Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies

The Malady in “A Temporary Matter”

The first short story “A Temporary Matter” from the collection Interpreter of Maladies portrays the institution of marriage as a malady. The story of young Indian couple, Shoba and Shukumar, whose marriage disintegrates in front of reader’s eyes because of their inability to cope with the trauma of their stillborn baby. Lahiri’s uses the accompanying symptoms of malady of marriage to better illustrate the illness and dysfunction of such a union. The first symptom signalizing the disorder in the couple’s life is collapse of functional communication, showing their inability to discuss the loss of their baby. The second one is their gradual lack of care for relationship, which mirrors especially in Shoba’s changed attitude towards taking care of household and cooking. The third symptom of malady of marriage in the story of Shoba and Skuhumar is their alienation and estrangement, which is visible in their avoiding each other and that leads to their growing apart.

The first symptom that indicates the malady of marriage is breaking down of communication, which has its source in Shoba’s and Shukumar’s inability to discuss the trauma of their stillborn baby. The couple’s inability to communicate has serious consequence for the marriage and their life becomes “passive and full of void where there is no jest for life” (Chadhury 17). The symptom of lack of communication appears shortly after the loss of their baby, the reason why the union is disintegrating only after three years of their life together. The collapse of communication, enforced by their inability to discuss their trauma, changes their marriage into a silent struggle, where indulging in conversation becomes an obstacle and both of them are too apathetic to treat the malady: “They weren’t like this before. Now he had to struggle to say something that interested her, something that made her look up from her plate, or from her proofreading files. Eventually he gave up trying to amuse her. He learned not to mind the silences” (Lahiri 12).

This inability to communicate turns their marriage into malady that becomes unbearable. The main cause is the lack of care of partners to even start communicating and as Lahiri shows later, the effort could lead to finding a remedy and in the end save the marriage. The only opportunity to restore the communication between them comes in the form of the problem with electricity, when dark evenings bring more peace between them and make them willing to talk, mainly because they cannot see each other properly. This gives them freedom to speak and partly express their true feelings: “He wondered what Shoba would tell him in the dark. The worst possibilities had already run through his head. That she’d had an affair. That she didn’t respect him for being thirty-five and still a student. That she blamed him for being in Baltimore the way her mother did” (Lahiri 16). The main problem of the communication collapse is the silence in which the partners have time to think over every situation or argument, without hearing the other side. Not being able to find out what the spouse thinks leads to insecurity and even more struggle to start a conversation.

The story of one week in the couple’s life is told only from Shukumar’s perspective, so only his insecurities are present and also the change of Shoba’s behaviour is visible only through Skukumar’s eyes. This perception enforces the fact that Shukumar is being only partly aware of the disintegrating marriage, struggling in his apathy to act. However, Shoba is silently preparing for a new life, which she sees as a therapy after her trauma of stillborn child. She demonstrates her urge for a new beginning by her neglect of household, when she changes her attitude to home from keeping every sack of rice labelled to leaving her sneakers and coat carelessly on the floor: “Although the story is told from Shukumar's perspective, Shoba has agency outside of his knowledge, as demonstrated by her refusal to restock the pantry or cook for her husband, actions that correspond to her development of an independent self that Shukumar knows nothing about” (Williams 75). The disruption of communication leads to even more unawareness of the partner’s feelings. Lahiri points out the importance of communicating and its essential effects on the strengthening the relationship and presenting it as a remedy and cure to such ill unions: “Lahiri seems to tell us how essential it is for individuals to communicate to reciprocate to each other. It is this which connects individuals, releases one from emotional exile and strengthens relationships” (Chaudhury 17). The remedy in the form of communicating and fully expressing each other feelings could heal the marriage of Shoba and Shukumar, only if there was an effort to start.

However, the collapse of communication is only a result of the couple’s inability to discuss or cope with the loss of their stillborn baby. The fact that “the baby had been born dead” (Lahiri 3), is the traumatic experience why the marriage of Shoba and Shukumar disintegrates, but also brings questions of guilt related to the absence of husband at the time of Shoba’s labor: “Six months ago, in September, Shukumar was at an academic conference in Baltimore when Shoba went into labor, three weeks before her due date. He hadn’t wanted to go to the conference, but she had insisted; it was important to make contacts, and he would be entering the job market next year” (Lahiri 3). The feelings of guilt which culminate in the husband’s mind are only the result of couple’s struggling and enduring the marriage and its malady in silence. Moreover, throughout the process of mourning and silence, Shukumar is not the only one who blames himself for not being at the wife’s side. Shoba’s mother also keeps her silent accusation directed at Shukumar by being “polite without being friendly” (Lahiri 9). The mother never talks about Shoba or the baby, when Shukumar mentions the baby only once, she accuses him openly: “But you weren’t even there” (Lahiri 9). The problem of being unable to deal with the trauma starts with Shoba’s return from the hospital, when the couple tries to forget about the whole incident, as if it never happened. It is visible in Shukumar’s effort to erase all signs and memories of the baby, such as his dismantling of the nursery room, before Shoba’s arrival. The denial of grief, not accepting each other feelings and being silent and passive slowly kills the relationship like an infection. The miscarriage separates the couple even more and the impact of the trauma on couple’s side is seen when Shukumar moves his study to baby’s room: “In January, when he stopped working at his carrel in the library, he set up his desk there deliberately, partly because the room soothed him, and partly because it was a place Shoba avoided” (Lahiri 8). From Shoba’s point of view, the whole institution of marriage is degraded by the loss of baby. As Chaudhury states, the reader cannot blame Shoba fully from her surrendering in keeping the marriage and abandoning the role of wife, because “to the Indian psyche, marriage is not primarily matter of sex” (Chaudhury 17), but mainly the matter of cooperating between the couple in their daily routines, such as raising the child. In this perspective, “child cements the bond of marriage – without child marriage is considered banal and incomplete. The loss of the child turns Shoba into a mechanized automation” (Chaudhury 17). All the care and systematic preparation she has given to Shukumar, household and marriage itself, has vaporized with the loss of the child. However, she tries to deny the problem in their marriage by not mentioning or discussing, treating the trauma as only a temporary matter. This attitude leads both of them into the malady of marriage in the form of not communicating and discussing their loss, which only expands the gap between them.

The second symptom of the malady in Shoba and Shukumar’s marriage is their lack of care and effort to repair the broken relationship. Their indifferent attitude towards the problems in their marriage is mirrored in the state of their household and Shoba’s indifferent attitude towards cooking and preparation of food, which has brought her joy before. Lahiri’s language illustrates their trauma and the malady of marriage even more: “Lahiri uses a variety of such small details to evoke not only the vast change that has come over the couple since the stillbirth of their son, but to reveal the great neglect in which their own relationship as a couple has fallen since that tragedy” (Brada-Williams 456). Shoba’s and Shukumar’s lack of interest in their home and by this even in their relationship is presented throughout the story. The example of their idleness to put even a small effort to treat the malady is visible on their attitude towards watering the ivy: “Even though the plant was inches from tap, the soil was so dry, that he had to water it before the candles would stand straight” (Lahiri 10). The ivy represents the partners’ lack of effort to communicate and participate in the relationship, which could lead to finding the remedy for their malady of marriage, even though it would require only a small effort, such as watering the ivy only inches from the tap. The state of their marriage is represented also by changes in Shoba’s attitude towards the household before and after losing the child. The difference is viewed through Shukumar’s eyes, who saw his wife always prepared for everything in the future, now changing to a woman, who is no more interested in the household they share and also in him: “She wasn’t this way before. She used to put her coat on a hanger, her sneakers in the closet, and she paid bills as soon as they came. But now she treated the house as if it were a hotel. The fact that the yellow chintz armchair in the living room clashed with the blue-and-maroon Turkish carpet no longer bothered her” (Lahiri 6). Her disinterest in the household affairs and preparation of food again mirrors how Shoba changes to a different person who is trying to forget about the life with Shukumar and the tragedy which it brought to her: “Shoba's disinterest in cooking comes about when the sense of alienation sets in after a miscarriage. As long as marital bliss was

much present the kitchen had also been well stocked.” (Swarup and Devi 2). The importance of food and caring about the household is crucial in the comparison, because by this “Jhumpa Lahiri uses the food customs and dining traditions of her Indian-American characters to illuminate the importance of family and community” (Swarup and Devi 3). Thus Shoba’s transformation from a proper Indian housewife into an independent woman is important. The loss of baby means death of their marriage and it seems impossible for her to continue living in childless marriage and not caring for anyone. Shoba’s interest in the household, friends and preparing meals as cautiously as “each of the recipes was dated” (Lahiri 7), were the corner-stone of their marriage, which suffered a lot after the loss of the baby. “Shoba had thrown him a surprise birthday party last May. One hundred and twenty people had crammed into the house — all the friends and the friends of friends they now systematically avoided” (Lahiri 9). The lack of effort to treat the malady of marriage only gives more evidence of the ruin in which their marriage stays. “The despair that characterizes their relationship is reflected in the state in which they keep their home” (Williams 70). Couple’s passive attitude towards their home reflects the inevitable changes in their marriage, which they do not even try to stop. This symptom only signals the desolated state of their relationship of which both of them are aware and sadly both of them are unwilling to fix.

The third symptom of the malady in the Shoba’s and Shukumar’s marriage is their alienation and estrangement, which leads to deliberately avoiding of each other and growing apart as different persons with different views on their life and marriage. The alienation in their marriage is mirrored in the state of household throughout the story. “Shoba's disinterest in cooking comes about when the sense of alienation sets in after a miscarriage. As long as marital bliss was much present the kitchen had also been well stocked” (Swarup and Devi 2). Their “cultivated isolation” (Williams 72) has roots in their inability to discuss their grief. Therefore their avoiding of each other is easier and more bearable option for both of them. “Instead he thought of how he and Shoba had become experts at avoiding each other in their three-bedroom house, spending as much time on separate floors as possible” (Lahiri 4). The impossibility to repair the broken marriage is directly related to the physical avoidance, because by the time Shukumar wakes, “Shoba is always gone” (Lahiri 4). Avoiding each other becomes a habit and it is visible in their reluctance to meet even for dinner. “He pushed the blazing ivy pot to the other end of the table, closer to the piles of books and mail, making it even more difficult for them to see each other. He was suddenly irritated that he couldn’t go upstairs and sit in front of the computer” (Lahiri 11). The only exception in their routine is the evening when Shoba visits her husband in the study, which is now situated in the baby’s room. The reason why these occasions makes Shukumar uncomfortable is the fact that he feels that Shoba visits him only from the sense of obligation and not with the true regard or interest in his work or him. “It was the one time in the day she sought him out, and yet he’d come to dread it. He knew it was something she forced herself to do” (Lahiri 8). The estrangement of the couple contributes to their growing apart from each other and becoming strangers with different opinions and perceptions of their life and marriage. The alienation and avoidance helps Shoba to find a different attitude towards her life and ability to start a new, cleaned from the trauma she endured. Shukumar’s unawareness of Shoba’s plans only emphasizes the presence of disease in their relationship related to the symptoms of communication breakdown and alienation. When the revelation of her plans comes, it is already too late. “It sickened Shukumar, knowing that she had spent these past evenings preparing for a life without him. He was relieved and yet he was sickened” (Lahiri 21). Both of them suspect the fact that their marriage becomes a malady and by their avoidance and estrangement, the couple only enforces the process of disintegration of their relationship.

The short story “A Temporary Matter” shows the crumbled marriage as a result of neglect, lack of interest for the marriage and no effort in finding the remedy. The disintegration of the marriage of Shoba and Shukumar is a result of trauma connected with their stillborn baby, which changed their marriage into unbearable illness with accompanied symptoms, such as breaking down of communication and alienation and this leads Shoba and Shukumar, with their lack of interest in finding the remedy for their ill marriage to abyss of silence and estrangement. Sadly only little effort and communication would help them to break the walls between them after their loss. However it was already too late. “They wept together, for the things they now knew” (Lahiri 22).

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