Although throughout most of Jhumpa Lahiri's story This Blessed House the Hindu couple Sanjeev and Twinkle are portrayed as somewhat of a dysfunctional couple they rely on one another quite a lot. This is more pronounced in Sanjeev's actions rather than Twinkle who seems to go with the flow rather than fight it. While I was reading this I kept wondering why Sanjeev agreed to marry this woman if he didn't like anything she did but towards the end I began to see that he actually relied on her crazy attitude to life.
Sanjeev's character comes off to the reader as somewhat boring. He's dull and plain but seems to be responsible and focused. His wife, Twinkle, however, seems to be the complete opposite--a complete free spirit. Sanjeev, perhaps, relies on Twinkle because she makes his own life seem a little more interesting. Even though he doesn't like throwing house parties for people he doesn't really know he does it anyway and he seemed to need a wife who was going to be entertain because he didn't quite know how.
His tolerance for Twinkle is shown throughout the story but especially towards the end when he cleans up after her and allows her to keep a solid silver bust of Christ (even though they are Hindu) for the mere fact that it entertains her.
To me this seemed like somewhat of a sad almost disappointing viewpoint on marriage. As if Sanjeev merely married her because she was wild and interesting to make a better impression on others. This seemed incredibly ironic when he began to worry about her actions regarding her Christian paraphernalia repeatedly telling her to not let it be seen. And yet, here he is relying on her social skills to make him shine. In the end, Sanjeev's character is far more hypocritical than I first thought.
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Kelly, great blog, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on Sanjeev's "allowance" of the silver bust. It is important to note that Sanjeev and Twinkle are surrounded by their guests at this point in the story, and the only reason why Sanjeev is having people over is to impress them. And since the guests are also smitten with the silver bust, denial of it inside of the house would raise many unwanted stares in Sanjeev's direction. Not only would Twinkle throw a fit over its place in the house, but also I feel as some guests may object as well because they are viewing it as a treasure much like Twinkle is.. :)
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