Despair in Family Matters
When one goes through a life of despair they exemplify various different characteristics. These characteristics are often negative, leading to the deterioration of many people's lives and relationships. In Rohinton Mistry's novel, Family Matters, the characters of Coomy Contractor, Yezad Chenoy and Nariman Vakeel are plagued with guilt, deceit, and past events that result in a life of despair. Coomy Contractor displays hostility as she has great difficulty putting past events behind her, turning to dishonestly in overwhelming situations. The tension and anguish in her family is strongly related with her uncompassionate nature. Yezad Chenoy feels as though he will never be acceptable since much of his life involves failure and disappointment. His unstable personality concerns his family, impacting the lives of the various members. Nariman Vakeel has a life full of hate, guilt and suffering. From his earliest memories to his present state, suffering from Parkinson's disease, he endures complex circumstances.
Placement of an electrode into the brain. The head...
English: Immunohistochemistry for alpha-synuclein ...
Queen-Nariman-with-Mr-Amin FahimAll of these characters demonstrate throughout the novel that pessimistic characteristics and despair are parallel to one another.
Coomy Contractor is the stepdaughter of Nariman. She lives her life while continually remembering her mother, Yasmin, and Nariman's loveless marriage.
She said she would not forget it- maybe that was the way he dealt with his
problems. No wonder he had ruined his own life, and everyone else's. No wonder
he had carried on shamelessly with that Lucy Braganza, and destroyed Mamma's
life and... (Mistry 27).
Her inability to let go of her past family life results in her constant bitterness towards her family members - Nariman in particular. Coomy is the primary caregiver to her stepfather whose disease is persistently worsening. When Nariman breaks his ankle, Coomy has the responsibility of caring for him which slowly begins to create more tension and...