The Cure is Love, Hope, and Purpose

“ What won’t be cured must be endured. Bibi has caused enough worry, added enough to expenses, sullied enough the family name.” (Lahiri 163). What bothered me is how badly a family would treat someone with a mental problem. They treated her terribly like she was useless, a burden to the family, a disease. I understand that people who suffer from mental conditions need to be taken care of and that at times they are a lot of work to watch and require money to pay for medical needs, doctors, and therapy; however, I expected that the bonds of family would be for her relatives to want to take care of her. It was cruel that Bibi’s family and neighbors made her think that she could get married when they knew that no man would marry her but on the other hand, if the family had told the truth that she would never marry, the outcome would have been just as bad but at least they would not have been giving her false hopes. Even though she may not be as smart as other people, she could have helped take care of the baby and entertain it when the child got older. Haldar ‘s wife treated Bibi as if she was contagious and poisonous to her newborn child. Perhaps fear, superstition, and paranoia caused her to miss judge Bibi and the influence she would have on the newborn. Just because Bibi couldn’t take care of the child while the parents were not around does not mean that she still couldn’t help out.  She probably felt so isolated and so alone. I admire the neighbors for helping her through her struggles and trying to cheer her up, looking after her when she got put into the storage room and even after her family abandoned her like some animal. The neighbors sympathized with her and tried to keep her alive but her mental state was not good ever since her family left her.  In the end Bibi ended up getting pregnant without a husband. Her neighbors were so upset that they wanted to investigate however, Bibi wouldn’t tell them. “She was, to the best of our knowledge, cured.”(Lahiri 172). Because she had the child, she had to force herself to play the role of a mother and be strong and happy for the child. Now she had a child and a purpose. The child will love her and she won’t be alone. I believe that is what cured her. She now has a purpose and a future hope. She sold what was left of the goods her family previously owned to help her and the child make it through and to me that shows progress and that her family underestimated her. When times got rough, for the sake of the child she pulled through. Perhaps the reason Bibi did not tell anyone who the father was is because she did not want him to get punished and she was thankful to him for giving him a child.