Comparing Bharati Mukherjee's The Tenant and Susan Minot's Lust

Comparing Bharati Mukherjee's The Tenant and Susan Minot's Lust

The protagonists in both Bharati Mukherjee's "The Tenant" and Susan Minot's "Lust" are extremely promiscuous; both have many sexual relationships with little emotional involvement and no commitment. While the two protagonists display many of the same behaviors and often have similar motivations, their reasoning and reactions sometimes differ. "The Tenant" and "Lust" offer two different perspectives into the social expectations that would lead someone to be so irresponsible with their relationships.

Both Maya, the protagonist of "The Tenant", and the unnamed protagonist of "Lust" have many relationships in the course of the stories. These relationships are characterized by a lack of depth, commitment, and emotional involvement. Maya "has slept with married men, with nameless men, with men little more than boys, but never with an Indian man" (106). "Lust" goes through the various sexual exploits of the main character, who views sex almost as a courtesy; she explains that "If you go out with them, you sort of have to do something" (292).

The reasoning behind the promiscuity of both women is rooted in the desire to rebel against the cultures in which they were raised and, at the sam...

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...least aware of the effects on herself.

"The Tenant" and "Lust" are insights into the minds of two women who have similar motivations, but react differently to the same behavior. Their backgrounds and their emotional reactions give hints to why they choose to live the way they do, and why they feel it is appropriate or necessary. For both women, their motivations all lead back in some way to social expectations, although one woman is trying to conform to them and the other is trying to defy them.

Works Cited

Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. New York: Bedfort/St. Martin's, 1999.