Stench of Kerosene, Country Lovers, and The Schoolteachers Guest

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Recommended: Roles of women in literature

Explore the ways in which the lives of individuals are affected by

the expectations and traditions of the society in which they live in

(Comparison of this in the novels Stench of Kerosene, Country Lovers

and the Schoolteachers guest).

Explore the ways in which the lives of individuals are affected by the

expectations and traditions of the society in which they live in.

The 3 stories we have read which are Stench of kerosene, Country

Lovers and the Schoolteacher’ s Guest, are set in a variety of

different cultures and each story reveals a lot about the traditions

and expectations of the people who live there. For instance when

reading the different stories some ideas and traditions seem bizarre

however for them would be completely normal.

A Stench of Kerosene is set in the mid-twentieth century in a Hindu

district of India. The story is about an arranged marriage in India.

The main them in this short story is conflict between a man’s love and

the obligation to have children. It’s all about Guleri’s “arranged”

marriage. It’s based on love and duty. Amrita Pritam, the writer, is

an Indian, Hindu woman thus she would know what the expectations of

woman would be in her country, to produce a male child.

The role of a woman plays a major part in this story. Guleri is

deprived from her family.

“Once every year, after the harvest had been gathered in, Guleri was

allowed to spend a few days with her parents.” She uses this to show

the intense isolation of Guleri from her family around her, discarding

her as if she was non- existent. “Allowed” is the important word in

this quote. It suggests that she ask permission to see her parents,

which in my opinion isn’t normal. This would be different for a man

living in the same village as her, because men have different rights.

He would be in a completely different position. It is as if her

enthusiasm to visit her parents on the very rare occasion is the only

thing that he keeps her happy in her life, because of the rights she

as for being a woman.

Guleri is introduced by naming her chores, followed by the fact that

she never sees her parents even though they live in a close by

village. Guleri’s duty is a specifically female one. Our perspective

of a woman’s chores would be to take heed to the welfare of both her

husband and her children however Guleri’s is a completely different

one, which reflects on how the Hindu culture differs from others.

“She went about her daily chores—fed the cattle, cooked food for her

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