Transitory Love in Lahiri's "A Temporary Matter"

Introduction: A Marriage Built on Unstable Foundations

Several factors contribute to the failure and dissolution of the marriage between Shoba and Shukumar in Jhumpa Lahiri's short story "A Temporary Matter," collected in Interpreter of Maladies. The most revealing aspect of these reasons is ultimately alluded to in the story's title. Despite the tragedy of Shoba's miscarriage during the delivery of their first child, the most significantly contributing factors to the marriage's failure lie elsewhere: the attraction that first brought the couple together — and kept them together — was not based on true love. Instead, it was based on expectations and role-playing typical of their respective genders, factors that are entirely transitory and therefore quick to dissolve.

Shukumar's Physical Attraction and Its Inevitable Fading

One of the clearest signs that the initial attraction between the pair was merely transitory rather than lasting is Shukumar's preoccupation with what he perceived as his wife's physical beauty. One might argue that true beauty transcends appearance and reflects the spirit. However, it is apparent from reading this story that Shukumar's attraction to Shoba was rooted in looks alone. The following quotation illustrates this point: "Each day, Shukumar noticed, her beauty, which had once overwhelmed him, seemed to fade. The cosmetics that had seemed superfluous were necessary now, not to improve her but to define her somehow" (Lahiri). This passage suggests that a physical attraction to his wife played a central role in Shukumar's decision to marry her — a reading reinforced by the fact that the quotation follows a reflection on her appearance when they first met.

Physical beauty is bound to fade over time and has never been a sustaining basis for a marriage meant to last a lifetime. Shukumar's initial attraction to his wife was, in this sense, superficial and fleeting — a temporary matter, as the title implies.

Pregnancy and the Absence of Deeper Feeling

Another compelling piece of evidence that Shukumar never truly loved his wife — and was merely infatuated with her appearance at the outset — concerns his behavior during her pregnancy. When a man loves a woman for her essence rather than her body, the period of pregnancy carries special significance. That pregnancy symbolizes the love between two people, and the child represents their ultimate union. Such feelings naturally move a man to care for his wife with heightened tenderness and to feel drawn to her in ways that transcend the physical. Shukumar, however, had no such reaction. In fact, his response was the opposite, as this passage reveals: "Shoba had been pregnant at the time, her stomach suddenly immense, to the point where Shukumar no longer wanted to touch her" (Lahiri).

This passage makes clear that Shukumar's attraction to his wife was entirely contingent on her appearance. When her body changed — even as a result of carrying their child — he withdrew from her physically. Attraction grounded solely in physical appearance is infatuation at best, not the kind of enduring sentiment upon which a lasting marriage can be built. Because Shukumar had no truly profound feelings for his wife, the marriage had no stable foundation from which to recover.

Conclusion: Ephemeral Sentiment and the End of the Marriage

This quotation is critical to understanding the reasons — beyond the loss of their baby — that led to the end of the marriage. The poem Shukumar wrote is one of the most direct expressions of his feelings for Shoba; the fact that it was composed shortly after they met suggests it captured what he genuinely felt at the time. That Shoba found the poem mawkish speaks to the limited depth of the sentiment it conveyed. More importantly, her dislike of what amounted to his truest feelings about her suggests that emotional intimacy between them was absent from very early in the relationship. Feelings between people that are fundamentally dissonant from the start do not endure; like the marriage itself, they prove ephemeral.

An analysis of various factors in the relationship between Shoba and Shukumar reveals that there was never lasting sentiment between them. Shukumar was preoccupied with his wife's looks, a preoccupation destined to recede after its initial phase. Shoba, for her part, seemed well aware of the shallowness of her husband's feelings. Lahiri constructs a portrait of a marriage undone not simply by grief, but by the fragile and superficial nature of the bond that preceded it. In this respect, one might even suggest that it is better Shoba miscarried than that a third life be brought into the world on the unstable foundation that the marriage rested upon.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. "A Temporary Matter." The New York Times, 1999. Web.