“A Temporary Matter” is a moving, realistic story about a couple torn apart by the loss of their child. When I began to read the story, I looked at what Professor Acevedo said: the story starts with an external conflict, then regresses to background story, then picks up again at the inciting incident. I literally never noticed this in any short stories I read; now that I pick up on it, I need to seriously revise the beginning of my short story. Anyway, the title and first sentence lead the reader to believe the “temporary matter” is the power going out for a couple of hours a night; however, I believe the “temporary matter” is the state the couple is in. I am led to believe that the couple ends up together by the end of the story, once again united by their pain- something they can both share and relate to each other with. This plot is all too realistic to me. Two of my cousins lost children (miscarriages, not still births) and their marriages were wrenched apart because of so. Both got divorced; the stress on them from that time was too much. I could see the numbness and distance between the two characters just as I did with my cousins. Without a child to unite them, and with the pain both of the characters go through, the couple fell apart and lost feeling for one another. However, I am a bit confused by the end of the story. Although I think the couple reunites, the husband tells the wife his biggest secret that he swore he would not tell her because he “still loved her then.” Well, he told her now. Either that means that he loves her enough to tell her his ultimate secret, and essentially unite them (while still showing he cared and was there for the child) or he does not love her and decides to tell her now. Maybe the husband believes enough time has passed after the incident. I believe the author put this line in here to let the reader decide if Shoba and Shukumar do end up together at the end.
You said, "I believe the author put this line in here to let the reader decide if Shoba and Shukumar do end up together at the end."
ReplyDeleteA good writer never lets the reader decide. A good writer puts enough suggestive detail in the story so that the reader can gigure out how the story resolves or how the character(s) change . . .
Sometimes this can be complicated -- ex. can they be united for a moment in grief and shared experiences but still have a relationship that will end? Yes, that's realism....
So, never make your reader do the work . . . otherwise, the ideal short story would be a blank piece of paper and the writer would say, "well, write the story for me!"