This blessed house Lahiri

This Blessed House

The short story “This blessed house” by Jhumpa Lahiri is about a couple of newlyweds who move into a house where they begin to find Christian religious items. The first thing they find is a statue of Jesus. Sanjeev, the husband, tells his wife to throw it away. “We’re not Christian” (137) he says to his wife but his wife decides to display it for she thinks it was important to someone and she cannot find herself throwing it away. Twinkle continues to find Christian icons, which causes conflict between her and her husband as she wants to display the items and he wants to throw them away. His wife’s unwillingness to throw away the items and inclination to keep them causes Sanjeev to question their marriage and even his love for her. One night as Sanjeev rakes the lawn, Twinkle finds a statue of the Virgin Mary and wants to display it on the lawn but Sanjeev worries what others will think of him as a Hindu. At their housewarming party some people ask Sanjeev whether he is Christian but it is not made a big deal of.  I think the reoccurring theme of the story is Sanjeev’s worry of what people may think of the Christian displays. Sanjeev wants to keep his cultural traditions even though he lives in the United States now. On the other hand, Twinkle seems to be more flexible to Western culture which leads Sanjeev to become irritated with her. I think Sanjeev’s behavior symbolizes his fear of losing his identity as a Hindu. Throughout the story Sanjeev conflicts with his wife but in the end of the story when Twinkle is showing the guests around he feels that love he felt for her at the beginning. This makes me think that he realizes that she is confident of who she is and that the Christian icons do not change them or their identities.