Every Man Builds His World In His Own Image

I cannot help but think that Sanjeev's concern with image is an obsession. From the very beginning of the story, starting in my opinion on page 137, the reader immediately sees Sanjeev demonstrating his need to keep the house clean and organized to maintain a decent image. As he looks at the mantel her observes that it needs "to be dusted," and in a few paragraphs, we see him organizing his "engineering texts from MIT in alphabetical order on a bookshelf, though it had been several years since he had needed to consult any of them" (137). The reference is being made towards Sanjeev's concern with image--plainly in the text it states that he places his college books on a shelf for looks. He does not need them for anything else because he has not used them for years. With one flip of the page, again we see Sanjeev worrying about the way he looks in regards to others. At the bottom of page 139, Sanjeev refuses to put up the poster of Christ and argues, "What about the housewarming party? They'll want to see all the rooms. I've invited people from the office." Each lines serves as a warning to Twinkle, as Sanjeev mentions and reminds Twinkle that people are coming to the house and will want to see everything (so he doesn't want the relics anywhere). In saving the most important people to impress for the end, he emphasizes that his business associates will be coming to the house.



After this I found myself marking the word "image" next to Sanjeev's name throughout the rest of the story. When looking in the mirror on page 140, he worries that some of his features "detracted, he feared, from what he hoped was a distinguished profile." He wishes he was just an inch taller. He is obsessed with image! He almost has a heart attack (not really) when Twinkle declares her desire to put the plaster of the Virgin Mary in the yard. Sanjeev's concern?: "All the neighbors will see. They'll think we're insane" (146). Shortly following is a glimpse of Sanjeev's past and the way he ponders on past prospective brides in his life and we find out he had even "ranked them in order of preference." Before the party he wants to clear the mantel "if only for the party" (150) and can hardly enjoy himself at the part because he is so worried about the image his home, his new wife and even the image he, himself is giving to his guests.



The idea of image and Sanjeev's obsession could be analyzed and probably made into a really interesting paper. These are just my ideas from reading the text. It seems that Sanjeev has worked hard to be where he is in life and his image is important to and for him. Sanjeevs concern for image would make an interesting contrast when placed next to the independent and care-free nature of Twinkle.