Symbolism is an important factor in many stories. In “Interpreter of Maladies”, the author, Jhumpa Lahiri, uses the symbol to represent her idea. In the story, the main character, Mr. Kapasi, is an Indian tour guide who accompanies the Das family on their way to see the Sun Temple at Konarak. Mr. Kapasi is an intelligent and knowledgeable man. He was once fluent in many languages but now speaks only English. He wanted to be a diplomat once but now he works as an interpreter in a doctor’s office. Mr. and Mrs. Das are young couple with three kids. Mr. Kapasi feels that they are more likely to be brother and sister to the kids than parents. The story’s central conflict focuses on the marriage situation because both the protagonist, Mr. …show more content…
His arranged marriage is struggling because his wife cannot recover from her sorrow over the loss of their young son. Mrs. Das’s sudden interest in his job makes him start his romantic imagination journey. When the Das family has lunch, Mr. Kapasi is invited to join with them. Then, they take the photograph which Mr. Kapasi happens to sit next to Mrs. Das. At the time, Mr. Kapasi feels that he is the best match with Mrs. Das as both of them have the same maritally unsatisfied circumstances. Mrs. Das asks for Mr. Kapasi’s address to send the photograph that they have taken. For her, asking Mr. Kapasi’s address is nothing, but for Mr. Kapasi, writing his address on the scrap paper becomes the way to begin his romantic relationship.
The scrap paper also represents the future communication for Mr. Kapasi to have relationship affair with Mrs. Das. Effective communication is an important characteristic to build a strong and happy family. However, Mr. Kapasi has lost his ability to communicate with his wife. The narrator indicates that Mr. Kapasi has to spend his evening with enjoying “the evening newspaper and a cup of tea that his wife would serve him in silence” (554). As Mr. Kapasi’s marriage is not a happy marriage, he was thinking that the world is not fair for him as he has to drink his tea in silence and he is in a loveless marriage. Similarly, Mrs. Das also doesn’t want to communicate with her
Sunglasses, not only worn for protection from the sun, are also used for other reasons. Some are unrecognizable in sunshades and can even hide their true selves. Ultimately, sunglasses can even hide one’s shame. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story, Interpreter of Maladies, Mrs. Das, a major character, is portrayed as a distant woman that searches for romance in all the wrong places. Throughout the story, Mrs. Das rarely removes her sunglasses. The symbol of Mrs. Das’s sunglasses represents the detachment from her own family, the potential bond breaking secrets she hides from them, and the inevitable guilt she feels.
In everyday life, a relation is always identified as trust and support. In this novel, a relation between a husband and a wife is shown in a different way. Min, one of the characters in the story, is shown losing her mental stability and is living with her two children. She did not have any contact with her husband in few years and neither did he try to contact
Chapter three of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, when first read, confusion will start to seep through because of the concepts and writing style within the story making it unique in it’s own ways. More time processing the little details can lead to a different perspective of viewing the story in a more indepth way. Chapter three is a short story about Mrs.Das, who is miserable with her marriage and her life, as she starts revealing her secrets to Mr.Kapasi who also identical to Mrs.Das, is miserable with his marriage and life. In this chapter, Jhumpa Lahiri applies symbolism to affect the meaning of the story and to exhibit more concepts with ordinary objects you might not see as an alternative meaning.
In “Interpreter of Maladies”, an American couple, Mr. and Mrs. Das, went on vacation to India. The couple was fairly young, but they had three children. They hired a tour guide, Mr. Kapasi, to drive them around. Mr. Kapasi was educated, and also an interpreter in a doctor’s office where he was able to apply his bilingual abilities. Mr. Kapasi lived in a passionless, arranged marriage. He was convinced his life was a failure and craved something more. When the tour began, Mr. Kapasi socialized with the family and was able to see more of their relationship
Many of the stories in Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri include a fundamental composition of literary elements, such as conflict which readers see in both “Interpreter of Maladies” and “A Temporary Matter”. Lahiri shows the difficulty of communication which overtime turn into the destruction of the entire relationship. For instance, readers see difficulty in communication when Shukumar and Shoba become distant shortly after she has a stillborn child. The death of their baby has severe effects their entire relationship, and adds to their lack of communication. Similarly in “Interpreter of Maladies” when Mrs. Das hides information about Raj and
By fantasizing about Mrs. Das, Mr. Kapasi tries to disregard the problems he has with his own wife. Continually Mr. Kapasi tries to deduce that Mrs. Das is right for him. “ Unlike his wife, she had reminded him of his intellectual challenges”
I think the theme of this is about chaos and how Mr. Kapasi feels about this chaotic family. Everyone’s home life is different, so I think it’s a combination of what Mr. Kapasi see’s and how the family behaves. It’s obvious that these parents were either too young or too immature for children. The way that they act proves that the impression that Mr. Kapasi has could be true. It seems as if these people are so wrapped up in their own problems that they can’t get beyond what it might actually mean to be a family. It literally seemed like Mrs. Das was
In Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ Mr. Kapasi , the main character, seems to be a person with mixed feelings. He does not seem to have fixed stand neither in his job nor on his thoughts. His thoughts and experience are structured by the strict cultural society of India. His hidden wants and desires suppressed by the community rules are looking for way to come out. The consequence is his changing thoughts and desires which at different parts of the story appear differently and brings
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody,” says Mark Twain. Twain’s concept shines through in multiple stories of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Human vulnerability glimmers in the dark, while harsh public facades gloom over the daylight. Lahiri utilizes darkness to display true selves, personalities the individual desires to be seen are showcased using light. These devices are especially relevant in the text which is a tribute to human emotion and interaction as well as the power knowledge as on the heart. Two stories this is mainly true in are “A Temporary Matter” and “Interpreter of Maladies”.
In the short story “Interpreter of Maladies” the narrator is inside Mr. Kapasi’s head, so we see the story from his point of view; moreover he is one of the protagonists in this short story. However, in this story we can see another protagonist – this is Mrs. Das. Mr. Kapasi observes the Das family, their habits and manners, their relationships within their family and comes to some conclusions about Mrs. Das after their tet-a-tet conversation. In this conversation, Mrs. Das has partially opened up her soul for Mr. Kapasi; however, Mr. Kapasi will not help Mrs. Das because his sympathy for her diminishes when he hears her confession about her son Bobby. Even though Mr. Kapasi does not truly understand Mrs. Das, this trip through India is
Through her tasteful selection of contemporary Indian influenced prose pieces, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the unique journey of Indian families established in America. Focusing on the intergenerational aspect of traditional households, Lahiri conveys the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies a person who is branded as a foreigner. In America, there exists a common misconception that immigrants who arrive in this country fully assimilate or seek to assimilate as time progresses. The category I chose was "The Dot of true Happiness." The dot which signifies the bindi, a traditional red mark worn by Indian people, is the source of true happiness among these immigrants.
Interpreter of Maladies focuses on communication as one of the universal themes throughout the book. The stories demonstrate how communication is the key to the success or failure of relationships. While there are instances when communication is effectively employed and therefore enabled the characters to build strong and intimate connections, there are examples of where communication was superficial or ineffectual, leading to unstable, limited relationships. Jhumpa Lahiri illustrates the importance of communication within relationships by allowing readers to experience the consequences and advantages that have developed as a result throughout the short
Interpreter of Maladies is just one of the many short stories written by Jhumpa Lahiri. Interpreter of Maladies is the story of an American family and an Indian tour guide, Mr. Kapasi. Driving from location to location, Mr. Kapasi revealed his second job as a translator of symptoms of patients who speak a different language than the doctor. Mrs. Das declared his job romantic. Mr. Kapasi became smitten with the woman because he himself suffered from a broken marriage. Seeking help from Mr.Kapasi, Mrs. Das wanted a remedy for her malady; therefore, Mrs. Das admitted that her middle child wasn’t conceived by her husband. However, Mr. Kapasi could not find a solution to her problem. He could only diagnose her with the feeling of guilt. There
“They wept together, for the things they now knew.”(104) The last sentence of the first story in Interpreter of Maladies, reveals the cruelty of the elapsed romance in a marriage. In the two collections, A Temporary Matter and The Third and Final Continent, Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrates that a marriage can be either uplifting or discouraging depends on the mindset held by the couple and the strength of human bonding. Lahiri emphasizes the significance of mindset and human bondings through the ending of the two stories. The endings of the two stories are polar opposite : In A Temporary Matter, Shukumar and Shobha weeps for the termination of their relationship; The Third and Final Continent, by contrast, the protagonist(MIT) enjoys a fairytale-like
In order to overcome one’s malady, one has to interpret it at first. Mina Das also suffers from a malady. Her malady is deep-rooted and she had been suffering from it since seven years. For the first time in her life, she reveals to Mr.Kapasi that her younger son Bobby was not her husband’s. Raj and Mina got married very young. She was overwhelmed when she conceived very early. She spent her days in her house, nursing the baby and taking care of the house. Raj became very busy with his teaching assignments and life became dull and drab for Mina. Her problems became more complicated when she conceived Bobby because of a sexual encounter with one of Raj’s friend. She kept the secret for eight years and finally revealed it to Mr. Kapasi. She thought that Mr.Kapasi is the right one who could interpret her malady and give proper solutions to her problems- “Eight years, Mr.Kapasi, I’ve been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better, say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy.” (IOM,65). Mr.Kapasi, because of his typical Indian background and patriarchal ideology could not understand the depth of her problem. Instead he was disgusted. He felt that it was his duty to assist Mrs.Das and said- “Is it really pain you feel, Mrs.Das, or is it guilt?”(IOM,66) Mina Das was not ready to accept that it was her guilt that made her suffer. Mr.kapasi could not understand the fact that it was because of her unhappiness and dullness in her marriage that caused her to have an extra-marital sexual relationship. He considers it as an act of unfaithfulness towards her husband. In the story, Jhumpa Lahiri shows how the Indians and Americans are caught in the middle of two different cultures. Mr.Kapasi wanted to have a close relationship with Mrs.Das, he fantasized about her. But as soon as, he came to know about her secrets of the affair, Mr.Kapasi was disgusted. Mr.kapasi’s relationship