Comparing Sexy versus A Temporary Matter in Interpreter of Maladies

Readers are often baffled by the openness of some stories where the ending can go either way they are put into situation where they must imagine or assume how the story does end. Open-ended stories can be found in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, where few stories of open-endings have an immense impact on the reader by creating a hunger to know what happens next.

There is always one very noticeable advantage open-ended stories have over close-ended stories, that is the impact on the reader. The impact that makes the reader think, imagine and creates immaculate suspense as the reader is following the life of the protagonist with utmost anticipation, but all of sudden the story ends and the reader’s first question would be ,“what becomes of the protagonist?”. Close ended stories have very limited scope for imagination and very little suspense towards the end. There is not as big an impact but the can be a sense of completeness and also the reader may feel relieved that he knows what the protagonist has gone through from the beginning to the end.

A story with an open-ending that may be discovered from the book is “A Temporary Matter”, where the ending is so open that there is a colossal sense of incompleteness, having followed the ordeals of the protagonist and knowing what may be a valid reason for a married couple to fall out of love. The ending does not specify the fate of the marriage which seems to be on the path of falling apart, but the words of the protagonist which is either the saviour of the marriage or the final attempt to keep the marriage together remains unknown in the end.

The story with a considerably closed ending that can be found is “Sexy” where the protagonist has an affair with a married Indian ...

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...rves the way for the plot, the theme is the central idea around which a literary piece revolves. Without the theme the plot would be meaningless and there would be nothing for the readers to derive from the literary piece. Without the plot, the theme would be meaningless as there would be nowhere to consign the message the writer intends to give the reader. It can be said that the plot and theme are the two most important literary elements of a literary piece and are inter-dependant.

In conclusion, I would like to say that an open-ended story has much more impact and imagery than a close-ended story. An open-ended story lingers about the reader’s thoughts and to some extent dominates the reader’s imagination. The plot and theme are the two most important literary elements in a literary piece and the piece would fail heavily without a good theme or a good plot.