Essay --

Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian American author who likes to write mainly about the experiences of new(prenominal) Indian Americans. She is a very successful author. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her initiatory novel and her fiction appears in The New Yorker often. One of those works from 1998 is a short story, A Temporary Matter, about a hubby and a wife, Shukumar and Shoba, whose electricity will be temporarily cut aside for one hour for five days. This seems simple enough, but as you enjoin the story you find that maybe its their marriage that might be the temporary matter itself. The title is interesting from the beginning. It gives us hints about the setting, the characters and their situation, as well as plants the whole theme of the story. The story circles around dickens big things, the death of a baby and Shukumar and Shobas failing marriage. Although this is the case, it too focuses a lot on the little things. Lahiri uses small details to tailor out the pain and lack of communication between Shukumar and Shoba. When Shukumar thinks anchor to the belong time he apothegm Shoba pregnant, he doesnt remember if she looked blessed or sad, he remembers the much smaller things, such as the cab. individually time he thought of that moment, the last moment he saw Shoba pregnant, it was the cab he remembered most, a station wagon, painted red with patrician lettering. It was cavernous compared to their own car. Although Shukumar was six feet tall, with hands too big ever to rest comfortably in the pockets of his jeans, he felt dwarfed in the back seat. As inconsiderate as it may seem, this is actually how many commonwealth remember important events in their lives. Important events dont go through our memory as sequential narratives, but in a series of random feelings, sens... ... all of the little, yet important details. In the end, we find that all this time Shoba has been trying to tell Shukumar that she has been looking for apartments and finall y plant one. Shukumar is relieved, yet sickened by the thought of her wanting a life take away from him. This shakes him into sharing randomness that is sacred to Shoba in hopes that it would always be her riddle the sex of their baby. We are left with a cliffhanger. All we know is the information the last sentence provides us, They wept together, for the first time in their lives, for the things they now knew. perhaps them weeping is a sign of them coming together to grieve. It marks another(prenominal) turning point in their lives, much like when they lost their child. We tho dont know if that turning point is them staying together or weeping in knowing that they are going their separate ways.