, confession leads to acceptance and recovery. 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. This, in other words gives them the opportunity to cross the bridge they had once built between them, finally to emerge together in the light of truth. Shoba tells Shukumar about her plans to shift to another apartment as ‘They’d been through enough. She needed some time alone.’ (page 21). While Shukumar has been living in constant fear and dread, making desperate attempts to please her after all the suffering and emotional turmoil that he has undergone, she is looking for another apartment, planning to move out of his life. This is made known from page 21 ‘It sickened Shukumar, knowing that she had spent these past evenings preparing for a life without him.’ Now 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.’ Anyway the game is not yet over. Now it’s his turn to confess. Thus the stage is set for Shukumar’s final heartbreaking revelation which he has kept since the stillbirth of their child. Each day he wonders whether he should tell his secret. Then he decides to do it. He has kept it a secret for six months. He describes “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). Actually, ‘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). But after the stillbirth of the baby, she had completely erased the topic from her mind and didn’t care much about it. She thinks it is a surprise for Shukumar as well. She does not know that he had arrived early enough to hold the dead baby. Now Shukumar and Shoba begin to realize what they have done. Although Shukumar hurts Shoba in the end by revealing this devastating secret, he is like a wounded animal whose lashing out is impulsive and ultimately, ineffectual.
Last but not least, Jhumpa has included a few ironies in this story and the one I found most interesting is the moment when Shukumar first fully welcomes the thought of being a father and even envisions having several children. ‘He imagined himself gripping the wheel, as Shoba turned around to hand the children juice boxes.’ (page 3). But now all the hope has vanished. Such an ironic situation makes one understand how much it means to bring a new soul into the world.
Overall I find ‘A Temporary Matter’ a very interesting yet rather a sad story. It is also an excellent study of interpersonal relationships. The whole idea of struggle, depression and transformation is clearly portrayed and carefully depicted in the characters’ thoughts and dialogues which eventually allow readers to venture into the story evoking different emotions. Thereby they can learn to appreciate the text even more.

References:

Lahiri, Jhumpa, (1999) Interpreter of Maladies, New York. Houghton Mifflin Company.