Food And Clothing In A Temporary Matter

Food and clothing in Lahiri’s A Temporary Matter are emotional indicators for the strength of the relationship between all characters, but especially Shoba and Shukumar, and help provide insight for the reader on the inner emotions and feelings occurring within each individual. The food Shoba eats is indicative of how she feels inside, and is one of the only connections she has to Shukumar after the death of the baby. Clothing creates connections in the family not seen elsewhere. Shoba’s relationship with food throughout the text reveals to the reader her current emotional state. Shukumar identifies that “If it weren’t for him, he knew, Shoba would eat a bowl of cereal for her dinner” (Lahiri 8). When Shoba is feeling upset or melancholy,

Shukumar tells Shoba “I forgot to tip the waiter. I went back the next morning, found out his name, left money with the manager” (Lahiri 14). Shoba then asks why he forgot and he says, “By the end of the meal I had a funny feeling that I might marry you” (Lahiri 14). Shukumar was so smitten by Shoba at the meal that he forgot to pay the waiter a tip! This is not the only place where the reader is shown how much Shukumar cares about Shoba. Shukumar states, “If it weren’t for him, he knew, Shoba would eat a bowl of cereal for her dinner” (Lahiri 8). Shoba may no longer make meals for Shukumar, but Shukumar will not let that stop him from making meals for her. These meals require extra effort, but it is one of the only ways that gets Shoba to interact with Shukumar, and Shukumar needs this interaction with Shoba because he still cares about her. If he no longer cared about her, he could take the easy route as well and simply eat cereal every night. The complexity of the meal helps indicate how much each character cares about the other, and helps provide the reader with an understanding of what exactly is going on in each of the character’s