Who Is Jhumpa Lahiri's A Temporary Matter?

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Recommended: Duality in literature

The comparison of Jhumpa Lahiri’s “A Temporary Matter” to “Interpreter Of Maladies”, converges upon a single, salient point of thematic interest: issues like double-sided swords in life. Conventionally, a double-sided sword performs both favourable and unfavorable consequences of an issue on the protagonists. Nothing is absolutely positive or negative. The protagonists of these stories, both meet struggles in their lives, but these struggles also provide opportunities for them to solve more important problems they previously had. Double-sided swords most aptly describes the roles of Shoba, Shukumar, Mrs. Das, and Bobby. They all meet matters that also bring positive sides to them. While these people all meet problems in their family, they …show more content…

Lahiri uses the darkness like a double-edged sword because it brings temporary problems but also improves communication between Shoba and Shukumar. Shoba and her husband, Shukumar, meet a contemporary matter in their home: “for five days their electricity would be cut off for one hour, beginning at eight P.M” because “a line had gone down in the last snowstorm” (1). The setting of the story is directly related to the title “A Temporary Matter”. The couple don’t have access to electricity, which means they have to spend their time in darkness and seems to foreshadow more problems they will meet in this situation. Up to now, They eat dinner separately: Shoba in front of television and Shukumar in front of computer. A gap has existed between them as Shumkumar didn’t accompany with Shoba when their baby had been stillborn. When Shumkumar returns to Boston, “the baby had been born dead” (3). “In a wing of the hospital they hadn’t been to on the tour for expectant parents”(3). Their baby’s death leads to the alienation between the couple and seems to reveal Shumkumar’s irresponsibility

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