Originally posted by: mango.falooda
great post! just wanted to add on to your above points --
Aryan is an interesting character to me because he is not meant to be the hero in the typical sense. He is anti-hero and he owns it. He is also suffering from complex/prolonged grief.
Looked it up and there are stages of grief that people go through:
1. Shock or disbelief -- Reality hits hard; There’s unwillingness to accept the loss.
2. Pain & guilt -- Troubled by ‘If only’ and ‘I ought to have’ thoughts and questions. Did you do best at that moment? These thoughts magnify the pain
3. Anger and bargaining -- Feelings of anger or frustration. Some people may feel angry at a person who caused a loss. Others may have feelings of anger directed toward God or a higher power for not preventing the loss. Some blame the person for leaving them. Others want to bargain for a better outcome.
4. Depression, Reflection, and Loneliness -- Reflecting upon the loss they experienced and how it has affected their life will cause many to withdraw from others to deal with their feelings of grief alone
5. Acceptance and hope -- Accepting a loss means you can acknowledge the loss and feel okay with moving forward with your life
If we see it through these lenses, it is clear that Aryan has not at all processed his grief. He is still angry, he is still in pain and he is still in disbelief. Unlike Narmada and Arpita who cried buckets and even had a period of depression, he felt that he did not have the freedom to weep and grieve. There was the business to take over, people depending on him and a famiy completely shattered. He was left alone to pick up the pieces. In order to do that, he shut down his emotions completely. He refused to cry because he knew that if he did, he would break. So his sense of responsibility, frustration and anger is what kept him going for four years.
I read a quote somewhere that said -- "if you hold on to grief too tightly, it can corrode your soul" -- in many ways, that is the impact of grief on Aryan.
From the beginning, people in the office have been wondering why Aryan is so protective of Imlie. For Aryan, Imlie was a victim just as he and his family were. He took her under his wings and his protective instincts have been on high alert. So he is in some ways trying to protect Imlie from herself and her stupidity. Just as he picked up the pieces for the business and his family, he is now attempting to do the same for Imlie.