In this tragic story, ” the management of grief “, the use of theme and character plot helped connect with the style of how the author wanted to present the story. The concept of loss and death is a very heavily ordeal, even harder is the factor of going on after a loss or death, is very burdensome cross to bear. There have been stories discussed in class that has similar ways of interpretation, such as The Story of an Hour, where they faced grief only to face death by acceptance. The theme of death and grief helped motivate different aspects of each character, especially the protagonist. To face losing her husband and sons, with the clouded hope of them still being alive, drove the emotional plot point, For Shaila, grief is not an option. She is frustrated in being calm when she didn’t have to be.  This makes her callous. The thought of hope of her family miraculous alive drives the definition of stages of grief to work through the story: denial, anger fear, bargaining, and acceptance. (though the order of the stages varies to each individual character).
The use of theme and character plot does help readers connect with each character and make readers understand truly what each character is going through. Also it helps readers understand how they are all dealing with grief in their own way. The style is very important to consider because Mukherjee tries to get readers to sympathize with each character. I agree with what you said at the end about Shaila still having a thought of her family being alive and how that causes grief even more. I think she was in denial and just didn’t want to accept the truth about her family being dead so she comes up with this idea of her sons being alive still. Dr. Ranganathan says “It’s a parent’s duty to hope”, according to Mukherjee. So I guess it would be wrongful for her as a parent to think of her sons being dead, that’s why she still believes they could have used their swimming abilities to make it to a island somewhere.
While walking through the park at the end of the story Shaila had a moment were she heard her family one last time, they said “Your time has come. Go, be brave” (986). Up until this part of the story i agree that Shaila was still in pain waiting for her family to return. She lived her life in denial, until this experience helped her finally realize she had to move on. Death is a part of life, one day or another we all have to face it. Not knowing exactly where she would go, Shaila finally found the motivation to move forward and live her life with a positive attitude.
It is true that the theme death and grief of this story are very similar to The Story of an Hour but they both also have different feelings on the death of their loved ones. . Shaila felt sad on this inside for her loved ones that died but on the outside she was very calm. She hoped that her family was still alive. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard grieved for her husband but at the same time she somehow felt free because of his death. When her husband walked through the door alive and well she died of disappointment of not being able to be free anymore. Sheila wanted to find her family alive and Mrs. Mallard was actually happy that her husband is dead. They both got the opposite of what they wanted and it was the worst case scenario for both of them.
I agree with your assessment of the different stages of grief that affected Shaila. She is very calm about the entire situation when it transpires and she is confused as to why she is reacting the unexpected way of grievance. She is denial at first and believes her child might have swam to the land for safety but eventually accepts her family is dead. The inner thoughts and emotion is never expressed out publicly for others to see and so, she remains calm to everyone else but herself.
I agree, “The Management of Grief” and “The Story of an Hour” both have similar themes of both death and grief. As stated in the initial blog post “The theme of death and grief helped motivate different aspects of each character, especially the protagonist.” However, I do believe the different aspects is in their feelings and reactions to the death of their loved ones. In “The Management of Grief” Shaila was sad, but hopeful that her family was still alive. Her true feelings were shown. In “The Story of an Hour” She grieved, but she felt a sense of optimism for her future without her husband, as well as freedom. She was joyous until her husband returned alive, and she died knowing that her future endeavors came to an end at that very moment.
Shaila and Mrs. Mallard do feel different about the death of their loved ones. However, Mrs. Mallard was in a dissimilar situation. She unlike Shaila, was under pressure. She had to have those feelings for her husband’s death because society says so. Although she feels resilient at first, she freely devotes herself to her freedom and dies when it is snatched from her. Shaila, unlike Mrs. Mallard is shocked by the rapid succession of the events, and cannot digest it all in one try. I believe she does not openly expresses her feelings due to social norms. She is surrounded by acquaintances only, and force herself to manage her grief.