Sanjeev, the husband in the story, "This Blessed House" by Jhumpa Lahiri, is definitely an interesting character. A lot can be observed and said about him. He is an average height, average built, Indian man. He has long eyelashes, which his wife teases of them looking like a girl's. Even though he is not overweight, his cheeks have plumpness to them. Sanjeev wishes he could be just one inch taller than he is. He's insecure about his height and doesn't wish for his wife to wear high heels when they go out. All of this is described when he goes into the bathroom to throw away his wife's cigarette ashes and pauses to take a look at himself in the mirror. Is it possibly his physical attributes that cause him to be pessimistic a lot?
Sanjeev is a handy man. At the beginning of the story, he is in search for spots to mark in which need painting. He is also a graduate from MIT with an engineering degree. He's smart and very organized. At one point, he collects and alphabetizes all of his college books onto a shelf. Sanjeev is a successful career man. He was considered for the vice president position at a firm soon after he graduated college. By the time we was thirty, he had a secretary and people working under him. When him and Twinkle were introduced, he was already in the area of Palo Alto on a business trip. Now, he is working at an office, for a firm. The house they are living in is two-story, with a nice winding stair case. They have an attic large enough to convert into bedrooms if needed. This indicated he makes good money.
On the personality side and viewpoints of Sanjeev, he doesn't talk very much. When he does, he talks sarcastically to his wife. He does not like the Christian items found throughout the house and is very persistent that he and his wife are not Christian. He is worried about impressing the people from the office when they are going to attend their house-warming party. This is expressed when he doesn't want the poster of Christ weeping hanging up during the party for anyone to see. Even though they are having a party, he is not a very social person. During his bachelor days, he spent his time with Indian couples in which he didn't understand why they wanted him to hang out. He had nothing in common with them, but the story says he always went because he didn't have any other plans. I guess he didn't have any other friends. An interesting thing about Sanjeev is that he likes classical music. The story says that he was at the table reading it, and his wife told him from the bathroom that no one likes to listen to that music so apparently he was listening to it.
On the relationship side of Sanjeev, he is married to Twinkle. She is also Indian. He is mostly short with her and speaks sarcastically to her. Anything that she likes, he finds a reason not to like. He discovered that the reason he hates all of the Christian items found throughout the house so much, especially the bust of Jesus, is because Twinkle loves them. The story states that he felt he got to where he had to state the obvious to Twinkle. It seems like he likes the idea of being married more than the person he is actually married to. When they were raking leaves, he saw a tree that reminded him of the colors of the tent in which he and Twinkle got married in. He didn't even know if he loved her.
I think Sanjeev is stressed...stressed from work and just from life in general. Stressed people usually get irritated over small things, like Sanjeev does with his wife she leaves clothes lying around the bedroom. I understand getting irritated over the small things in life. Things really pinched at my nerves when I would get stressed from school, sports practices, and playing drums three times a week at church. I believe Sanjeev is a deep thinker and a hard worker. I believe that if he focused his attention on God, that everything else will fall into place for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment