The Importance of Honesty and Loyalty

Loyalty and honesty are without a doubt the most important concepts in a healthy relationship. Many people believe that if you are in a relationship and something goes wrong the first thing you should do is be honest and tell your spouse. Honesty in a relationship will allow for the couple to trust each other and should lead to a healthy relationship. I personally believe that a person should always remain loyal to their loved one and no matter what happens they should always be honest, so that their loved one does not get hurt. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri and “The Storm” by Kate Chopin are two short stories that give excellent examples of how loyalty and honesty are important pieces of a relationship.

I strongly believe that if someone is not loyal or honest to their partner, they shouldn't be in a relationship with them in the first place because it is clear that they do not truly care about them. This is extremely clear in the short story “Interpreter of Maladies” because Mrs. Das admits to Mr. Kapasi that she had an affair with her husband's best friend while he stayed at their home.(Lahiri 62) Mrs. Das then goes on to admit that one of her kids, Bobby, is actually not Mr. Das' child. Mr. Das is not aware that Bobby is not his and I think that Mrs. Das should have been honest from the start and told Mr. Das the truth. Telling the truth would have upset Mr. Das but I think it is better for him to know and learn to trust his wife, then for him to live his whole life not knowing that his wife cheated on him and one of his kid's is not his own. The concepts of loyalty and honesty in a relationship are also on display in the short story “The Storm” by Kate Chopin. While there is a furious storm approaching and her husband and son are out at the store, Calixta lets a man that she has had a prior relationship with stay in her home until the storm passes.(Chopin 2) While the man is staying in the home, Calixta grows nervous about her husband and son and begins to worry and cry and ends up in the mans arms and eventually kisses him.(Chopin 4) In my opinion, the man never should have been in the house with her alone because she has a prior relationship with him and she is now married with a kid and needs to remain loyal to her husband. I strongly believe that if someone is their to comfort you when you are upset and weak, then there is a risk that something you don't want to happen is going to happen. This is exactly the case with Calixta because she was upset about her family and did not know if they were safe, and the man was the only person there at the moment to comfort her. I have always believed that if you are around someone that you once had feelings for, someone bad is going to happen and you should always try to avoid those types of situations.

There are many people who would go against what I believe and say that if the situation is right, you do not always have to be loyal and honest to your loved one. For example, Mr. and Mrs. Das did not have a very good relationship and she was unhappy. There are many people who believe that if your unhappy, you should do anything you can to become happy again. In Mrs. Das' case, she was unhappy in her marriage and her husband's friend was staying at her home so she did what she had to do to satisfy her needs. I personally do not believe this is the correct thing to do because when you get married you take vows to remain loyal and honest to your spouse until the day you die. Even though I personally believe she was also wrong, there are individuals who believe what Calixta did was also not wrong. Calixta was not sure if her husband and son were even still alive, and she was weak and upset and the man she let stay in her house was the only person there to comfort her. It could also be believed that the man, Alcee, kind of took advantage of her in her weak state of mind. I very strongly believe in honesty and loyalty in a relationship and do not believe that there are any circumstances in which your marital vows should be broken and you should not be loyal to your spouse.

The theme of honesty and loyalty is also extremely popular in many situations other than just literature. For example, in the movie “The Dilemma” Vince Vaughn's character catches his best friends, Kevin James, wife cheating and does not know what to do about it. He is very good friends with Kevin James' wife and she finds out that he caught her and does everything in her power to keep him from telling her husband. She uses the fact that she slept with him before she married Kevin James as blackmail to keep him from telling the truth. If I was in Vince Vaughn's position, I would have manned up and told my best friend the truth because the past is the past and I would not be able to hold it in that my best friend is being cheated on. No matter how bad the blackmail was, I would have done the right thing and told the truth because it is better to live with no guilt and to be honest and loyal to the people you care about.

Between both “The Storm” and “Interpreter of Maladies” there is a common theme of desire. Desire is when you want something so bad that you have to have it. In “The Storm”, Calixta says that “Alcee's blue eyes had given place to a drowsy gleam that unconsciously betrayed a sensuous desire.”(Chopin 4) This shows that even though she was married and had kids, she could not give in to her attraction and desire for Alcee and that forced her into making the mistake of kissing him and laying in his arms. This goes to show that physical attraction and desire can take over any loyalty you may have and force you into making mistakes that you did not want to make. However, the desire in “Interpreter of Maladies” is a very different type of desire. There is both desire and a lack of desire going on throughout the story. Mr. Kapasi has an undeniable desire for Mrs. Das because he is unhappy in his marriage and she leads him on and makes him think she desires him. It turns out that this is not the case and all Mrs. Das wants to do is admit to an affair that she had in the past. The affair was caused by the lack of desire that Mrs.Das has towards her husband. A lack of desire can often lead to affairs and other types of unfaithful acts. This is why I strongly believe that you need to desire the person you love and are together with because if you don't, something bad can happen and you might be forced to live with the guilt for the rest of your life.

Overall, both short stories give us terrific examples of how important loyalty and honesty can be in a relationship. They also show us how important desire is if you want to keep a healthy long relationship. Mrs. Das lost her desire for her husband and it led to her having an affair and possibly ruining her marriage and family. Calixta had her affair because she had a strong desire for Alcee, and he was there for her when she was weak and upset because she did not know if her husband and son were alright during a big storm. This just goes to show that everybody makes mistakes and the worst thing you can do in a relationship is not be honest and loyal to your spouse because in the end you are going to hurt them very badly.