Hell-Heaven

"Hell-Heaven", by Jhumpa Lahiri, talks about the struggles of living in the United States with a Bengali culture. In this story, characters make confessions of difficult and painful experiences that bring them healings. Its obvious that the character Boudi was dealing with a painful experience through out the whole story. There were plenty of times where you were able to point out Boudi painful experiences. It was not to the end of the story where she made her confession and were finally able to heal from this.
One point in the story where you were able to point out her painful experience was when Boudi realized the man she was in love with, was dating another woman. The man she was in love with name was Parnab Chakaraborry, or Parnab Kaku.

He was an Bengali from Calcutta who met the family of Boudi in the early 70's. After befriended by the family he confessed how he followed Boudi and her daughter Usha for hours one day, until he finally worked up the courage to ask a question he already knew the answer too. He moved in with the family and became closer and closer with them. "Whenever we went, any stranger would have naturally assumed that Pranab Kaku was my father that my mother was his wife"(Bedford 638). Around this time was when Bodi started to fall for Kaku, "It is clear to mw now that my mother was in love with him. He wooed her as no other man had, with the innocent affection of a brother-in-law"(Bedford 638). Not to long after this was when Kaku met his future wife, Deborah. As time went on the two grew closer and closer, and Boudi became very jealous of there relationship. "Before they came to dinner for the first time, I asked my mother as she was straightening up the living room, if I ought to address her as Deborah Kakima, turning her into as aunt, as I had turned Parnab into an uncle."What's the point?" my mother said, looking back at me sharply."In a few weeks, the fun will be over and she'll leave him,"(Bedford 638). She hated the fact of Kaku being with Deborah. With them getting married soon, this was just the beginning of her painful experiences.
Another one of Boudi's painful experiences was the engagement of Kaku and Deborah.

This is when she realized the dream of Kaku being her's was over. Kaku and Deborah became distant from the family and moved into their own apartment in Boston. The last genuine moment the two had together was when Budi prepared a meal for Kuku to represent the end of his bachelorhood. Here, she still couldn’t be happy for him because of her selfish reasons. "My mother stands besides him, one hand placed on top of his head in a gesture of blessing, the first and last time she was to touch him in her life. "She will leave him," my mother told her friends afterward. "He is throwing his life away,"(Bedford 640). The wedding was held at a church in Ipswich. It was a small beautiful wedding with only close friends and family members. Boudi was so stuck in her ways and mad at Deborah that she did not appreciate any of the nice things that the young lady did for her family and her, "My mother did not appreciate the fact that Deborah had made sure that my parents, who did not eat beef, were given fish instead of filet mignon like everyone else,"(Bedford 640). It was not until the end of the story, after the divorce of Kaku and Deborah, were Boudi was able to heal from this

situation.
The healing process begin when Boudi received a phone call from Deborah. On the phone Deborah admitted how she felt like she did not connect with Kaku in certain parts of life no matter how hard she tried. "I was so horribly jealous of you back then, for knowing him, understanding him in a way I never could," (Bedford 649). She also told Boudi how she could never get over the fact of how he turn his back on his family. Boudi told her she was not the one to blame for this but still did not confess her own jealousy to Deborah. It was not until her own daughter, Usha, had to deal with not marrying the man she wanted to marry that she opened up and told the truth of how Kaku marrying another man affected her in so many ways. Her confession of her difficult and painful experiences to her daughter, finally allowed her to heal emotionally.
In conclusion, the most obvious character dealing with painful experiences was Boudi. She had to deal with these problems the whole story. Boudi was in love with a man by the name of Parnab Kaku . It took her daughter going through a similar experience to her for her to be able to get through her painful experiences and be able to heal from it.