• us so much if all along He intends to take it away?

Of course, there is no answer to that question.

Conflict

Shaila’s conflict throughout the story is how to move on in her life.  As a caring, sensitive person, she also wants to help others who are stuck in their grief.

How the government handles the tragedy also is examined.  The clumsy mistakes of the Canadian government are explored.  Shaila works briefly in an effort to help the agencies involved take care of those who are stuck and having difficulty finding their way out of the tragedy.

The air crash happened over the ocean.  Some victims’ bodies were recovered.  Many were not.  Shaila’s loved ones were never located. This left Shaila in a state of limbo.  She hoped that they were alive since they were not found. Her mind knows that this is not the case, but she lacked closure. 

The author parallels Shaila’s recovery with her neighbor Kasum.  Kasum’s husband was found, but her daughter’s body was never recovered.  Now Kasum has difficulty relating to her other daughter and the rest of her family.  She goes to an ashram, or retreat, in an effort to find peace.

At one point in her struggle, Kasum considers suicide by going to the place in the ocean where the crash occurred and joining her daughter. By the end of the story, Kasum tells Shaila that she has inner peace and serenity. Unfortunately, Kasum and the other daughter no longer communicated.

During her recovery, Shaila travels with her parents and other widows and widowers.  She visits Ireland near the place that the plane crashed.  The Irish people were very supportive and kind unlike the reaction from the Canadian government.

Climax

The climax of the story transpires when Shaila goes to India with other widows and widowers. At a retreat, Shaila sees a vision of her husband. 

He tells her: ‘You’re beautiful. What are you doing here?’
‘Shall I stay?’ I ask. 
He only smiles but already the image is fading. 
‘You must finish alone what we started together.’  No seaweed wreathes his mouth. He is gone.

From this encounter, Shaila responds by trying to move forward with her life. After meeting a dentist who also lost family members, she begins to correspond with him.  She returns to Canada and sells her house.  Her life becomes one of waiting, listening, and praying.  Yet, she has no joy. 

 Again, she hears the voices of her family. They tell her:

‘Your time has come… Go, be brave.

She places a package she was carrying on the bench, symbolically leaving her old life behind. Shaila walks forward to find a life of healing and hope.

"The Management of Grief" explores issues of identify, isolation, grief, and racism. Shaila has lost her husband and sons to a tragic event. Her country fails to provide her with the aid she needs. She finds herself feeling alienated and lost. This reflects Bharati Mukherjee’s real life response to the bombing. She openly criticized the Canadian government for calling the bombing a cultural struggle between Indians, when in fact the majority of the the passengers were Canadian citizens. She viewed the bombing as an act of terrorism and not some "cultural conflict" outside of the sphere of so-called normal Canadian culture.

These disagreements mirror the actions of some of the white Canadians in the story, who at first seem sympathetic, but cannot (or will not) provide the support or sympathy Shaila needs. A perfect example of this is Judith, the social worker who displays an obvious misunderstanding of Indian culture and mourning practices. She keeps bringing a cold textbook approach to grief and her frequent mentions of the Indian community suggest that she believes this is a uniquely Indian tragedy. 

The story ends in a tragic place. Shaila is living alone in an apartment with little company. She continues to hear the voices of her family, encouraging her to be brave and continue on. This highlights the stark isolation that comes with the loss of loved ones and also the daily experience of marginalized peoples. In the story's final moments, she mentions that she is beginning a new journey, one whose ending she cannot see. This shows that she is perhaps starting to let go of some of her grief. She has decided to be brave and keep fighting. Her struggle at the end of the story and her frequent communications with the dead symbolize the multigenerational struggles of marginalized groups. She must continue what her family has started.