 ‘This Blessed House’ is a realistic and sympathetic account of a young relationship. Show how the use of setting, structure and symbolism are used to sustain the interest of the reader in these experiences.
Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "number" given to you in class as your "pen name." Due Monday night, 9-21-2015
11
9/21/2015 07:42:04 pm
In the chapter, ‘This Blessed House’ the use of setting and symbolism keep the interest of the reader in the way that is may be relatable because it is so realistic and they are a young couple. Throughout the chapter as Twinkle finds interest in this collection of Christian based belongings, that Sanjeev finds preposterous to display in their Hinduist home. Their relationship set is what interested me the most; how they can be polar opposites on a topic but always find a middle ground. Symphony symbolism was a reoccurrence in the chapter because to Sanjeev “there were elements of tragedy and struggle [although] it was principally music of love and happiness” as a marriage would be (Lahiri, 140). Even Sanjeev’s references to the symphony, for example, how “it was at its third movement [and] had reached a crescendo, [and how] it pulsed with telltale clashing of cymbals” when Twinkle’s anger rose towards his denying to letting unprejudiced vibes flow through their home (Lahiri, 139). Sanjeev seemed to be very serious and anal retentive while Twinkle, like her name was very free spirited and sometimes even careless. The fact that they seemed to be at opposite points in their lives but then still went together so cordially amazed me.
15
9/21/2015 09:46:10 pm
In Jhumpa Lahiri’s “This Blessed House”, she use setting and symbolism to keep readers interested because the account of the young couple is very realistic. It is something that readers can look at and relate to. Twinkle is very interested in “Christian” things . She is so invested in them and Sanjeev fails to understand this fascination his wife has. She brings all these christian things into their home, even though Sanjeev doesn't necessarily like them. They liked and loved different things,they managed to live peacefully together, but without any love. There are music symbols reoccurring throughout the story that show this.”’if you want to impress people, I wouldn't play this music. It’s putting me to sleep.’” (Lahiri 140). The music Sanjeev loves is something Twinkle dislikes and it demonstrates their misconnection. “…had reached a crescendo, for it pulsed with the telltale clashing of cymbals” (Lahiri 139). This symbolizes the couples simple clashing of thoughts and ideas. They work together ,some how some way, but they do not have the same thoughts, ideas, or likes and it pushes the two romantically apart. It is relatable because I feel like most marriages are like this today. People are forced into relationships with people they like, but do not love.
14
9/21/2015 09:51:41 pm
In the chapter “This Blessed House”, the author keeps the reader’s interest by developing the plot of the story as far as the Christian figures Twinkle was finding. It was interesting to see how this theme of religion progressed overtime and it was also interesting to see the new “discoveries” that were made in the house every time a new object was found. “’Now, look. I will tolerate, for now, your little biblical menagerie in the living room. But I refuse to have this…displayed in our house.’” (Lahiri 139) You could see the contrast in how Twinkle and Sanjeev felt towards the religious items. It excited Twinkle to find new things and examine them, while Sanjeev did not feel the need to have them around and wanted to dispose of everything. This keeps the reader’s interest because, in my case, it made me want to continue reading and see what kind of conclusions they came too. Also, it made me wonder whether or not a reason would be given for why Sanjeev was so against the Christian decorations besides the fact that he and his wife were not Christians. The setting of this chapter is in the newly purchased house of a just-married couple. Most houses are completely emptied when they are being sold, so it made me curious as to why all of these things would still be left in the house.
1
9/21/2015 10:23:50 pm
In "This Blessed House", Lahiri uses symbolism and setting to keep the reader's interest in the story. A young couple, Sanjeev and Twinkle, move into a new house together shortly after being married. The setting of a new house is important because it serves as a blank canvas. The couple is no longer affected by the outside world- friends or family- and will truly get to know each other. It was clear since the beginning that the couple had their differences. There, Twinkle begins to find Christian statues and despite being Hindu, becomes very attached to them. This, however, irritates Sanjeev. The statues are a symbol of exploration, curiosity, open mindedness and are used a reflection of the two character's personalities. Twinkle (even her name is a symbol of her child-like personality) is a very curious person who finds interest and excitement in anything she can, and does not let her husband take that away from her. Sanjeev on the other hand does not understand her point of view and gets very frustrated with her. Readers are curious as to whether or not Sanjeev will be able to look past Twinkle's quirks and his own judgments to make their relationship work.
12
9/21/2015 11:03:57 pm
In "This Blessed House", Lahiri keeps the readers interested in the story by making the plot about love and the difficulties that sometimes it faces. Every relationship has in one way or another faced obstacles and every person has felt that. In the story Sanjeev doesn't know if they even have love. Although they are married, he doubts their connection and commitment which creates a great plot for the audience. The setting also contributes to this because the couple have just bought a new house. Being not sure that they are even in love, while married, and living in the same house increases the drama in the story. Twinkle having an ‘obsession’ with finding and putting these christian statues around the houses confuses Sanjeev because they're religion is Hinduism. This makes the readers want to read on and find out what he is going to do about this. At this point in the story the readers are already so consumed in the plot that its almost like they can see themselves in their positions. For example, at the point where Sanjeev asks himself if he even has a connection with this women is when the reader reflects back to their relationship it gives them perspective about it.
10
9/21/2015 11:09:23 pm
In the short story “This Blessed House”, Lahiri sustains the readers’ interests and engages them through her use of setting, structure, and symbolism. The story mainly takes place in the new Connecticut home of a newly married couple. In general, the American setting of their new home is of interest to Lahiri’s readers because we know that the characters are Indian; we anticipate that Lahiri will portray the discrepancies between Indian-American culture and Indian culture. As they move in and unpack boxes, Twinkle finds a Jesus Christ figurine and other Christian keepsakes along the way that makes Sanjeev, her husband, feel uncomfortable. Twinkle’s interest in these Christian possessions from the previous house owners shows the disconnection between Indian culture and the Hindu religion, which is intriguing to Lahiri’s readers. Also, the structure of the short story is enhanced by the chronology of Twinkle’s findings; it was as if the reader took part in Twinkle’s scavenger hunt of the Christian relics and were kept on the edge of their seat. As far as symbolism goes, the names that Lahiri’s chooses for the characters are significant enough. Sanjeev, who was an engineering major at MIT, is very uptight and conscientious. Lahiri’s choice of an Indian name for him portrays his uncomfortable attitude towards Twinkle’s interest in the Christian figurines. Twinkle, who is finishing up her master’s thesis at Stanford, is a free-spirited and “breezy” character. Her name, which comes from a nursery rhyme, portrays her free-spirited and childish behavior. Also, the background music of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which Sanjeev learned was about marriage and love, symbolizes the fragility of their romance; when the music was playing, Twinkle flushed the toilet, yawned, and disregarded the music. This is of interest to Lahiri’s readers because they anticipate an issue in the couple’s marriage.
3
9/21/2015 11:11:59 pm
In this chapter, “This Blessed House”, the author Lahiri, keeps the reader’s interest by using setting and symbolism. This young couple like other young couples has little to no experience in love and communication in a relationship, that’s one reason why they are so realistic, and also the situations through the story is also realistic. They moved to a new home and find different pieces that relate back to Christianity, Twinkle wants to keep them, but Sanjeev, her husband, wants to get rid of them, because they aren’t Christians, they are Hindus. He does not see the importance of why his wife is keeping these pieces. Twinkle finds excitement in every piece she finds like a “treasure hunt,” and realizes that they make the home more complete to her. She likes the fact she can have a piece of the past, and not highly the fact of Christianity. The couple has different perspective on things, Sanjeev dislikes the Christian figurines, while Twinkle likes them, and Sanjeev likes his music, while Twinkle dislikes it. They kind of contradict each other in a relationship, but they try to live in peace. The author wanted to bring out clashes or contradictions the relationship. They are separated mentally, but are united by marriage; this shows the simple problems they have in communication.
13
9/22/2015 08:48:20 am
In the chapter, “This Blessed House”, Lahiri uses symbolism through religious items in order to sustain the interest of the reader. In the chapter, Twinkle and Sanjeev had just moved into their home and while they were cleaning, they found many religious items. Some of these items included: a plaster Virgin Mary, a watercolor poster of Christ, and a solid silver bust of Christ. These items represented the differences between the husband and wife in this chapter. Due to Twinkle’s excitement for these items and Sanjeev’s lack of, he ends up questioning his love for Twinkle. It is ironic in that these items are supposed to bless your house, but had instead made Sanjeev question his love for his wife. The setting of the chapter was in their new house and this sustains the interest of the reader because it makes you think why would the house have religious items hidden in it. At the end of the chapter Twinkle finds the bust of Christ and shows Sanjeev and he told readers how he hated it even more that Twinkle liked it so much. Then, the chapter ended with him following her. This leaves behind the question of does Sanjeev learn to accept their differences or does he give up?
7
9/22/2015 10:43:57 am
The interest of the reader personally is laid with Twinkle’s obsession to find all of the Christ figurines and to display them in the house even though they’re both Hindu. The newness of their relationship and learning each other’s ways and feelings about things. Their relationship in this brand new house gives way to their actual sides appearing and clashing with one another. The Christ figures that are so prevalent within the novel does seem to represent the purity of their relationship and possibly the heavy presence of Christian influences around them since they’re not really following a lot of their cultural norms. The structure of their relationship is very out of sorts since she is more of the outgoing type while he’s more reserved and conservative. Though, it seems like he gives more leeway to her ways than she does to him; making it a more one-sided trying effort on his part in the relationship. It does say something about his character that he chose the nonconventional choice of women for a bride since his mother showed him all of these women who could cook and sew and do more classical things for a woman to do. But instead he chooses the women that he doesn’t really know and is almost the complete opposite of the other choices.
8
9/24/2015 10:57:11 am
In, “This Blessed House”, Jhumpa Lihiri’s use of structure and symbolism helped sustain the interests of readers. Sanjeev and Twinkle, just recently married, disagree on a lot of things. Christian-represented items were all left around the house from the previous owner. Twinkle found a liking to them, while Sanjeev could not stand them. Although they seemed to manage their differences, they both had completely different feelings about their cultural identities. Douglas noticed the Virgin Mary Statue and asks Sanjeev, " Are you guys Christian? I thought you were Indian. There are Christians in India," Sanjeev replied, "but we're not." (Lahiri 91). Compared to Twinkle, Sanjeev is much more worried about how his religion is portrayed. These Christian-based relics symbolize the gap between the newly-weds, which leaves readers wondering if their clashing personalities can work together, or ultimately clash, like Shoba and Shukumar in “A Temporary Matter”.
17
9/24/2015 08:39:45 pm
In the chapter, "This blessed house", Lahiri uses the symbolism of religious objects and the setting of a new home for for a just married couple, in order to keep the reader interested. The overall story is quite interesting because it's a couple that shares the same culture and morals, since they are a marriage of long time family friends. However, when finding all the religious objects it becomes an issue that splits the marriage in separate ways. Sanjeev feels as though all of the Christian objects should be thrown out because that's simply not their religion. In the other hand, Twinkle wants to understand what made this people in some way obsess over these objects. They have a very tough time setting their differences apart, and end up questioning each other in many ways, to the point where they don't know if their marriage was a good choice. They are both upset over how something that shouldn't be so powerful is causing such a huge conflict into their lives. At the end, the conflict is given closure when Twinkle tells all of the party attendees the situation, and they find another statue, which Sanjeev allows to keep it in the center of the mantel.
5
9/27/2015 12:18:21 pm
In the chapter, “This Blessed House”, Jhumpa Lahiri uses structure and symbolism to portray young love. Lahiri uses this chapter as a way for readers to relate to young love. One way that Lahiri employs these techniques is when she says “The tender fourth movement…putting me to sleep” (Lahiri 140). This disconnect is at the heart of Sanjeev’s doubts about his wife Twinkle. As a bachelor, Sanjeev ordered classical CDs and pored over the contents of their liner notes in order to keep away loneliness. His understanding of love is something that can be reasoned. Twinkle is all emotion and feeling. Unlike Sanjeev, she is spontaneous and content with the mysteries in life. She is bored by the music that Sanjeev plays because there is no dissonance in it. Despite Sanjeev’s surface understanding and Twinkle’s dismal of the music, there is truth in it. Love encompasses both happiness and struggle. This period in their marriage is not overwhelmed by struggle. The struggles are just growing pains, necessary to love. Lahiri employs a great amount of symbols to capture the details of this young relationship.
02
9/27/2015 05:38:17 pm
In the chapter "This blessed house", Jhumpa Lahiri used the setting of the married couple new house as a symbol of their marriage. Though out the plot of the story the author demonstrates how every time Twinkle found a biblical object hidden around the house, the husband Sanjeev would realize something new about his wife. In this short story the author uses a lot of symbols that contrast two different types of religions. The structure of the story was set up in a way that the reader could see the difference between Twinkle and Sanjee's personality. Also it shows how each object found starts to reveal how Sanjeev really feels and his marriage and living with Twinkle who he thought he loved but wasn't sure if she even loves him back after only knowing each other for four months.
4
10/4/2015 12:37:20 pm
In the chapter “This Blessed House” Lahari uses different religious references as a symbol to represent the relationship of Sanjeev and Twinkle. Twinkle and Sanjeev have found many religious items and Twinkle decides to bring them home. Twinkle always had a deep fascination for religion but Sanjeev never really understood why she did. Their relationship can be very relatable to the audience which is why this story was so interesting to read about. This is a couple who are interested in very opposite things. There isn’t much of a love in the relationship; they are just forced into staying with each other even though they don’t really love each other. All of these Christian items that Twinkle brings into the house are things that Sanjeev didn’t like. This isn’t the whole difference they showed throughout the chapter. There were little things that Lahari incorporated throughout the chapter about Sanjeev and Twinkle that explained to the audience how different they were. “For this reason is irritated him when Twinkle insisted on wearing high heels, as she had done the other night when they ate dinner in Manhattan” (Lahari 140). But back to the religious items, Twinkle valued them so much and Sanjeev refused to have them in the house even though they meant a lot to Twinkle. Sanjeev, as her husband shouldn’t have gotten mad at the fact that she was so interested in them and should’ve accepted her flaws because as her husband should love her in every way.
18
10/7/2015 10:45:28 am
The use of setting, structure, and symbolism is used to catch the interest of the reader because it gives us an understanding on Twinkle and Sanjeev's relationship and how opposite they are from one another. Twinkle's obsession with the Christian objects is surprising since she is a Hindu, her open-mindedness and her curiosity is very opposite from Sanjeev who seems to be a very uptight character who cares a lot about others opinions. The setting of their home and their different points of views leave us sort of puzzled as to why they're still together in the first place. The structure of this story is somewhat confusing because it goes from them being married to Sanjeev even having some doubts, to at the end where he decides to not even argue with Twinkle and join her. Many things are very symbolic in this story such as the objects she finds and how their relationship develops because of all of the things they discover in the house and how at first it sets them apart but then in a way brings them somewhat closer.
19
10/7/2015 09:56:22 pm
In Lahiri's short story This Blessed house the use of symbolism is clearly emphasized by the characters. In the story there is a young married couple, Sanjeev and twinkle. Right from the beginning we can see twinkle is no ordinary name and from the name twinkle we can derive that she is a very bright and outgoing. When I think of the name twinkle it reminds me of a star and that is exactly what she is during the party. She shines bright by being the center of attention. This led me to look up the name of the other character in the short story, Sanjeev. According to a translation of his name it in some ways means something similar to living and revival which is the exact opposite of how he acts throughout the story. Throughout the story he is somewhat close minded. He does not want to accept the Christian statues in his home. However though towards the end he does indeed go through a revival as he "pressed the massive silver face to his ribs, careful not to let the feather hat slip, and followed her" (Lahiri 157). He seems to indeed have a change of heart or revival as he follows her down to go and place the statue with her. Comments are closed.
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