The Tenant - Bharati Mukherjee

When reading The Tenant for the first time when I approached the last page I began to expect a wonderfully unexpected ending. In a way I got exactly what I thought I would, but not the way I wanted it. It just abruptly ends, leaving one questioning the entire piece of literature. To be asked what I believe the ending is about or what Ashoke Mehta means when he says, "You also have a problem," really caused one to think about how he was presented throughout the entire story. When we first meet this strange character it is from an ad in a newspaper where this seemingly well-off, good-looking man comes into play. How can this dreamy man still be single with no strings attached? Well the first alarm to his 'problem' is apparent in his ad where it states, "Write with recent photo." This is my first clue to what I believe he means by 'problem' at the end. Perhaps all he wants is sex, after all that is what their first encounter was. He could potentially be a very shallow, self-centered sex seeking monster. Wanting only something brief, with no stings attached, meeting in a neutral zone; it seems so obvious. To me, at the end when Ashoke tells Maya that she too has a problem, I believe he is speaking of Fred who he can hear talking in the background. To him Maya is tied down, for him to have her she needs to part with Fred. With the "you also" indicates to me that he had or still has a problem, maybe a wife he is trying to divorce, maybe a family somewhere he is floating away from. It could possibly even be a love child here or there since he can so casually meets with women for sex. Any of these could explain his lack of contact with Maya for months. This so called 'problem' could also be his addiction to sex, and he wants Maya to be his to have whenever he desires and Fred is the last roadblock in his path. The last sentence of this piece provides some evidence for my theory when the audience learns that Maya moves out, leaving Fred and agrees to go to Hartford where Ashoke resides. For me that verifies that Fred was indeed Mayas problem and even in her last opportunity of the piece Maya is not honest. “She tells herself, it will not be the end of Fred’s world. “ I beg to differ, this arm-less man has grown to love Maya and as soon as her lover called upon her she up and left poor Fred. I believe this act of leaving is crushing Fred’s world.