hiding the facts essay

In the collection of short reports in Arranged Marriage, mcdougal, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, portrays the concept of the keeping secrets in two short stories, Affair and Meeting Mrinal. The protagonists in these two stories suffer from keeping secrets, particularly with important persons in their lives. In the story Affair, the protagonist, Abha is not able to deal with her close friend, Meena and keeps secrets from her. It is the majority of evident in the story where Abha thinks Meenas secret affair has to do with her husband. However , they handle their problem by being honest. In the additional story Conference Mrinal, the protagonist, Asha, is not able to be truthful and suffers from it until the lady decides to tell the truth at the end. Fragile women from the story Affair and Meeting Mrinal have problems with keeping secrets from other characters until they tell each other the truth.

Ashas frailty is shown in her idolization of her friend Mrinal and her need for her friends acceptance. She creates an ideal picture of her friend who has the perfect lifestyle money, freedom, admiration and she will not have to worry about pleasing any person. Asha uses positive associations such as flexibility, admiration, and excellent to create a thought of excellence in her friend Mrinal who generally seems to succeed in the areas in which Asha feels inferior or vulnerable about. Asha is still left feeling she cannot compare to Mrinal and her successes. The fact that Mrinal had cautioned Asha regarding her your life choice to an established marriage instead of to finish a college and to find employment leaves Asha feeling defeated and proven wrong, although unwilling to admit it. This kind of notion of perfection Asha has created is definitely destroyed once Mrinal confesses she is disappointed, lonely, and admits the girl with jealous of her friends husband and child.

Asha realizes the moment Asha lies to Mrinal about her life in a good way, Mrinal envies her fake life as much as Asha envies Mrinals success. Now, Asha once again hides the truth about her your life. The creation of perfection shows Ashas frailty and her make an effort to compensate for her own worried life. Below she requires herself What would We live on, given that I knew efficiency was only a apparence? The degeneration of her ideals of perfection in her friend only adds to the fragile characteristics of her character. She also becomes a child- like determine that eventually needs anyone to look after her and help guidebook her, proven I cannot focus too well on his face, yet I notice the impact in his tone and under it a surprisingly prim note of disapproval. This makes him sound almostmotherly (297). Ashas fragile character is proven through her jealousy more than Mrinal, values of excellence and in her speeches.

In the same way, Abha admires Meena, just like how Asha envies Mrinals perfect existence, and Abha is identified as a mother figure to Meena. She is jealous over Meenas physical beauty, proven on page 235:

I dont have Meenas fair skin, therefore dramatic with her ugly black frizzy hair and extended lashes. My own nose can be broad and honest nevertheless by no means elegant, while hers straight and chisel-sharp, appears as through it belonged on an apsara from traditional Indian sculptureI constantly battle the in . that gather almost by magic about my body, while Meena glides through life thin and shape, eating whatsoever she wants and using designer bikinis.

She uses constantly contradicts herself to Meena to demonstrate the differences among their appearances and to stress Meenas physical beauty. On page 266, Meena says:

I had been afraid to. I knew youd be upset. You disapprove of my own clothes, possibly.

How could I actually tell you Id fallen in love with another manPerfect at all the points I couldnt want to do although knew I should. Like a mom, kind of. I desired your endorsement. Needed this. For a long time I told me, Ive got to stay with Srikant. What will Abha say in any other case?

to show Abha that your woman was scared to tell her the truth and wanted her approval mainly because Abha is like a mom figure with her, by using dictions like scared, upset, brand, mother, and approval. Appropriately, Meena and Asha equally seek for acceptance from their close friends. Meena as well says to Abha:

I couldnt deal with trying to explain to you- the word I knew youd have in your eyes. Are you aware when you receive really annoyed your eye get maussade, like snacks of standing? If I told you I needed to accomplish this to be happy, youd say delight isnt as critical as doing the proper thing. Basically told you that every night I looked over my bottle of sleeping pills and wanted to take the tablets all, youd say, stop being so melodramatic, Meena. Thus Californian. Move yourself together. (267)

This type of passages display that Meena wants to committing suicide and show her frailty just like Asha in Meeting Mrinal. As both characters, Meena and Asha, want authorization from Abha and Mrinal, they try to keep secrets to themselves because they are as well afraid of their very own friends disapproval.

In Appointment Mrinal, Asha, the leading part, feels disgrace of what has occurred to her lifestyle and uncomfortable to tell the truth to her best friend via childhood although her closest friend, Mrinal is usually confessing her troubles to Asha. Every character aside from Mrinal is usually suffering from not really telling the truth till they face the situation. Asha continues to rest The words put out, all the right types. It isnt difficult whatsoever (293) Yet , Meena, in Affair, feels justified for having an affair with an individual even though Meena is embarrassed to tell the truth with her best friend like Asha yet eventually confesses the truth with her friend Abha. Abha confronts Meena as she confesses about her affair. Mrinal is also comparable to Asha in how that she’s upset with her your life and tries to lie about this to Asha to make this seem like this lady has a good your life, but is made up of her despair. When characters in Affair tell the truth to one another, Abha starts to search for something new in her lifestyle and attempts to fix her unsatisfying life. It is shown when she says:

The rules arent always correct. Not in this article, not even in India. I believe your bitterness growing around me, solid and red and suffocating. Like mine is suffocating you. Were spiraling to hate. And hopelessness. That’s not what I want throughout my parcourir. Or yours. Its better this way, every single of us clearing the additional before the too late so we can begin learning, yet again, to live. (271)

Conversely, Asha who chose to keep secrets attempts committing suicide in her despair. Auto parking her car in the car port, she efforts to gas herself together with the exhaust. In the long run like Abha, Asha welcomes help and faces her frailty. The girl moves forward into a lifestyle of fact and self-acceptance instead of bogus images of perfection.

The author, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, depicts the designs of frailty in her two protagonists of her two short stories, Affair and Meeting Mrinal. Both equally characters display their frailty through the act of keeping secrets from important people in their lives. Protagonists in each story try to hide their essential aspects within their lives from people who understand the most information. Both character types seek to gain approval off their friends and possess their low self-esteem through envying their friends apparent perfections. Both protagonists realize that flawlessness is impossible to attain and gain self-acceptance. Even though they will suffer from looking to gain perfection and acknowledgement from their good friends and keeping secrets, now, as they most confess the truth, they discover happiness and feel treated.