The above two stories have many themes in common, one of the most apparent being the importance of babies in a relationship.
In ‘Stench of Kerosene’, Guleri has been deprived of having babies. Although the story does not state if Guleri and Manak are happy about it, it is obvious that they still have a strong love for one another. The strength of his love, however, can be debated when Guleri is about to leave for her yearly visit to her village. Manak pleads for her to stay, “just this once.” If his love was as sincere and strong as the author initially implied, his reasons for repeatedly whimpering “you've never been stopped before!” rather then honestly saying why he wanted her to stay, are slightly dubious. It is unclear as to why he doesn’t answer Guleri’s question of; “Then why do you want to stop me this time”.
In her descriptions, Amrita Pritam shows Manak to have a very weak and ‘feminine’ character. From his speech you can decipher that he is also not very educated as he tackled the precarious situation in a childish manner.
In ‘Desiree’s Baby’, babies also play a major role in Armand and Desiree’s relationship. Desiree, unlike Guleri can have babies, and she has a beautiful son with her husband. You can see from the story that the relationship they share is quite a loving one. Armand is extremely happy with the birth of his new son.
“Armand is the proudest father in the parish”
The story takes place at a time when slavery was being practiced. Later on in the story the narrative, regarding Armand, states:
“…He hasn't punished one of them - not one of them - since baby is born”.
We can gather from this that when the baby is first born, his brings great happiness to the family. Desiree is the type of woman whose life revolves entirely around her husband. From what we read, her own moods are determined by her husband moods. When he is happy, she too is very happy, and when he is unhappy, she is extremely unhappy.
“When he frowned, she trembled but loved him. When he smiled she asked no greater blessing of God.”
In some ways you can say that Desiree was patient and loving; thankful for what God had bestowed upon her. Armand is the stronger of the two, which becomes evident when he easily dismisses his wife and child for the sake of his reputation. Desiree is, of course, the weaker character.
There are many similarities with both stories, mainly the concept the importance of babies in relationships. There are also many differences. In ‘Stench of Kerosene’ the baby brings pain and hatred into the family. The baby in ‘Desiree’s Baby’ however, brings momentary joy and happiness, which slowly evolves into pain and misery, resulting in the downfall of the family. Similarly, Manak and Guleri live in happiness initially, but loose this happiness in the end.
Both stories also involve the creation or upbringing of a child, and later, the rejection. As we read in ‘Stench of Kerosene’, after the baby is born, Manak rejects it. Also both stories portray the negligence of wives.
Another major aspect that the two stories share is the concept of suicides. When Guleri finds out about Manak committing polygamy, her grief causes her to set herself alight. Likewise, when Desiree is asked to leave Armand’s family due to the skin color of the baby, she terminates her life by drowning herself and the baby in the marshes.
In both stories the women resort to suicide as they have not fulfilled their respective family’s happiness. As we read in ‘Stench of Kerosene’, Guleri burns herself after she finds out about Manak’s second marriage. Guleri could not have babies. In ‘Desiree’s Baby’, Desiree drowns herself due to her husband’s callous attitude towards her. In both stories, the wives feel that they have not fulfilled their roles in life, or gained their husbands love.
Rather than the wives being in the wrong, it is the husbands who inexplicably hurt and betray their wives with their warped mentalities and indurate behaviour.
In order to obey his mother’s commands, Manak marries another woman. He could and should have resisted this order but instead, due to his weak character, he listened. Instead of adamantly refusing to marry another, he pleads with Guleri not to visit her parents this year. Additionally, when his mother ‘purchased’ the second wife, he didn’t try and resist the temptation of consummating the marriage, despite not feeling comfortable with the situation. From this, it is apparent that Manak is ruled and overpowered by his domineering mother. This story highlights the mentality of a lot of primitive Indians from not only the past, but the present also. In Asian cultures, stress is laid on listening to ones parents. In this story however, this beautiful part of the Asian culture is taken out of context as the mother’s feelings prevail that of the wife’s.
In Desires baby, Armand blatantly rejects his wife and child due to the fact that the baby has dark skin, thus assuming that this was because of Desiree’s own ancestors. He is more interested in his family’s lineage than what his love or heart says, hence not thinking through the consequences of his evil actions. Instead acts out of stupidity and pride. Hence, like in ‘Stench of Kerosene,’ his marital happiness is controlled by an exterior force. For Manak, his life was dictated by his mother, and for Armand, his pride. His arrogant actions resulted in the loss of two innocent lives.
Both Armand and Desiree are extremely different in character. Armand is strong and hard hearted, resentful for loving Desiree passionately. He monotonously leads his life while Desiree ends hers – despite the fact that he is no longer with his wife. Desiree however, is weak, and cannot function without her husband’s love which makes her kill herself, as she sees no point in existing without him.
Manak is the opposite of Armand. He is weak and easily pushed around. Although he loves Guleri with all his heart, his weakness eventually prevails over this love. Guleri, although killing herself, is stronger than Manak. When he tells her not to go with to her parents village, she flatly refuses unless given a proper reason. She kills herself out of grief, unlike Desiree, who kills herself merely because she is lost without Armand. Desiree’s character differs from Guleri’s because of this, despite the similarity of them both committing suicide. If Armand had told Desiree not to go to visit Madame Valmonde, she would most probably have obeyed without any questions. If Guleri and Desiree were to switch roles, they would have suited each others societies and circumstances a lot better. Desiree, being weak and accommodating, would have found it easy to unquestionably listen to her husband in primitive India.
Manak’s personality is similar to Desiree’s, in the fact that they are both childish. Manak is childish because he whines “don’t go” instead of blatantly stating his fears, and Desiree is childish for committing suicide merely because of her husbands scorn.
Like many tragedies, poetic justice befalls the evil ones in both stories. Armand receives a terrible shock when he discovers that it is his own mother who “belongs to the race that is curse with the brand of slavery.” Having the incorrigible pride that he does, he will undoubtedly internally suffer from this shock for the remainder of his pitiful existence.
Although Manak is not quite as hard hearted as Armand, he too receives what he deserves. Manak is duly punished for his feeble personality. He is miserable with his new wife, and the baby reminds him of Guleri and her horrific death. This implies that although he may continue to live his life, he will be forever empty and regretful.
I personally think that both stories are written from a slightly feministic view, as they both appear to be “man-hating.” Although these problems can easily occur within marital relationships, especially in the social contexts of the story, they do not obviously state what was wrong with the women. Desiree is made out to be so sweet and loving – her beauty helping to draw the readers into sympathy for her. It is not blatantly stated that it was stupid of her to commit suicide. Likewise, Guleri should really have had trust in her husband, and listened to what he told her instead of proudly ignoring his pleas. This shows that although their relationship outwardly shows happiness, there were some serious problems that occurred beneath the surface. Hence, I conclude that in ‘Desiree’s Baby,” Armand was wrong to have so much pride, but Desiree’s weak character spurned her awful fate. In ‘Stench of Kerosine,’ Manak was weak and stupid, but the consequences of his marrying again could have been avoided if Guleri trusted her husband. It is simply too easy to blame the men entirely for what happened.
