A Temporary Matter

The short story, "A Temporary Matter” invokes both positive and negative feelings in a short amount of time with the quote, “She would look around the walls of the room, which they had decorated together last summer with a border of marching ducks and rabbits playing trumpets and drums. By the end of August there was a cherry crib under the window, a white changing table with mint-green knobs, and a rocking chair with checkered cushions.Shukumar had disassembled it all before bringing Shova back from the hospital, scraping off the rabbits and ducks with a spatula. For some reason, the room did not haunt him the way it haunted Shoba”. The quote starts with feelings of cheer and excitement. Bright, happy, colors like mint green and white are
With that being said, this quickly switches to feelings of grief, as the couple lose their baby and deal with hour-long power outages each day. The word ‘haunted’ is used. While the room does not haunt Shukumar, it is a constant reminder for Shoba that her child is gone and that her marriage is deteriorating rapidly. Scraping off the rabbits and ducks symbolizes the crumbling of the once happy family, as well as the depression that has consumed them as they long for what their family once had. The “Journey to Topaz” also invokes the feeling that hope is lost. The quote, “Yuki thought she had never seen a more dreary place in all her life. There wasn't a single tree or a blade of grass to break the monotony of the sun-bleached desert. It was like the carcass of a chicken stripped clean of any meat and left all dry, brittle bone”. The choice of vocabulary in this excerpt reinforces the solemn tone. For example, the word ‘dreary’ is used to describe the camp as dull and depressing. Using the word ‘monotony’ to describe the camp shows how it is not going to be a positive place. It will feel like a repetitive motion to wake up and essentially suffer in the internment camp every day for the foreseeable