Moshumi

In Chapter 10, I feel like Lahiri made me completely and totally hate Moshumi. The whole book has been about Gogol, and to see our protagonist now be so easily deceived by the woman he loves, is heartbreaking. Although I am now fully judging Moshumi for her decision to be unfaithful and I despise her for that, Lahiri also creates a sense of pathos for her as well. In class we discussed how characterization of Moshumi could be somewhat positive, but I disagree. I do not think I realized any favorable qualities about Moshumi from this chapter. The only thing that I felt for her, that was not frustration, was slight sympathy. I understand that she remains trapped in a very unhappy marriage, but she did knowingly enter into the marriage, inflicting the misery on herself.
     I am the most frustrated with how superficial Moshumi is. When her assistant dies before Moshumi gets to work, Moshumi has no issue with going through her desk to find a stapler, merely hours after the woman had died, collapsed next to that very desk. Also, when Moshumi discusses how she had felt after her split from Graham, she says "She remembers the panic she had felt, all her friends were already married" (249). Moshumi just wanted to marry Gogol to be accepted, and be part of the "in" crowd. How Lahiri characterizes her as so superficial, takes away most of my sympathy for her, making it extremely difficult to like her even in the slightest.