I don't recall whether anyone made the argument in so many words that the death of Shoba and Shukumar's child is also the death of their relationship, but I think that certain details in the story which other people have discussed on the blog to date-- light and dark, the abundance of food, even the five day time period of the construction-- when viewed through the lens of ritualistic burial and mourning begin to make much more sense.
Because I don't think the gestures of mourning need to be culturally specific to be relevant in the story, what gave me the idea for this post is the custom of the Jewish Shiva-- a seven day period of mourning immediately following the burial (which almost immediately follows the death) of an Orthodox Jewish person. The immediate family gathers in the home of the deceased and receives visitors, usually bearing food and comfort for the bereaved, typically in silence. But other times sharing stories of the deceased. Visitors may only speak if spoken to.
What I find most compelling about this idea, is that it reframes the piece outside of Shukumar's limited point of view. His reveal of his experience with the body of their child provides the full circle closure of their time together and of the ritual exchange of bereavement. Like another poster said earlier-- more than one thing in this story turns out to be "a temporary matter."
I really like this reading. I had not thought of it before, but constant presence of food is similar to when people bring food the family of the deceased. The food itself even seems to be "comfort food."
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of the double death. I think that it gives the reading an almost lost cause feel, like the their relationship was dead to begin with.
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