The Fallacy Of Love By Jhumpa Lahiri - 1822 Words

The Fallacy of Love The taste of poison on his lips. The agony of knowledge that should have never been shared. Jhumpa Lahiri’s â€Å"A Temporary Matter† and William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† both speak to the universal human theme, love, by exploring how we often hurt most those we love most. In order to keep her love forever, Miss Emily poisons her lover. In realization of the end of their marriage, Shukumar retributes his wife’s disclosure of her new, individual apartment with a description of their unborn son, something Shoba never wanted to know. In both short stories, the characters love, or loved, each other, yet something corrupts their love and their relationship, be it the psychological and sociological repercussions of an†¦show more content†¦Shoba â€Å"took his [Shukumar’s] hand and pressed it† at one point (Lahiri, 18), while Shukumar commented that â€Å"they were able to talk to each other again.† (Lahiri, 19). On the final nights, â€Å"he began kissing her awkwardly on her forehead and her face,† and they made â€Å"love with a desperation they had forgotten.† (Lahiri, 19). Even the act of sharing their deepest untold secrets is in part a desperate last measure by two people who once loved each other to reestablish their relationship after a significant trauma. All these acts are heavily romantic, evoking sentiments of love, yet the last three already hint at the eventual destruction of their marriage. While he does kiss her, potentially for the first meaningful time in a long while, he does so â€Å"awkwardly.† The kiss is not natural, thus showing their relationship still has issues to overcome before they resume their previous intimacy. Additionally, they made love with â€Å"a desperation,† which could be interpreted as them merely resuming a previously dead sexual life, or a subtle implication that they know this will be the last time they make love. Finally , the sharing of secrets serves the double function of providing a way to reconnect and the potential for the sharing of destructive secrets. By simultaneously offering a potential rekindling and an imminent destruction of their relationship, Lahiri demonstrates the love that had once existed and sets up their