After reading "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri, I am reminded of all the little knickknacks that have collected over the years on shelves, in drawers, and under my bed that would serve as clues to the person I am. For instance, my square piece of "wall" from my junior year musical signed by my fellow cast mates and the "Break a Leg" teddy bear key chain that I had received from a teacher for a performance of that show. Along with that are miscellaneous others like a tiny 3-D manger scene, a ballerina figurine, a "ring box" which actually contains a wooden ladybug- these all speak to pieces of me and moments in my past. I could tell you stories about each of the objects aforementioned, but I won't get into that here. And though they all have these back stories, they really don't serve any purpose but to be displayed somewhere. When it's all said and done, these are things that will most likely be tossed during spring cleaning or when I finally move out of my parents' house this summer, but I am wondering to myself now- why did I keep them so long in the first place?
Do you have a lot of knickknacks or are you a minimalist? Would you be a Twinkle or a Sanjeev if you were to come across another person's abandoned mementos? I'd be a Sanjeev, though I'd have a little more compassion and understanding- I definitely wouldn't take a hammer to a Buddha statue but I wouldn't put him on my mantle either.
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I have a lot of meaningful knickknacks, but I don't think that I would show much compassion to other's mementos. If I were to move into a new house and find things left behind, I would assume that they were not important enough to take with them. I would like to think that I would have more compassion for these objects than Sanjeev did, but it would be hard to fully appreciate their meaning.
ReplyDeleteIf you would call every piece of homework from grades K-8, ticket stubs from movies and games a long time ago, and stuffed animals from my childhood knickknacks than I must say I have a lot! Over the past few summers my Mom and I have been working on thinning our things but it is quite the process. The things that we hold on to though, have importance to us and most likely only us. Most people would disregard these things in an instant if they came across them. That is why I find it so interesting that Twinkle finds so much value and importance in other's knickknacks...
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Kristen and Maire. I can relate to Maire when she said "I must say have a lot [of childhood knickknacks]!" My mom often refers to me as a "packrat," which I guess I am in some ways, but if something has emotional value to me, I have a really hard time getting rid of it. I also have to say that I agree with what Kristen said about not finding much meaning in OTHER people's knickknacks. However, maybe it's not the knickknacks themselves that Twinkle finds value in, but more the adventure and mystery she finds in discovering them in such odd and random places.
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to agree with what everyone has been saying in their comments ... and would have to say that I have many meaningful items from my past that I refuse to part with. These things mean so much to me because they serve as reminders of how I came to where I am now. However, these things would most likely serve no purpose to someone who doesn't understand their significance. Items are just simply items until people come along and give them meaning. In this sense, I give the various things I own meaning in their own right ~ and these meanings vary from person to person.
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