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The story of a temporary matter explores a harsh situation that this couple are in with their child dying. The feminist lense is very important in this story and how the reversal of roles impacted the story with shoba providing for them both.

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This story definitely grasped real-world scenarios supported by real-people reactions in which helped with the very realistic feel of the text. The absence of both characters to each other is something I know many readers can relate to because we all have our ways of handling trauma or heavy stress. These issues that the reader was exposed to opened up many themes and topics of discussion to be made.

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The story does present a reversal in gender expectations between the characters. The husband, Shukumar, is a passive character who is content to live in the past, allowing his life to remain unchanged. His wife, Shoba, is a more assertive character who is eager to move on and move forward with her life. The power struggle between them is evident in their different views on how to handle their grief over the loss of their stillborn child. Shoba wants to move on and continue with her life, while Shukumar is unwilling to even talk about it. Although the story doesn’t advocate any specific form of political structure, it presents a relatable struggle between the two characters who have different means of dealing with grief and the power of dynamics that exists within their relationship. The author, Jhumpha, is a feminist writer who exemplies her beliefs in this story via Shoba.

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I think the story showed the characters very well through their actions and words. This is shown after the loss of their child when the man pushes everything away and loses interest in all activities, but the woman makes herself busy with work projects. The story portrays the man as being depressed because he becomes lazy and doesnt want to do any activities.

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It is easy to see that after their traumatic event they were no longer connected. They both went two different ways to heal. Shoba went for distracting herself by working more often and being out of the house. On the other hand, Shukumar stayed home and fell into a deep depression. By them both not taking the time to heal together it forced them to go further apart. This ultimately led to them no longer having that connection and needing to be apart from one another. They separated too much to the point they couldn't work together.

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After reading the story, I think the lense that fit best to the story was the feminist lense. The author, who is a woman wrote a story where the roles are reversed for me and women. Rather than the man going out and bringing home the check, it's the women. Shoba is up everyday before shukumar on her way to work while he is still lying in bed. I really like the story because it is different from most and it is very uncommon to hear about a woman bringing home the money and the man staying home. It puts an interesting perspective on things and really makes you think about how gender roles play a huge part in todays world.

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I thought that this story was a great example to display a short story with a focus on the feminist lens. I thought that a "Temporary Matter" really challenged the traditional gender roles. A classic example of this was as follows, “Shukumar gathered onion skins in his hands and let them drop into the garbage pail, on top of the ribbons of fat he’d trimmed from the lamb. He ran the water in the sink, soaking the knife and the cutting board, and rubbed a lemon half along his fingertips to get rid of the garlic smell, a trick he’d learned from Shoba.” This would be seen as a typical stereotype for women as it is usually them who would be doing the cooking.

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I found the story really interesting. I liked that we could feel for the characters as they described what they were going to and how their reaction was. What I found interesting was the gender roles being reversed. Both the husband and wife reacted very differently causing them to reverse the "traditional" gender roles. I liked how even though they were distant for awhile they were able to come together when the black out forced them to unite. It portrays a dark and sad setting but something good comes out of the situation.

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The story displayed a constant battle of trying to move forward from the past. The author showed two areas in which how one could try to cope with a terrible past. In one scenario, Shoba is trying to forget the past by working, while Shukumar was in denial and had no motivation. He blames himself that he wasn't there to support Shoba and this decreases his motivation and ability to move forward. This created a division between the two characters and shows a constant psychological battle between an event that occurred in the past.

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I thought that it was interesting how the blackout managed to bring out the feelings that Shoba and Shukumar had about each other. Before the blackout, both characters would avoid each other and they never really talked about the baby passing away but after the power went out, they found the courage to talk to each other. Sadly, sharing their real feelings is what led to their marriage ending but they can live happier lives with the truth out in the open.

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I think the characters and the portrayal of them is a big role in the text. It shows how humans think and feels when it comes to traumatic events. People hide their true feelings, pretending to be busy or even making themselves busy. I believe it shows the true essence of how people feel during times as such.

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I think "A Temporary Matter" explored the harsh realities of major depression. When one's depression is severe, it can be hard for them to cope with the thought of living life. We see this through Shukumar's actions of not being able to get out of the house and Shoba overworking herself. Shukumar and Shoba's behaviors represent how different depression can look for someone. Someone who is majorly depressed may appear fine, happy even, and very productive. Others may find it hard to get out of bed, brush their teeth, and make it though the day.

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I feel we can observe a ot through the psychoanalytical lens since we see 2 different cases of PTSD and depression. One copes with loss through laziness and depriving themselves of activity while the other occupies as much as there time by working, which can take their mind off it. It is interesting to see how differently they deal with it over the unfortunate death.

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This story was such a powerful piece on the pain and suffering involved with loss and the unnecessary guilt people put on themselves. Although Shukumar wasn't really at fault for the baby's loss he blames himself for not being there. It's completely unneeded yet he still lets it chew away at him corroding his ability to cope with the loss. We see Shoba handle the guilt by distancing herself from those around her using work to fill the hole left in her heart. Then the twist where Shoba tells him she plans to move out and leave him is a gut-wrenching moment. When Shukumar and the reader think their relationship is slowly healing we see it actually was fully breaking apart. It's a story that shows a scarily realistic situation that truly makes you feel for the characters.

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I think the portrayal of these characters is extremely human and it says a lot about how our society learns to cope with traumatic events. completely separating yourself from the problem and keeping yourself busy is nothing but a temporary solution to a recent traumatic event, which is an incredibly common real and human phenomenon. Many people after experiencing trauma try to keep themselves busy and hide away their feelings about it. When in reality it's an awful way to confront the problem that's being dealt with.

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I thought one interesting literary lens was the psychoanalytical lens, as we saw both characters with what I would assume would be depression or another mental illness, and how they cope with loss differently. The one works as much as possible and the other is lazy and doesn't do anything. They do a lot to avoid each other throughout the story and it seems like their relationship is no longer what it once was before their loss. The two also may have ptsd from their loss.

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I think that the story used the feminist lens very well to show the reversal of gender roles during traumatic events. The complete reversal of the typical roles played a very important role in the story and allowed the reader to analyze the characters. We learned that Shoba threw herself into her work to forget about the tragedy, while Shukumar became depressed and stayed at home. Motif's were also very prevalent in the story, the most interesting one is the lack of light from the blackout. This signifies the darkness that has filled their relationship and the darkness that consumes them everytime they have to come home and see each other at night.

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Throughout the story the characters suffer through the psychological struggles of depression. One of the main ideas that the author follows is what happens when depression goes untreated or unacknowledged. Shoba and Shukumar don’t address their feelings which leaves their relationship broken and hard to fix. Once they finally talk to each other during the power outage they realize that they are too late to address the problem at hand and that their relationship may be coming to an end.