2. Read the file “This Blessed House Notes” and answer the questions at the
bottom.
3. Open the file “Protagonist Worksheet” and follow the directions.
“This Blessed House” Notes
This story contains a ton of references to gender inversion, namely in the areas of cooking and
cleaning. Sanjeev, who emerges as the weaker of the two personalities, is portrayed in terms
that often emasculate him, like his womanly eyelashes, or when Twinkle wears high heels and is
taller than him. Twinkle (real name Tanima) generally just exerts her will and does what she
wants. Lahiri seems to be asking, how much of Twinkle’s behavior is heroic resistance to the
patriarchy, and defiance of a traditional male-is-the-authority structure, and how much of it is
just selfishness, and immaturity? I think it’s easy to argue for both, and like with a lot of
Westernized protagonists in the book, she has good and bad qualities.\
Twinkle is reckless with causing damage to the house, for instance, and dirtying it, and is not
pitching in to help. We see a certain ugliness to her force of will when she runs out of the
bathtub and into the front yard, crying hysterically because she doesn’t want Sanjeev to throw
a statue away. And we see the strength of her determination to get her way. There seems to be
a thin line, Lahiri suggests, between not caring what others think because of a healthy sense of
independence, and acting in ways that are selfish and disrespectful.\
How much of Twinkle’s behavior do you think is an admirable defiance of male
authority, and how much is it reckless and selfish? Write 2-3 sentences is high caste, mild-mannered, successful in his profession, educated, and wealthy. All
of
these things have been made possible for him by his gender and class level. He might
represent
a man who enjoys being given authority because he is a man, but his highly Westernized,
high-caste, highly educated wife (who tellingly is studying a Western poet, and who took him to
a
German movies) won’t play along. They have only known each other for four months and Lahiri
uses the word “arranged” to describe their brief dating period. In 139 of my book, he fantasizes
about marrying one of the more traditional women his mother was trying to introduce him to,
back in India, and near the end of the story he fantasizes about being single again.\
What’s important to note is that at the party, she is hugely popular. Twinkle is surrounded by a
a society that welcomes her independence, not one pressuring her to be a traditional wife.
WhenLahiri says Sanjeev hates the silver statue of Jesus at the end, she writes “He hated it. He
hated
its immensity, its flawless, polished surface, and its undeniable value…Unlike the other
things they’d found, this contained dignity, solemnity, beauty even” (153). Consider that he
hates Twinkle for the same reasons. She has defied his code, and his value system, and is
surrounded by admiration and support. She is valued by those around her, and the whole time
she’s been thumbing her nose at him and not doing anything she doesn’t want to do. The
story’s most fundamental question might be: How does Twinkle represent both positive and
negative aspects of a Westernized woman?\
Answer the following:
1.
Find one passage that relates to gender inversion (think of women not cooking, or
cleaning, and men doing so). Quote this passage.
2.
How much of Twinkle’s behavior do you think is an admirable defiance of male
authority, and how much is it reckless and selfish? Write 2-3 sentences
