Quick Write Close Reading Paragraph

Throughout the short story the theme of loneliness is consistently presented. Mrs. Sen moved
away from her family to a country where she has no support. While her husband is at work she
is completely isolated from the rest of society. In order to fill this time she begins to watch a
young boy named Eliot, and while talking to his mother she says that watching him is, “no
trouble at all” (Lahiri). Through this simple statement Mrs. Sen is trying to make it clear that Eliot
is no trouble to her and she enjoys his presence. She says this to his mother because she
believes that if his mother believes him to be a trouble she will simply leave him home alone.
This would be detrimental to Mrs. Sen because she only has Eliot to talk to and therefore he is
an important part of her life. Further on in the story it is said that, “Eliot always sensed that Mrs.
Sen had been waiting for some time” (Lahiri). The excitement that she portrays is due to the fact
that Eliot releases her from the state of loneliness that she consistently lives in. Without Eliot in
her life, Mrs. Sen would be left all alone and would have to deal with the emotional
consequences that come with moving to a new place. These emotions are too detrimental to her
mental state which causes her to try and avoid them. The move to the United States not only
put her in a new environment, but they also removed her from all the people she once had in
her life. This causes Mrs. Sen to live in a state of fear and isolation. Since her husband is
always at work Mrs. Sen does not have the support needed to put herself into American society.
This further pushes her into isolation as she is not only alone all day, but she also does not have
the means to integrate herself into the new society around her She relies so heavily on Eliot
because he provides her a release to these feelings.