Sunday, December 7, 2008
Twinkle
"Sanjeev pressed the massive silver face to his ribs, careful not to let the feather hat slip, and followed her." So reads the last line of Lahiri's short story This Blessed House. Does this line underscore the fact that because Sanjeev has chosen a woman who is ensconced on the kind of pedestal we have for women in Western culture (beautiful, sexy, mysterious, stylish, capricious--see: Julia Roberts, Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, to name a few), he is destined to be a servant rather than a master?
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2 comments:
I unfortunately have to lean towards the fact that yes, he will always be a servant rather than a master. This disappoints me, for Sanjeev always tries to be the dominant male (There is nothing wrong with that ladies). Twinkle is this little-ickle prissy princess as she floats through the house controlling everything, making decisions that she KNOWS bothers her "Servant", who she is supposed to love and cherish till Death-Do-Them-Part.
This story takes a reversal of rolls... kind of like...an Anti-Feminist lens? While people today talk about empowering women, standing up for women rights, etc, i feel they are neglecting to see that there are a lot, if not an equal amount of males, in relationships/positions where their masculinity or position of power is diminished, or hindered all together, from the other sex. While i agree the position of women has needed to be put into a heightened stance for a long time, i think due to the "Quick-Quick Do IT!" stance people take to fix this, they have taken steps to place some men in the position women have been in for a while, whether the men deserve it or not.
(Just a side comment, i don't think there is anything Mysterious about Angelina Jolie, Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan, etc....pretty sure they let it all hang out)
I am not sure about the master/servant relation. This story seemed to strike a more societal influence chord with myself.
The constant presence of all these Christian totems crush the options Sanjeev had envisioned for it. He looked for the impression he would cast as the master of the house according to his own culture. These totems are for him anathem. They cast doubt on the truth of where Sanjeev belongs. Lahiri does not help but exacerbates it as she adapts and grows delited in it all. In the final scene we see this magnificent bust adorned by the hat of one of the guests. At this point Sanjeev has surrendered to the crushing omnisity of these christian idols and carries it gently to its place of honor.
This is all a metaphor for Sanjeev's culture and the world he lives within. America is known as a land of christianity, a religion, not necessarily opposed to, but seperated from Sanjeev's own religion. Within this new home, planned for the culture he grew in, comes influences from the culture outside. These influences eventually establish themselves as an integral part of the home. In the end the bust comes forth as a symbol of the whole process. A shining example of the culture outside Sanjeev's, it is adorned by the hat of an unknown party guest who descends from the same culture as Sanjeev. Sanjeev comes to accept this but maintains the decoration of his own culture placed on that of this new influence.
Ultimatly, Sanjeev is forced to adapt and become part of the multingpot that is America. His solace is that, even though the American culture he is now a part of is so built up, he can still add to it part of his own.
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