"Lonely" is the word that comes to mind after reading Lahiri's A Temporary Matter. Shukumar and Shoba's Indian heritage plays a large part of their story. As immigrants, they are set apart from both their parents and their neighbors by their lifestyle which is neither completely Western, nor completely Eastern. The meal tradition seems to be the only part of their lives that maintains their heritage. This isolation from both cultures contributes to the loneliness of the story. This isolation sets the stage for a new kind of loneliness, the loneliness of loss. Although they experience it differently from each other, both parents struggle greatly with the loss of their child. Both suffer privately. Shukumar hides the secret that he was able to hold their son--that he knew it was a boy. Instead of drawing them closer, the suffering drives them apart. When the electricity gets turned off, they are forced to face each other in the dark, and secrets start coming out. In the end, the loss of electricity is what ends up drawing them back together as they realize that they can still have each other if they work things out.
As Goodwin (2016) notes, many of the students in our classrooms are immigrant children. As immigrants transition into their new homes and new roles, Americans with no immigrant heritage may be tempted to assume that, since the kids have friends and their parents have a job, everything is as normal as can be. Lahiri's short story reminds us that it is possible to be lonely in a crowd. The secrets that no one knows, that no one else understands, cause an isolation that cannot always be bridged, even by the best of intentions. The children in our classrooms are not likely to be able to articulate this, so it is up to us as teachers to do our best to communicate love and respect to our students regardless of their attitudes in class. As Shukumar and Shoba demonstrated, lack of energy on the outside may point to something painful happening on the inside.
Goodwin, A. L. (2016). Who is in the Classroom Now? Teacher Preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children. Educational Studies :/Educational Studies, 53(5), 433–449. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2016.1261028
Lahiri, J. (1998, April 13). “A Temporary Matter,” by Jhumpa Lahiri. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/04/20/a-temporary-matter
Ben-
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your assessment about the first generation Americans struggle to find a place to fit. Not really a part of their former cultures with their parents, nor are they fully invested in their American culture. The stories like this make it easy to feel sympathetic, and find the pieces that we share in today's culture; but I wonder if readers, or scholars, take into account differences between cultures like family financial dynamics, family structures, or emotion.
We assume that Shoba was sad because we would be sad, but what if she isn't. What if she knew she just needed to move forward? Or maybe she carried the shame from her ancestral culture? These are questions I ask during the interactions with the stories that we read from one week to the next.
The isolation and loneliness you mention for the both the characters and possibly students in our classroom is a great connection. Empathy and understanding is always a good first layer in building relationships with students. In the case of students in our classrooms, this is a great thing to remember. Do think that when the electricity goes out it forces them to face each other or more gives them an opportunity to connect? Are there ways that we can create opportunities to slow down and connect with students in our classrooms? Share things to truly get to know each other in order to build a stronger sense of community?
ReplyDelete