A Temporary Matter Essay

Have you ever kept secrets from your best friend, secrets that can tear someone apart? In A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahiri, Lahiri tells the story of two people and their complicated and fragile relationship. Shoba and Shukumar started sharing their feelings when the power wire was getting fixed, they were communicating with each other, which does not usually happen after their baby was born dead. Shoba says she is going to move into the apartment, because she needed some time to herself. Shoba didn’t say she was going to be gone permanently, so she will probably be returning to Shukumar at a later time. Communicating was a big accomplishment for Shukumar and Shoba, they would avoid each other in the home and have their own designated rooms. They would only talk if it was a necessity. Shoba and Shukumar are still in love at the …show more content…
When the Boston repairmen try to fix the collapsed electricity line after eight, Shoba and Shukumar started talking to each other about past experiences they had, some were bad and others kind of funny. Shoba then starts off by saying she went through Shukumar's address book while he was out of the apartment to see if her name was inside of it. Shukumar then goes on about the time he took Shoba out to dinner and forgot to tip the waiter. Shukumar then realized and took a cab to the restaurant to tip the waiter, but then decides to give it to the manager. The stories continued and continued each one getting more and more private until an story about the deceased baby comes up. Shukumar found out what gender the baby was and Shoba did not. Shoba was very disappointed and Shukumar also tells her that he got to hold the baby in his arms at the hospital. “Shoba looked down at him her face contorted with sorrow”{Lahiri}, even after this Shoba stayed calm and dealt with the information she was just