Jason-Mukherjee-4/13

I thought the family in The Management of Grief was one of the most, if not the most, Western-seeming depiction of any Indian character(s) we’ve read so far. Because of this the emphasis on “particularly Indian” things, like the sound of a tea pot being filled with water, stood out, as the narrator described them, as things that were almost “other” even though they were, in some ways, really the things that were most familiar.

            I had a hard time figuring out what role Hope played in the story. It seems like, in the context of other stories and novels we’ve read, Hope is something could be seen as misguided and maybe even particularly Western. Either way, it seems to serve as both a lifesaver to some, like Dr. Ranganathan who the narrator sees as having some insight into the possibilities of life because he is an electrical engineer, and a “millstone” for others, like the husband and wife that Judith Templeton takes the narrator to visit. It’s hard to say whether Hope is shown as being particularly Western or Eastern. It seems Hope is pretty universal, though the circumstances in which it is grasped, and the background of the “graspee” seem to have a lot to do with how a particular hopeful person is affected later in life by it.

            Much of the story seems to have to do with accepting the fact that “God” takes things and gives them. To me, in the context of what we’ve read, that seems like a kind of Westernification of the Eastern way of seeing the world, which is that things are beyond the control of the individual. Fate more or less determines when things come and when they go. This idea is then related to the narrator’s grieving period, and probably all grieving periods in the story, and represented by the visions she has of her family deciding for her when she can move on and continue her life.

            A variation of this idea comes up during the narrator’s talk with the husband and wife. The narrator says that her husband and son “are not coming back.” The old woman says, “who’s to say? Man alone does not decide these things.” They’re ultimately “holding out” in the hopes that they family might resurface some how. They’re not willing to accept their fate. Though, in the end it seems the narrator’s acceptance of her fate actually provides the possibility for a hopeful future.