Free Essay

A Temporary Matter

In:

Submitted By derb0t2099
Words 575
Pages 3
In the story, “A Temporary Matter”, Shoba, the wife, reveals to her husband, Shukumar, at the climax of the story that she was planning on moving out. The loss of their child is a key factor in this decision but it is no where near the only factor, and I argue that it is not the main one. One cause of the relationship deteriorating the way it did was the fact that Shukumar was missing in action through most of the day. Shoba and Shukumar had difficulty spending time together because he was always working and Shoba was always distant. While this did not in any way cause the death of the unborn child, Shukumar not being there during the birth was what I believe, a key factor in the decision that Shoba made to move on from the relationship. Despite Shoba letting Shukumar go on his business trip, I believe he should have stayed and help Shoba which is what most believe people in healthy relationships do. This was a bad move on Shukumar’s because it is eventually what caused Shoba’s mother and most readers to dislike the character. He was not there to console and comfort Shoba over the loss of their child. One of the other key factors that caused the relationship to crumble is that even after the death of their child, they both became isolated from the world and more importantly from each other. The lack of communication between both of them made it extremely difficult for the two to simply move on. I believe In order for a relationship to grow and work, there needs to be communication to the Nth degree. If there’s no communication there can be serious misunderstandings and assumptions that can lead to disputes, which lead into arguments between them both. This can tear any relationship apart. If Shoba had spoken up to Shukumar about how she felt in the first place and if Shukumar ideally had been there and able to listen to Shoba the relationship could have been reconciled; however, the times they really had a chance to talk was during the hour that the lights had gone off every night for construction. I don’t believe an hour is nearly enough time to talk, but that is just an opinion. Any serious discussion such as the loss of their child, the feelings of pain, loss and resentment would just grow until such a breaking point where the relationship doesn’t mean anything anymore. This is exactly what happened in the story. There is not one finger to blame, the blame goes to both Shoba and Shukumar.
The final cause is indeed the loss of their child; however, it is of my own opinion that this wouldn't have so effectively derailed the relationship had the other two previously mentioned causes been remedied. With Shukumar being there for Shoba more often and Shoba not having the ability to speak up and the two of them actually communicating with each other for longer than an hour. Those causes combined in a way make the loss of their child more just a tragic event that happened rather than a cause of the end their relationship. In order for most relationship to work well, both parties should be involved equally in trying to make things work and there should be as much communication between them as humanly possible. Without those things, the relationship is simply destined to fail.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

A Temporary Matter

...Jhumpa Lahiri portrays a number of couple in this award winning collection but these five couples are mainly chosen for this paper, whose marriages affect due to lack of communication or miscommunication or due to inability or unwillingness to communicate. Shoba and Shukumar in ―A Temporary Matter‖suffer from their breakdown of communication together, after the trauma of losing their child and their inability to discuss their feeling over this loss. However, the communication breakdown in ―Interpreter of Maladies‖ is visible more from Mrs. Das‘s side than her husband‘s and it complicates their malady of marriage, mainly because it leaves her husband unaware of Mr. Das indifference and mere disgust towards him on the one hand, and on the other he is unaware of the infidelity and illegitimate son she keeps in secret. However, in the marriage of Mr. Kapasi, the absence of communication and constant silence become routine and none of the partners is able to change it The breaking down of communication also leads to inability to compromise, which is the case of Sanjev in ―This Blessed House‖, who cannot fully express his opinion and dissatisfaction with Twinkle‘s actions and her lack of care for the household....

Words: 401 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

A Temporary Matter

...Ann, is struggling for inner satisfaction and happiness in her marriage. Her name is used only once in the literary work illustrating that she has very little individuality; she feels she is simply an extension of her husband, John. Her motivation is caused by her selfish attitude and propensity to focus on John's flaws; this derives from her desire for John to change. As a farmer's wife she feels an increasing isolation, especially during winter months with "the silence weighing upon her" (Ross 139) and "the clock [that] tick[s] on like a glib little idiot" (166). Ann's perception of John and her isolation motivates her decision to sleep with Steven. In the story “A Temporary Matter” we see a couple that has lost the spark in their relationship after Shoba gave birth to a still borne, ultimately leading to her ending the relationship with Shukumar. Both of these stories show how any relationship, if not kept healthy, honest, and maintained can lead to a lack of trust or in severe cases, a breakup. Both Shukumar and Waythorn experience a sense of isolation in their marriages, yet Shukumar is the character who has to endure more by the ending of the story, due to a broken heart, the dependence on his wife and the time he invested in their relationship. 1) What does the darkness symbolize for Shoba and Shukumar and how does it affect their relationship? For Shoba and Shukumar, the darkness represents an opportunity for them to reconnect and avoid the troubles and grief of the day...

Words: 901 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

A Temporary Matter

...The most interesting in my life is coming to America and learning English at the first time because my country Somalia has war going on and there is no peace. But in America there is no war and but peace. Also coming to this new place where you don’t understand the culture and the language is hard because this new place is not your home but you have to use to it and work hard to achieve your goal and make yourself educate so in the future you can find work and people who understand what you are saying.             When I first came to United States I did not know anything in this place called Syracuse even the weather so different because where I came from don’t have changing weather. But Syracuse was beautiful place and my family did not know people who speak our language. The houses were different just like I imagine. What I mean “different” is the place I came from was refugee camp and Syracuse is the big city where your dreams come true if you never saw big house, apartment, or white person I am not being races but I always see dark people not white people. It was interesting seeing these new things that I never saw in my whole life. Also I still love my country and now that I am use it in Syracuse it is my second home.             When I first start going to school I struggled a lot because I did not had a pervious knowledge of English language. Somehow I give a lot of time and try to learn English but some people make fun of me because the way I speak and some of the words...

Words: 471 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Jhumpa Lahiri

...whereas the others commit in a love marriage.Couples fitting in both the categories have been facing relationship problems due to different reasons. In the story, ‘interpreter of Maladies’, Communication breaks down repeatedly often with hurtful consequences. Mr Kapasi is engaged in an arrange marriage, whereas Mr and Mrs Das are committed in a love marriage. Mr. Kapasi, who is the interpreter of maladies, has lost his ability to communicate with his wife, forcing him to drink his tea in silence at night and leading to a loveless marriage. Mr and Mrs Das have lost the ability to communicate because Mrs Das has been keeping a dark secret from Mr Das which can kill their marriage. On the other hand, Shukumar in ‘The Temporary Matter’, has not had a proper conversation with his wife, since their child’s death. The...

Words: 1210 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Water Purification

...distance into the ground. It is collected from shallow wells or surface springs; and iv) deep well waters, which have usually percolated through several strata. ➢ Rain water:- Rain, collected immediately after propitiation, is the purest of all natural waters. It may contain traces of gases dissolved out of the atmosphere, and possibly an almost infinitely small amount of finely divided solid matter derived from the air. In the neighborhood of towns rain may collect dissolved or suspended impurities such as soot, traces of sulphur dioxide, or sulphuric acid, and other by-products of industrialization. Rain water from such sources is improved by filtration through a bed of sand. Although the collection of rain for industrial purposes dose not warrant serious consideration, there are occasions when small quantities of it may be useful for special purposes. If storage is undertaken it is desirable to have some device which rejects the first few gallons which will be delivered from the collecting surface after a dry period, because they will contain all the solid matter which has been deposited from the atmosphere. Further purification,...

Words: 2188 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Ramdev Industries Limited

...organization in Pune as a Trainee Officer in the Personnel Department. He was confirmed as a Personnel Officer after the completion of training with the company in 2007. The personnel Department was headed by a Manager. Next in the management hierarchy was one Deputy Manager followed by two Assistant Managers and six officers in the department. They were supported by a battalion of office and clerical staff. Suraj was assigned the task of maintaining certain statutory documents. He was quite enthusiastic and wanted to bring about many improvements. His work, however, hardly provided any scope for originality. The bureaucracy never permitted any change easily. Besides, at his level in the hierarchy, he could not wield much influence on any matter. His salary and perks were, however, quite comparable to those in any other organisation and there was adequate freedom and security of job. Though he was not very happy, he tried to reconcile himself to his job. When Ramdev Industries Limited (RIL), Delhi advertise for the post of "Senior Personnel Officer", he decided to apply for the post. He had reasons to do so in spite of the fact that he was reasonably comfortable in the public sector organisation. First, Ramdev Industries was a leading company in the private sector; secondly, the Personnel Manager of the company was due to retire shortly and the incumbent of the new post was to replace him in due course; thirdly, he would have a much broader span of work and would be able to implement...

Words: 1575 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Henna Around the World

...she will put some henna on it and it goes back to normal and even better. Henna means to me a lot, it reminds me of my childhood. GTQ#2 The popularity of Henna is changing the formula to a harmful substance. According to the New York Times, "Henna tattoos are widely available and usually harmless" (Bakalar). It is becoming more popular in the US because it is a temporary design and alternative to the real tattoos. As Henna becomes more popular, people are adding chemicals to the original formula. "Henna is a vegetable dye that can be brown, red or green, and it wears off in a matter of days. But to produce a darker color, some tattoo artists added a chemical called Paraphenylenediamine, or PPD”(Bakalar). Henna is a natural plant but adding chemicals to the original formula made it very harmful. Adding chemicals to Henna burned and blistered a”a 19-year-old woman who had a temporary tattoo applied at a wedding”(Bakalar). The Kuwaiti woman was one of the people who got affected by the PPD. Henna changed from a harmless temporary tattoo to a very harmful substance. GTQ#3 Henna matters to the people around the world because it is a cultural tradition in the Muslim religion. Henna is “one of the oldest-known hair dyes, Henna is still used worldwide”(Lerner). Henna is an ancient natural hair dye that has been used by a lot people worldwide. Arabic “women in Muslim countries use Henna to color their nails, hands, feet, and...

Words: 374 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Case Study 5

...Bautista Aug 9, 2013 The Temptations of Tempting Case Study 1. A senior manager at a growing business and you’re ready to add employees. Your HR manager has recommended a temp-to-perm policy. You know the advantages of this approach, but what might some of the disadvantages? As a person who has worked many temporary positions, if I had to look at the disadvantages of temp to perm I am not sure what I would say. I think the biggest disadvantage would have to be having to retrain a new person every time someone didn’t work out. The more time you spend training someone the less time you and that person spend doing the job they were hired to do. There also may be a decrease in company morale. If you bring in a temp working putting in the same hours every week and the same amount of hard work as your permanent employees, but they are not getting the same benefits this could lead to problems (Schaefer, 2005). Studies show that there are more safety issues in places where there are a lot of temporary workers hired. It is never safe to assume that a temporary worker is able to work unsupervised no matter how much training they may have (Schaefer, 2005). 2. Assume that you’re a prospective job seeker (which you may very well be). What do you personally see as the advantages and disadvantages of taking a temp-to-perm position? Under what circumstances are you most likely to take a temp-to-perm position? The advantage is being...

Words: 637 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Task B-­‐ Civil Engineering Contracts

...judgmental aptitude • He is key partner consequently helping with correspondence between the business and the temporary worker • Acts in a soul of shared trust and collaboration with the business, temporary worker and chief (clause 10.1) | FDIAC build additionally confronts has distinctive parts. The accompanying are the general parts• He goes about as an intermediary to the business henceforth performing every one of the exercises for the benefit of the business. This is additionally plot in (clause 3.1). "Acquires manager power for matters pre-concurred between the business and temporary worker as essential. Profits by apparent power to follow up for the benefit of the business in most different occasions" • He has the ability to settle on all choices and judgements including the significant choices with respect to the venture. This is appeared in article (clause 3.5) | Quality control• Represents as a watchman to the contractual specialist's arrangement and undertaking surrounding part of the assention and use of sub-provisional laborers. Considering and enduring the contractual laborer's arrangement, (clauses 21-23) expecting , any subcontractors (statement 26) and the proposed program (clause 31). • Answers inside the given time for answer to any correspondence submitted to it by the temporary worker • Responsible for issuing the endorsements for the business and temporary worker. • Works the early alerted segment by telling the brief specialist of any development, delay or obstacle...

Words: 1571 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Personal Grievance Case Acme Chemical Company and Reg Pistoff

...Application The matter concerned is a personal grievance/dispute between Acme Chemical Company and Reg Pistoff. The complainant Reg Pistoff has accused Acme Chemical Company of violating the collective agreement between Acme and the union which Mr Reg Pistoff is a member of . The notice of dispute stated by Mr Pistoff stated that Mr Dan Neksdup was called back to work and began working December 8th 2010; he is a junior to Reg Pistoff, Mr Pistoff should have been called back to work first. The remedy the union demands is that the employer ceases and desists from violating the collective agreement, That the incidents be rectified and proper compensation, including benefits and overtime at the applicable rate of pay be paid, and that all who are affected be made whole in every aspect. Facts of the case: Before we look at the history of the case and the employment relationship between Mr Reg Pistoff and Acme Chemical Company, we must firstly address the employment contract in place at the warehouse. The union and the employer (Acme chemical Company) had a collective agreement which it had been using for the previous two years, from 2008 until 2010. A side agreement which the union and the employer Acme Chemical Company have had for the past two years provided the following: “Where permanent employees’ position become redundant to the company’s need any temporary jobs shall be filled by those employees whose positions have been made redundant in order of seniority, with the most...

Words: 2168 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Business

...job done a lot quicker because they have only one job to do so they can focus on it. Temporary employees are employees that are only hired in companies for short periods of time (e.g. to cover maternity) Consultants and contractors usually work for a different company, so they benefit form the extra skills in the workplace without having the responsibilities of other employees. Lesley Strand states that regularly using skilled contractors and consultants it gives the nosiness labour flexibility and allows management to bring in specialised skills when they need them. She uses the example that when winning a contract to build a web portal for an advisory agent, her staff were already working at full capacity on another job and therefore decided to hire more contractors. Also, by hiring consultants you can gain advice on things that you need help with. For example, for Haywood Associated Ltd they hired a set of consultants to give them advice when they needed to revamp logos. This meant that permanent employees could focus on their job and leave the specialists to focus on the logo. Also, by hiring consultants and contractors the business would probably spend less money. To hire employees you would have to pay them the benefits such as holiday pay, therefore it would probably be less to hire consultants and contractors for a short period of time. Every time a temporary employee starts no matter how skilled or unskilled, a certain amount of training is required in order for them...

Words: 855 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Interpreter of Maladies

...different main characters, a different setting, and a different kind of conflict. Nonetheless, the stories tie up together so well that they really do form a “collection” under same objectives: the “maladies.” Every story introduces characters with certain trauma and Lahiri shows how the characters cope with their own problems. Among nine stories, I would like to especially focus on two, “A Temporary Matter” and “Interpreter of Maladies,” and discuss what they have in common and how they relates to each other by sharing some fundamental factors. The two stories share numerous similarities: the couples have difficult time dealing with their relationships; it is described in detail how burdensome the life of characters became because of the problematic matters between them; the characters lack enough communication needed for solving their problems; and the children are centered on the incidents. The most significant and thought-provoking similarity is that there exists a figure or event that motivates the characters to confide their secretive and sensitive issue to another. In “A Temporary Matter” the darkness plays the role; in “Interpreter of Maladies,” Mr. Kapasi. In fact, these stories are so centered on them that the title of each story indicates the darkness and Mr. Kapasi. More than just occupying such importance in each story, the darkness and Mr. Kapasi are introduced in a similar way and share similar functions in terms of leading the stories. First of all, their appearances...

Words: 1376 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Arthur Alister Mcgrath's History Of Atheism

...The Arthur Alister McGrath wrote in his history of Atheism the quote was the 20th the century gave rise to one of the greatest and most distressing paradoxes of human history that the intolerance and violence of that century were practiced by those who believed that religion caused intolerance and violence (Keller 1950). To practiced something to violent and to believed and control by a religion is not of God or Jesus Christ. The fact that he himself was not a believer at all I take note on the view of his story and opinion but the fact of the matter is that he comes back and says the religion is not just a temporary thing that helps us adapt to our environment. (Keller 1950). I do agree but it is more than just a temporary thing but a life style and a way to live for Jesus Christ that...

Words: 568 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Mohandew3

...Circular 11/95: Use of conditions in planning permission On 5th May 2006 the responsibilities of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) transferred to the Department for Communities and Local Government. Department for Communities and Local Government Eland House Bressenden Place London SW1E 5DU Telephone: 020 7944 4400 Website: www.communities.gov.uk Documents downloaded from the www.communities.gov.uk website areCrown Copyright unless otherwise stated, in which case copyright is assigned to Queens Printer and Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Office. Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with the Crown. This publication, excluding logos, may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium for research, private study or for internal circulation within an organisation. This is subject to it being reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the publication specified. Any other use of the contents of this publication would require a copyright licence. Please apply for a Click-Use Licence for core material at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/system/online/pLogin.asp or by writing to the Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ. Fax: 01603 723000 or e-mail: HMSOlicensing@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk. This publication is only available online via the Communities and Local Government website: www.communities...

Words: 20845 - Pages: 84

Premium Essay

Corporate Lobbying and Immigration

...policies are private firms, who would benefit from depressive impact of foreign labour on wages. The article’s objective is precisely to examine the impact of corporate lobbying on the levels of immigration in Canada. The article’s first argument is that national industries are unequally affected by changes in the skill composition of labour. Rheault states that “rather an advocating an unconditional expansion of immigration levels, the business community is more likely to agree on the desirability of policy tools allowing the selection of migrants with specific skills and backgrounds.” (Rheault, 2013). Rheault focuses on economic permanent immigration (immigrants selected using a point system accounting for educational attainment) and temporary workers (who are selected based on their occupation). Rheault’s argument emphasizes that even if special interests can exert a significant influence on policy makers motivated by re-election, the equilibrium response of governments depends on the complementarity between those two types of immigration. (Rheault, 2013). The idea that businesses play a key role in the shaping of immigration policies has been discussed several times before, ex. Freeman, Menz and Tichenor, however, quantitative evidence is limited by the difficulty of measuring the process of influence and the direct measure of business influence on the specific issue of immigration has not been examined. Rheault exclaims and discusses the relevance of the issue of businesses...

Words: 747 - Pages: 3