“This Blessed House” is a story that focuses on two distinct characters that have a different perception about each other and their religious values. Sanjeev and Twinkle is a Hindu couple in an arranged marriage; these characters represent two different ways of looking at life and appreciating it. In focusing on the characterization of both characters Sanjeev and Twinkle the audience gets an understanding on the different values that Hindus and Americans share and also how religions can affect how people perceive things in life. Religious artifacts
Twinkle is quite an interesting and open minded character indeed. Her real name is Tanima, but she soon corrects her husband “call me Twinkle” (Lahiri 151), when he introduces her to people. Just by the name Twinkle the audience gets an idea of someone who is free spirited and would have a different point of view from most people. “She gets excited and delighted by little things, crossing her fingers before any remotely unpredictable event, like tasting a new flavor of ice cream or dropping a letter in the mailbox. It was a quality he did not understand. It made him feel stupid, as if the world contained hidden wonders he could not anticipate, or see. He looked at her face, which, it occurred to him, had not grown out of its girlhood" (Lahiri 142).
Twinkle has admirable characteristics for a wife from India; in marital relationships women are expected to be docile homemakers, as Twinkle attempts to be. The author describes Twinkle as lively and more americanized than Sanjeev, this is evident in her desire to keep the Christian statues. Twinkle is open-minded and has found Christian artifacts lying around the house which she loves to find and show off, “Oh, we must, we sim...
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...e loved it” (Lahiri 157). With his realization of this he gets the idea that not all things are perfect and “he decided these were among the things that made Prabal think she was wow” (Lahiri 157).
Twinkle and Sanjeev is a couple that will be able to reconcile their differences and work things out. Sanjeev came to a revelation in him by looking at the bust of Christ, which made him see the real reason why he feels so much dislike in the artifacts. The house was perfect for Sanjeev and Twinkle because it is a blessed house and helped Sanjeev see what was most important to him, Twinkle. By the end of thestory the theme is realized by Sanjeev and makes him think that Twinkle is what he truly needs; “now he had one, a pretty one, from a suitably high caste, who would soon have a master’s degree. What was there not to love” (Lahiri 148).
The Buddha in the Attic is written to represent the unheard experiences of many different women that married their husband through a picture. They were known during the early 1920s as the pictures brides ranging in different ages, but naive to the world outside of America. Though the picture bride system was basically the same as their fathers selling their sister to the geisha house, these women viewed being bought to be a wife by a Japanese male in America as an opportunity for freedom and hope for a better life (Otsuka, 2011, p.5) For some of these women, the choice to marry the man in the picture wasn’t an option and chose to die while on the boat instead of marry a stranger, while others accepted their fates with grace. The book continues
Traditions control how one talks and interacts with others in one’s environment. In Bengali society, a strict code of conduct is upheld, with dishonor and isolation as a penalty for straying. Family honor is a central part to Bengali culture, and can determine both the financial and social standing of a family. Usha’s family poses no different, each member wearing the traditional dress of their home country, and Usha’s parents diligently imposing those values on their daughter. Those traditions, the very thing her [Usha] life revolved around, were holding her back from her new life as an American. Her mother in particular held those traditions above her. For example, when Aparna makes Usha wear the traditional attire called “shalwar kameez” to Pranab Kaku and Deborah’s Thanksgiving event. Usha feels isolated from Deborah’s family [Americans] due to this saying, “I was furious with my mother for making a scene before we left the house and forcing me to wear a shalwar kameez. I knew they [Deborah’s siblings] assumed, from my clothing, that I had more in common with the other Bengalis than with them” (Lahiri ...
Through her tasteful selection of contemporary Indian influenced prose pieces, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the unique journey of Indian families established in America. Focusing on the intergenerational aspect of traditional households, Lahiri conveys the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies a person who is branded as a foreigner. In America, there exists a common misconception that immigrants who arrive in this country fully assimilate or seek to assimilate as time progresses. The category I chose was "The Dot of true Happiness." The dot which signifies the bindi, a traditional red mark worn by Indian people, is the source of true happiness among these immigrants.
In spite of the fact that the parents wish that their youngsters would hold their Bengali legacy by keeping alive their dialect and wedding other Bengalis, Gogol and Sonia are hesitant to do as such. They are American, they demand. While living at home, the youngsters are faithful; however, just hardly emulate their parents'
Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, places Jane Austen’s emphasis of equality in marriage within an intercultural context, where the difference in culture is the source of social tension. As West meets East, American tycoon William Darcy sparks cultural conflict with his presumption of Indian girls’ “simple” and traditional characteristics and of their ready subordination to American men. Parallel to Elizabeth’s assertion of her father and Darcy’s equal class standing, Lalita’s fierce rebuttal of Darcy’s assumption highlights his ignorance of the Indian culture, especially his inability to understa...
In the “The Broom Tree,” the main characters Genji, Tō no Chūjō and two acquaintances find themselves in a friendly debate regarding the various vices and virtue of women of the court. The story has only begun, but the narrator is already introducing the concept of an ideal woman and as the story progresses, an image of the ideal man emerges as well.
“Hell-Heaven,” is a story about a Bengali family who have immigrated to America, the story is told from the perspective of Usha, the only child of Aparna and Shyamal. Through Usha’s point of view we gain insight into all the character’s struggles and how they change throughout the story and the difference beginning to end is immaculate.
The novel ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ by Jhumpa Lahiri is comprised of many short stories including ‘This Blessed House’ and ‘The Third and Final Continent’. ‘This Blessed House’ is centered on a newlywed Indian couple moving into their house and finding Christian trinkets all over the house. ‘The Third and Final Continent’ is about another newlywed couple and their move to America. Both short stories are told from the point of view of the husband and have the recurring element of tradition, therefore the effects of tradition and culture on the daily lives and relationships of newlywed couples are highlighted.
In the film’s final marriage scene, Chadha replaces dialogue with music, a signature of Bollywood movies, to finally orchestrate Darcy’s embracement of tradition in his reunion with Lalita, which also symbolizes a reconciliation between America and India. When the parents of Jaya and Balraj first meet during their wedding, the public conversation diminishes while the background music increases in volume for the entry of Darcy, who appears as one of the Indian wedding drummers. Dressed in his American shirt, he is smiling and comfortably playing with a group of Indian drummers; his current easy demeanor contrasts greatly to his social awkwardness in the first Indian dance of the film. As the musical chords become louder and more accented, Lalita runs to Darcy. Then, in a few suspenseful chords, the music subsides as the two lovers engage each other in a stand-still, face-to-face formation, which symbolizes the meeting of America and India. At this moment, Darcy surprisingly deviates his eyes from his lover’s face to look at Lalita’s parents, whose nonverbal, genial greetings accompany a revival in a more exuberant progression of chords. This exchange between Darcy and Lalita’s parents proves Darcy’s transformation of mind. Darcy has fulfilled one important part of the Indian tradition of marriage: acquiring the parent’s consent. Although Mrs. Darcy is not present, Darcy, in part, has followed the Indian tradition of arranged marriage by asking Lalita’s Indian parents. His gesture proves that he now accepts and respect Indian traditions, a quality essential to achieving ultimately the equality in his marriage to Lalita and in engagement between America and India. The blissful expressions on Darcy’s face, when he finally embraces L...
...sness and being loveless to Stella, in how her picture (in its apparent evilness and abandon) seems to appear in his eyes. Thus, by willing to convert her, to change her, to dominate her will with his own, Finkle seeks redemption for himself. He will be a renewed man, a man with a high purpose of returning this "fallen woman" to the fold. Thus Stella becomes an outlet for Finkle to practice his Rabbinical studies; furthermore, in her character Finkle will have the chance to rectify social wrongs, such as the strained relations between father and daughter, or perhaps between "fallen woman" and society.
We find characters like Mr. and Mrs. Das who are so distant from their Indian heritage that they need a tour guide, and we find Mrs. Sen, who sits on her floor every day, chopping vegetables in the same way she did in India, with the same knife she used in India. The characters who find happiness are always those who can embrace their present circumstance, while at the same time never forget their Indian roots.
Ranjha is the youngest and favourite child of a farmer in a Punjabi village. After his father’s death Ranjha leaves his brothers and their families because they mistreat him after the death of their father. But now that he has no property to his name his social caste is lowered. Ranjha travels further into Punjab to find a job, he eventually comes to a river where he meets a beautiful girl named Hir and the two of them fall madly in love with each other. Hir takes Ranjha to her father so he can give Ranjha a job and he becomes their cowherd. This allows them to court each other in the forest and their love becomes the talk of the town. Hir’s family is aware that Hir and Ranjha want to marry so they ask for the village elders approval but the elders do not agree with the match because Ranjha is of a different caste than Hir. Instead Hir is forced to marry Saida, a man of her class, and she is unhappy in her marriage because she is in love with Ranjha. Now that the two cannot be together Ranjha attempts to become a holy man. Realising that he belongs with Hir after multiple conversations with the Pirs, Ranjha goes to Hir and they run away together so they can get married. Pir translates to old man, but in this context it means a saint (Shah 10). But on their wedding day Hir’s uncle tells her that her ex-husbands clan has killed Ranjha. So Hir drinks poison so that she does not have to live without him, after hearing that Hir killed herself Ranjha also kills himself so he does not have to live without her. But they now live happily in the kingdom of God set apart for lovers (Shah
In the house, they find Christian relics that Twinkle takes a particular interest in. Sanjeev’s resistance toward keeping the relics and Twinkle’s child-like obsession with them show the dynamic of their relationship. Twinkle behaves like a teenager and Sanjeev behaves like her father. When Sanjeev confronts her about moving the Virgin Mary that rests outside their house, she has a juvenile fit. “‘Don’t you dare.’ She stood up, letting the book fall into the water, bubbles dripping down her thighs. ‘I hate you,’ she informed him, her eyes narrowing at the word ‘hate’” (149). After she storms away in stubborn anger, she goes back to him in tears: “She went to him, placing her damp toweled arms about his neck, sobbing into his chest, soaking his shirt” (149). When she tells Sanjeev she hates him, it is clear that she can’t have a mature discussion about the statue and resorts to doing what a child would. When she comes back crying, she shows her weakness and how much she relies on him. She has become attached to the relics in a way similar to that of a child becoming attached to their toys. Her obsession with these objects and Sanjeev’s hatred of them represent the difference in their personalities and highlight the fact that Twinkle is the younger one in the relationship. When the couple hosts a dinner party, the guests seem
This Blessed House by Jhumpa Lahiri is a short story that follows a small period of time in the two characters’ lives. Having known one another for only four months, newlyweds Sanjeev and Tanima, called Twinkle, are finding it difficult to adjust to married life. Both have very different personalities, a theme that Lahiri continuously points to throughout the story,. Their conflict comes to a head when Twinkle begins finding Christian relics all over the house. Sanjeev wants to throw the relics away, but Twinkle collects them on the mantle and shows them off at every opportunity. As a character, Sanjeev is unadventurous and exacting, while Twinkle is free-spirited and does not care for the fine details. The root of the conflict between Jhumpa Lahiri’s characters Sanjeev and Twinkle in “This Blessed House” is the clashing of their two very different personalities in a situation that forces them together.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy tells the story of the communist state of Kerala and the forbidden love between two castes, which changes the lives of everyone. In the novel an ‘Untouchable’, Velutha is a carpenter and works at Paradise Pickles and Preserves for much less than he deserves because of his status as an Untouchable in the caste system. Velutha falls into a forbidden love with a divorced woman, Ammu who is associated with an upper caste Syrian Christian Ipe family. Marriage was the only way that Ammu could have escaped this life, but she lost the chance when marrying the wrong man, as he was an alcoholic and this resulted in them getting a divorce. Ammu breaks the laws that state ‘who should be loved, and how and how much’, as their affair threatens the ‘caste system’ in India, which is a hierarchal structure and social practice in India in which your position in society is determined and can’t be changed. Arhundati Roy portrays the theme of forbidden love within the caste systems and shows how they are t...