The Stories by jhumpa lahiri
“A Temporary Matter”
“When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”
“Interpreter of Maladies”
“A Real Durwan”
“Sexy”
“Mrs. Sen’s”
The Assignment
This assignment has few formal requirements, which are as follows:
It must be concerning some story, moment, or theme from Interpreter of Maladies
It must be over one page (double spaced). This is the absolute lower limit, and I’m letting it be so low to allow for strong arguments that are made quickly. Writing a short response with a weak argument will hurt your mark… I expect responses to average between 2-3 pages.
You must use two quotes from the story/stories you are writing about
You must share your presumed topic/argument with me before class one of next week
Important to Remember (An Emphasis for this Essay):
Do not get caught up in “covering” the story or in giving plot summary. Your essay should zero in on a particular aspect of the stories you choose, even if this is only a small portion of what happens. Such focus is a good thing; don’t feel that it is incomplete because it does not account for the entire story.
EXAMPLE:
In “Story A,” “Story B,” and “Story C,” the challenge of facing old age is depicted in characters who struggle financially, emotionally, and physically when an illness to themselves or someone they love makes daily life more complicated.
The example simply makes clear that you want to come up with an “angle,” some kind of idea that you can trace through two stories. It is fine if the stories you choose show contrasting (even opposing) views of the idea; just as it is fine if the stories you choose reveal a thread of similarity in how that idea is considered.
What’s important is that you give some thought to focusing on something specific that you can take on through the stories.
Extra Prompts
1) Form an argument on one of these topics in a particular instance: love, longing, pain, family, blood, animals, food, light, war, law, geography, immigration, acceptance, change, or one of your own choosing.
2) In each of these stories, a character (or characters) learn something that they are not expecting, and in doing so learn something about themselves, as well as about others. You are to consider such self-recognition and growth (or the lack thereof) in any two of those stories. Being sure to consider specifics of each of the stories you choose, discuss the learning that takes place. Keep in mind that in order to write a good essay, you need to compare and contrast the different types of lessons in each story. How is each different? What do they share in common? (This will most likely be a longer essay)
3) Indian culture plays a prominent role in each of the stories. Select two stories and discuss how Indian culture influences one of the motifs/themes (marriage, food, love, etc.) and the effect it creates
4) While seemingly a small part of the stories, food is a motif that is used throughout the
book to reveal something significant about a character. Select two characters from two
different stories and explain how food is utilized in order to accentuate the characters’ traits, as well as how food helps to convey a particular theme.
5) In several stories, one or more characters fall prey to a significant misunderstanding that affects that character and those around him/her. Identify at least two cases of such misunderstandings and explain the impact upon the character and its contribution to the theme of the particular story.
Please don’t make it too good. Here is an example of my writing style
In the fairytales, “Bluebeard” and “Little Red Riding Hood” by Charles Perrault, there is a recurring convention and theme: violence. Violence is essential in the two novels because it reveals details, and the fairy tales’ morals greatly. Violence in both fairytales helps connect the story’s morals to both stories . This is important because violence helps us to understand the meaning beyond the story’s morals and why each story was composed as a children’s book.
In Bluebeard by Charles Perault, there are multiple morals to the story, some of which are very significant that connect to the violence. One of the main morals of the story is curiosity. Curiosity can become your worst enemy and is only satisfied for a short period of time; consequences can be very costly. This is important to note as the reader because the young bride was greedy and curious when she already had everything Bluebeard had given her. For example, the keys to all the room, access to everything he had, wealth, only the exception of the room in the basement Bluebeard had strictly ordered she must not open at all costs. The wife’s curiosity kicked in after she had opened every room and explored the expansive estate to open the small old door in the basement. “In no time they were darting through the rooms, closets, wardrobes each of which was more splendid and sumptuous than the next” (Perault 145). “But the temptation was so great that she was unable to resist it. She took the little key, and, trembling opened the door.” (Perault. 145) The fairytale quotes explain why her curiosity and temptation were not in her favor because when Bluebeard came home, he saw bloodstains on the key, indicating that she had opened the door and must be executed. These quotes are meaningful because of her curiosity and temptation; wife’s Curiosity now, she must face her severe consequences, which is death. This leads back to the moral of the story because it says, “Curiosity, in spite of its many charms, Can bring with it serious regrets; You can see a thousand examples of it every day. Women succumb, but it is a fleeting pleasure; As soon as you satisfy it, it ceases to be. And it always proves very, very, costly.” (Perault. 148). The story’s moral is summing up why Bluebeard’s wife should not have been so curious to open the door because the consequences were brutal, and the curiosity is short-lived once you find out what is behind the door. This shows the significance of violence because it is reflecting on the actions of the wife and how violence is foreplayed in the fairytale.
In Comparison, Little Red Riding Hood was also written by Chares Perault. It has many specific quotes and connections that support the convention from the introduction of both tales throughout the story, similar to Bluebeard. One of the most significant similarities is how the Perault strongly condemns the misbehaviors of each Character. In Little Red Riding Hood, he describes the wolf as a very intellectual and deceptive character throughout the story. Many of the wolf descriptions are implied, and he does not give away a negative impression of the wolf right away. This can be seen in the text when Little Red Riding Hood embarks on her journey to her grandmother’s house. “…Neighbor Wolf, who wanted to eat her right on the spot. But he did not dare to because some woodcutters were in the forest” (Perault 12). The wolf’s description and thoughts are essential to note because his next move is very vicious and how he approaches Little Red Riding Hood. The Metaphor of Little Red Riding Hood and how Perault condemns Wolf’s behavior is in the introduction. “.. Little Red Riding Hood’s encounter with the wolf and also exploited the full range and play of the tale’s potential for sexual innuendo” This statement from the introduction shows that the Metaphor of the tale was the wolf being a guy who lures young, naive, good looking and wealthy girls in bed. Although Perrault pitiesLittle Red Riding Hood, he does not pity her as much as we expect because it was her fault for disobeying her mother’s orders for not talking to strangers along the way to her grandmother’ house. The introduction and quote help summarise the story by explaining how Perault loathes the Wolf the same way he does describe Bluebeard.
Similar to the two tales, there are differences between the two stories about the story’s morals and how violence leads to death with detail. In Bluebeard, the story’s moral was to help cure and teach couples or married families how they should treat each other. This is true because, in the story the moral states, “If you just take a sensible point of view, And study this grim little story, You will understand that this tale Is one that took place many years ago. No longer are husbands so terrible, Demanding the impossible, Acting unhappy and jealous. With their lives they toe the line; And whatever color their beards might be, It is not hard to tell which of the pair is a master” (Perault 148). This is an important message because, as the story’s moral mentions, ‘No longer are husbands so terrible,’ he is giving credit to men and husbands because since times have altered, people change and become better. In contrast, the moral of the story of Little Red Riding Hood is directed towards children and is much simpler to understand because the story itself is very straightforward. Another difference between the two tales is the way death is described and how it is depicted. In Bluebeard, Bluebeard’s death is very descriptive and can be depicted easily because of the details Perault uses in his tale. “The gate was opened, and two horsemen swords in hand, dashed in and made the straight for Bluebeard. He realized that there were the brothers of his wife: the one a dragon and the other a musketeer. He fled in an effort to escape. But the two brothers were so hot in pursuit that they trapped him before he could get to the stairs. They plunged their swords through his body and left him for dead” (Perault 147). The critical points of the quote are ‘He fled in an effort to escape’ and ‘left him for dead.’ The quote’s fragments show how Bluebeard tried to escape and how his death was deserved because he was a serial killer who had killed multiple wives. Those two fine details of his death tell us about how he died, and the struggle he had to go through. ‘left him for dead’ means that he was in pain during his death and bleeding. On the other hand, In Little Red Riding Hood, the death of the Riding Hood was very vaguely described because Perault wanted the reader to think about the metaphor and dig deep into the moral of the story, which was to eliminate sexual overtones and violence in the death of Riding Hood. Perault intentionally wrote, “Upon saying these words, the wicked wolf threw himself on Little Red Riding Hood and gobbled her up.” (Perault. 13) because the deliberate audience for the tale was aimed at kids and to make sure they understood the moral of the story. Perault could have used different words or ways to describe the scene, but he stuck with the fruitless ending, which was short and concise because he did not want the word of discussion of the book to be about violence.
Therefore, the two novels, written by Charles Perault: “Bluebeard: and “Little Red Riding Hood”, consisted of multiple similarities and differences about the introduction giving background information on each story, morals of the stories, and the connection to the convention: violence. Violence was essential to the similarities and differences between the two fairy tales because the two novels had various information and essential details, which helped rule out why the convention was influential in this case. Why do you think Perault decided to make the moral of the story and meaning behind it very strenuous to identify and subtly implement small details into each story?
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