Joey Traverso
Mr. Sperisen
World Literature
December 16, 2014 In the book, A Fine Balance, written by Rohinton Mistry, Dina is an example that emotional pain can be worse than physical pain. Everyone that Dina loves leaves her in a dramatic way. Dina loses her father by a tragic death. Later on in her life she loses her best friend and husband, Rustom, to a sudden death. In the end, her new family, Ishvar, Omprakash, and
Maneck, suffer a series of events that leave them lost to her. These three events shape who she is and the course her life will take. The death of Dina’s father is the first emotional pain that she goes through because they have a special relationship with one another which she has with no one else. Dina and her father are so alike. Dina wants to be a doctor like her father and they are both hard working and passionate about what they do. They are also both generous and they care about others very much. When Dina’s father died her mother blamed the death on Dina because Dina encouraged her father to go out into the country to help others that are sick and injured. Nusswan, her brother, was the next oldest man in the family so he took charge of the family. Nusswan was very strict on Dina when she was growing up because he was jealous of how much more their father liked her. When Nusswan got married to Ruby, Dina started to become almost like a slave to the family. They made Dina go to the store, cook, clean, and do everything around the house.
When Dina grew older Nusswan tried to arrange a marriage for her, but Dina did not want to marry anyone if it was not for love. Fortunately for Dina she met Rustom while wondering around the streets one day. When Dina met Rustom not only did they fall in love with each other, but they became best friends. Dina loved Rustom so much that it did not matter that he was lower on the caste system then she was. Meanwhile, Nusswan was continuing to try and arrange a marriage for
Dina because she did not tell him about Rustom. Eventually Rustom and Dina end up getting married and even though Nusswan does not like it, he pays for the marriage out of obligation. On their third wedding anniversary, they invite Ruby, Nusswan and their two children for dinner.
After many years, they are all starting to get along. Rustom decides to go get ice cream for
Nusswan’s two kids. So it will be quicker, Rustom decides to ride his bike to get the ice cream.
However, it is taking longer than it should and Dina is starting to worry about him. Dina and
Nusswan go out to look for him and they find out that he was hit by a car and died. This death is so traumatic for Dina because Rustom is the love of her life and she has nobody else that cares for her like he does. After Rustom’s death, Shirin Aunty, Rustom’s aunt, teaches Dina how to sew and they become pretty close to one another. Not too much later Shirin Aunty dies and this is another difficult death for Dina to get through. Since Dina has now learned how to sew she decides to live by herself and start a business. Mrs. Gupta, a woman who works for a large textile business, likes the clothes that Dina makes, so they do business together. They do this for many years and then Dina begins to lose her vision so she has to hire two tailors. Two tailors, named Ishvar and Omprakash, get the job from Dina. At the same time that
Omprakash and Ishvar arrive at Dina’s house, a college boy named Maneck gets there too.
Maneck is the son of Dina’s old friend and she is sending him to live with Dina. Ishvar and
Omprakash live in the slums, but they work twelve hours a day at Dina’s. Initially Dina has no interest in forming a relationship with them. Once they are finished with work for the day she does not want them to stay around. She does not want to be friends with them. She prefers the pain of hard work over the possible pain from another emotional tie. Then the government has a plan for the city called the
