The Impact of Communication on Relationship in “Interpreter of Maladies” Jhumpa Lahiri is widely recognized as a Bengali-American author whose stories are focused on the Bengali/Indian immigrant experience. With her literary debut, she wins the 1999 O. Henry Award and the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1). “Interpreter of Maladies” is a short fiction story about the modern Indian Americans visiting India, which is considered a foreign country to them. Lahiri compellingly demonstrates that all types of relationships are unique and dependent on the efforts and communication of the individuals, which leads to misunderstanding between, couples and even failed relationships or marriages. The author has utilized the lack of communication …show more content…
Mr. Kapasi is a tour guide for the Das family and a part time physician’s interpreter. As describe in the story Mr. Kapasi is a “forty-six years old, with receding hair that gone completely silver…”(Lahiri 399). Mr. Kapasi is a highly self- educated man who once was very fluent in speaking about nine languages as stated in the story. His dream was to become an interpreter for diplomats and dignitaries, resolving conflicts between people and nations but he became a tourist and interprets for a physician instead (Lahiri 403). Mr. Kapasi is in a loveless arranged marriage that he and his wife are not content, especially the death of their son from typhoid fever at age eight made them more separate. He is attracted in Mrs. Das who takes interest in his job and life, which he tries to get close to her. However, once learning Mrs. Das’s secret, he becomes disappointed with her, realizing she is not who she appeared to …show more content…
Kapasi is an older man who is unsatisfied in his life. The lack of communication Mr. Kapasi has with everyone is one of the problems in his life. He states himself that as a interpreter for a physician communicating properly is very crucial to get the right treatment for example, “Very well. The other day a man came in with a pain in his throat…. You could tell the doctor that the pain felt like a burning, not a straw. The patient would never know what you had told the doctor, and the doctor wouldn't know that you told the wrong thing. It’s a big responsibility.” (Lahiri 403). In the story he mentions that after the death of his son from typhoid fever at age eight he started working as an interpreter for a physician as, it was his way with coping with his son’s death. Mr. kapasi had an arranged marriage, which seems unsuccessful, and one cause of it is the lack of communication Mr. Kapasi has with his wife. After his son’s death nothing was the same between him and his wife as he refers “bad match” (Lahiri 404). His wife cannot recover from her grief over the loss of their son and is not happy that he is working as interpreter because his job probably reminds her of the doctors who failed to save their son’s life, so instead of communicating with each other they both just avoid one another. Throughout the course of the story Mr. Kapasi has a sudden interested in Mrs. Das because unlike his wife who dislikes his job, Mrs. Das finds his job “romantic” and important.
Lahiri, a second-generation immigrant, endures the difficulty of living in the middle of her hyphenated label “Indian-American”, whereas she will never fully feel Indian nor fully American, her identity is the combination of her attributes, everything in between.
Sripathi’s intolerance of spending money on anything but himself leads to the disgust of his wife. During the planning of Maya’s engagement, he worries about “how much that [would] cost” (102) and even calls his wife a “foolish woman” (102). This is significant because it shows that Sripathi cannot bear the thought of splurging on his daughter’s engagement. This shows that he does not care about pleasing other people who are invited to ceremony; rather, he cares about his own financial future. Through the exchange between him and his wife, Sripathi is portrayed as a selfish person who only cares about his own opinions. He even belittles his wife for not accepting his opinion as the best idea. However, after Maya’s death, Sripathi copes by becoming more empathetic. He recalls what he has done to Maya and wonders how he will be able to face his grandchild with the knowledge that he is responsible for her mother’s death (245). This is significant because Sripathi begins to reflect and consider how others feel. Through this personal thought, this reveals how much his character has changed since the death of Maya. He now understands that he will not be able to face his grandchild because of how disowning Maya contributed to her death. Sripathi now tries to atone for what he has done to Maya by attempting to get closer to Nandana. This helps him to
Kothari employs a mixture of narrative and description in her work to garner the reader’s emotional investment. The essay is presented in seventeen vignettes of differing lengths, a unique presentation that makes the reader feel like they are reading directly from Kothari’s journal. The writer places emphasis on both her description of food and resulting reaction as she describes her experiences visiting India with her parents: “Someone hands me a plate of aloo tikki, fried potato patties filled with mashed channa dal and served with a sweet and a sour chutney. The channa, mixed with hot chilies and spices, burns my tongue and throat” (Kothari). She also uses precise descriptions of herself: “I have inherited brown eyes, black hair, a long nose with a crooked bridge, and soft teeth
Sociology professor Morrie Schwartz once said, "Rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble…” (Albom 149). Although not stated as clearly or concisely, the vast majority of Jhumpa Lahiri’s stories retell the truths told above. Three stories in particular; "A Temporary Matter," "When Mr. Pirzada Comes to Dine," and "The Third and Final Continent," especially exemplify the quote above. Throughout these stories Jhumpa Lahiri writes of the struggles Indians have building new relationships while trying to assimilate to American culture; Lahiri illustrates that in order to strengthen any relationship, one must display compassion, respect, and honesty.
In Lahiri’s story the attention and the plot of the story both stayed in one same direction that was the cultural clash. Lahiri’s story “Imperator of Maladies” revolves around people who are Indian’s living in India, Indian’s living in America or people Americans with an Indian decent. As her being a second generation immigrant in America, she realized at a very young age that her family is settled here but she was still not sure about the fact which place she could call her real home because of the different cultural she was witnessing in her everyday family life. In the story when the Das’s family did decided to visit India they did witness the same exact feeling. As the story progresses Lahiri gives us a brief background about Mr. and Mrs. Das as they both were born and raised in America but after sometime their retired parents decided to move back and spe...
Bharati Mukherjee was born on July 27, 1940 in Calcutta, India. (Pradhan ) She was born into a wealthy family, which assisted her in her dream of becoming a writer. She lived in India, Europe, the United States, and Canada. Migrating to these countries that are so different from her place of birth enabled her to write very powerful novels on immigrant experiences. Mukherjee’s novels focus on exploring the migration and the feeling of alienation that is experienced by these immigrants. (Pradhan) Her works have explored such themes as isolation, sexism, discrimination, the mistreatment of Indian women, and exploring identities.
In the novel Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, nine distinct stories are told that depict families or people of Indian descent who experience different situations and circumstances that affect their lives. Many themes arise throughout the stories, but one that is prevalent in two specific stories, “Mrs. Sen’s” and “Interpreter of Maladies,” is the idea of cultural assimilation. Both stories, however, portray the idea of cultural assimilation in different ways. “Mrs. Sen’s” is an example of a woman who resists cultural assimilation in order to preserve her Indian heritage, while “Interpreter of Maladies” is a story that depicts a family who falls victim to cultural assimilation, thus losing a sense of connection to their Indian roots
Jhumpa Lahiri explores the lives of an Indian family and the ways in which identities are explored and constructed by both the first generation immigrants Ashoke and Ashima and second generations Gogol and Moshoumi. Ashima and
Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies places emphasis on the character’s most impactful moments of realisation, from less significant moments such as the realisation that two people can truly connect in the dark to more important ones such as the revelation of a long untold secret. This essay will discuss some of these moments of revelation and their impacts on each character in relation to two stories, A Temporary Matter and Interpreter of Maladies, As well as the reason why they were painful. From Mr Kapasi’s realisation that Mrs Das had no interest in him to Shukumar’s realisation that he never had a chance of reviving his relationship with Shoba, the moments that will be discussed do painfully impact the characters. Within these two
Before their deaths, Mr. and Mrs. Das were preoccupied and inattentive to their four children, Raja, Tara, Bim, and Baba. They spent most of their time at the club, playing “their daily game of bridge” (Desai 50). This pastime is so important to them that they neglect to take care of their kids. For example, Mrs. Das tires of “washing and powdering” Baba, her mentally disabled baby, and she complains, “My bridge is suffering” (103). Mr. Das also does not focus on his children and “he [goes] through the day without addressing a word to them” (53).
He had been married for two years. His wife was born in India. He had gone to India after completing his studies. He travelled to India with his parents to visit relatives, and to have a holiday before he started. his new job.
Anita Desai, an exceptional writer, wrote a many stories. One that is referenced in the text book, A Devoted Son, is a short story simply about a boy in India who had won a scholarship for a college career in which he proceeded to do. However, with that said, the son in the text becomes a type of doctor. With this young man’s schooling he will have to make a choice in the story, which will lead to taking care of his father. Between the original planning of A Devoted Son and the final product, written by Anita Desai, she in fact has a different outcome then what she had expected. In Fact, when Desai plans her writing, it was far different than what she was used to. A short story, like A Devoted Son, was something that was very difficult, but was a present day story that will probably be used in the texts to come in the future. Again, between her original text, A Devoted Son and the final product there are many difference and similarities in which the story was written: the old man had lost his mind, the son staying to take care of his father, and finally the old man embarrassed his family by wondering the streets.
Anita Desai (1937) is a modern Indo-English writer, she is famous for her fiction writing, not only in India but also around the world. She emerged on the literary horizon after the independence of India and her main focus is, her writing on the ‘contemporary issues’ (Batts, 2011, pg.3). Desai mostly writes about the miserable plight of women suffering under their insensitive and inconsiderate husbands, fathers and brothers. All of which, leads to a man-woman relationship bringing characters into alienation, withdrawal, loneliness, isolation and lack of communication. Most of her novel’s protagonist are alienated from the world, society, family and even from their own selves because they are not average people but individuals. The similar situation also applies in “The clear Light of Day” published on 1980. Like most of her protagonist, Bimla is alienated and single-handedly faces the ferocious assault of existence but finally finds her freedom at the end. Thus this paper will portray Bimla’s unique character which will elucidate Bimla’s entrapment of her own making and attainment of freedom at the end.
The story revolves around three generation of women. However, Deshpande tries to distance herself from women’s lives and point of view through the use of a male narrative. Which she admits is deliberate to give it multi-dimensional social picture.The story deals with world of mothers,wives, daughters and their relation with fathers,sons and husbands. The writer is mainly concerned with the clash of Tradition and modernity as reflected in the generation gap and conflict between women. The complexities of marriage, the trauma of a disturbed adolescence, the attempt to...
The story begins with Head’s observation. There are two types of men: those who abuse their women like animals and those who really care about women. Garesego is the first type of man. He made Dikeledi pregnant three times within four years then left her. He lives in the same village but pretends like a stranger and has no responsibility to provides support for his wife or his kids. Although for many years living in the same area, she never approaches him for assistance for neither herself nor her children. She can prove that she is able to feed and clothe her children and pay for their school educations out of the small income she earns from her job sewing and knitting for other people in the village.