A stench of Kerosene also has the theme of love and loss. A Stench of Kerosene is written by Amrita Pritam. This story is basically about a girl called Guleri she lives in a small village near Chamba in Asia with her husband Manak. The main characters are Gueri and Manak. Guleri is allowed to visit her parents once a year after the harvest has been gathered, for a few days. So this year exited as every year she gets ready to go to her parents house but Manak asks her not to, he could have demanded her not to however he does not. So as every year Guleri leaves for her parent’s house, someone comes to collect her and Manak walks with her half way. She tells Manak to come to her parent’s village for the fare however he tries to convince her not to go. She was excited at the thought of visiting her parents and did not take much notice of what Manak was saying but questioned him once and asked him to come on the day of the fare and explained that they would return together. Manak did not ask again. Manak and Guleri had been married for 7 years and not given birth. Manak’s mother had made a secret resolve that she would not let this go on beyond the eighth year true to her word she got him married to another woman. When Guleri heard this she soaked her cloths in kerosene and burnt herself Manak was devastated about this. The mother was happy and joyous about the new baby boy and dressed him in the finest clothes. She put the baby in the arms of Manak. He shouted out hysterically “get him away from me he stinks of kerosene.”
Both stories have a few similarities. Both stories are set in poor, small villages and have two similar main characters. Veronica and Manak are similar characters because through out both stories these characters feel the most loss. Veronica and Guleri have something in common they both die at the end of the two stories. Manak and Okeke both have to deal with the death of someone they love in the two stories.
The story Veronica has the theme of love and loss present. There are a couple types of love in the story Veronica. Two types of love are Veronica’s love for here family and her home this is shown when Okeke offers Veronica the chance to go with to the city but she stands up to explain “I have to go and cook, my father will be home soon”. Veronica also expresses a different type of love for her husband. In Veronica Okeke loves Veronica I know this because he says “there was a certain attractiveness to her that I knew would appeal to some men” and it is also clear that he loves her because when he is leaving for the city he persists in asking her to come with him even though he knows she does not even have a sixth grade education. He is the only one who will help her. So with this evidence I know he clearly loves her.
This theme continues with all the loss. Veronica feels a great deal of loss through out the story, firstly she has to deal with her fathers death then her brothers and sisters leaving her and finally her children’s and husbands death. This theme of loss continues onto the character of Okeke. Okeke also feels a great loss; Okeke is devastated when Veronica dies, this is shown when he says, “I cried that night for a great loss”.
The theme of love and loss is present in a Stench of Kerosene. There are a few types of love in this story as well. There is the love that Guleri has for visiting her parents at the beginning of the story. I know she loves her parents because in the story it says “she did not have to express her excitement in words; the look on her face was enough”, this refers to Guleri just before she visits her parents in Chamba. Guleri loves her husband Manak I can tell this because when she hears of Manaks second wife she soaks her cloths in kerosene and commits suicide. Manak's character also expresses love. The love and respect for his mother is clearly shown when Manak wanted to retort against his mother when she was telling him what to do, but he did not. Manaks love for his wife Guleri is shown when she is leaving for her parents house he could have demanded Guleri to stay but he did not because he loves her.
The theme continues with all the loss. Firstly at the start of the story Manak feels loss when Guleri leaves for her parent’s house. I can tell this form the way he tries to convince her not to go to her parent’s house. Guleri feels loss when she hears of Manaks second marriage and she cannot bear this thought because she loves him so much as a result she commits suicide. Manak feels loss when he hears of the news that Guleri is dead, I know this because it says, “he could only stare and feel his own life burning out”.
That is how both stories A Stench of Kerosene and Veronica both reflect the theme of love and loss.
