#282 Kavita Through Glass- Emily Ishem Raboteau
Distance÷Longing= Desire. Hassan saw the world as
a mathematician. Things could be described using symbols and signs. His wife saw
the world through Architecture using meaning through color and shapes. He was a
Muslim, she was Hindu. They had trouble communicating with each other. Until
she became pregnant it didn’t seem to matter that much. Now, as another life
was coming into the world, their own needs became suddenly important.
We see this story from Hassan’s perspective. We see his
resentment, confusion, and ultimate acceptance and enjoyment over her designs
in the house. We see his confusion over her sudden emotional change when she
gets pregnant. We see his hurt as she pursues a secret desire. We are with
him…right up to the point that we see her side. Our mistake is apparent in one
quick statement:
“Do you realize you never look at me?”
Not only has Hassan been selfish in his thoughts, so have
we, the readers. Of course we are used to following along with the author of a
story, but this was brilliant! Bringing us along for the sole reason to show us
our own blind spot. We all need to step outside ourselves every so often to see
how we are can be so selfish.
In the liner notes for this story, Raboteau says that 30
journals rejected this story before Tin House printed it, and eventually was
selected for the Best American Short Story compendium for 2003. I wonder how
many of those rejections happened without the reader ever getting to the
revealing end?
Notable Passage: “White is a color without depth…or a thing
without depth, since it is not a color at all, but a thing that makes depth
possible.”
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