Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ is a short story by Jhumpa Lahiri, the third and titular story in her short story collection, published in 1999. The 'Interpreter of Maladies' story collection won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. The poem's main theme is communication or the lack of it. The story is told in the third person, closely expressing the point of view of Mr. Kapasi, a tourist guide who observes an American-Indian family who came to India. The story also highlights the cultural differences between Indians and American Indians, who though appear similar, yet, are quite different. Despite this difference, the story suggests that a lack of communication leads to the disintegration of a family. Another theme of the story is guilt and the importance of taking responsibility. The story suggests that refusing to take responsibility for one’s actions results in a sort of toxic stasis that leaves families vulnerable. The story also depicts the dangers of romanticism. The main conflict of the story centers on two people who romanticize each other, although in different ways. Frustrated by his stagnant married life, Mr. Kapasi begins fantasizing about Mrs. Das. On the other hand, Mrs. Das sees him as a fatherly figure and expects him to help her get through or solve the marital problems she is facing.
Characters of Interpreter of Maladies:
Mr. Kapasi is a tour guide who also works for a doctor, translating the symptoms of Gujurati patients. Mr. Kapasi dreamed of being an interpreter for diplomats, but he settled for a mundane career after an unhappy marriage and the death of a son. He lost his ability to communicate in some of the languages he learned as a younger man, leaving him with only English, which he fears he does not speak as well as his children. Mrs. Das and her family accompany tour guide Mr. Kapasi to the Sun Temple of Konark. She has fallen out of love with her husband and does not express affection toward her three children. On a whim, she admits to Mr. Kapasi that she had an extra-marital affair and her husband is not the father of her second son. Mr. Das and his wife are Americans of Indian descent, removed somewhat from the land of their ancestors. He is content with his life and children, blind to the unhappiness of his wife. He has been irresponsible towards his wife’s emotional needs and that led her to fall for an extra-marital affair, the guilt of which encumbers her. Ronny, Bobby, and Tina are the three kids of Mr. and Mrs. Das. All three kids suffer from the negligence of their parents. However, Mrs. Das clearly favors Bobby, her second son, a product of her extra-marital affair. Tina, the eldest daughter strains for the attention of her mother.
Summary of Interpreter of Maladies:
The story begins as, Mr. Kapasi escorts Mr. and Mrs. Das and their three children, a young Indian American family from New Jersey on a sightseeing holiday in India, to the Sun Temple at Konarak. The car halts at a tea shop as Tina, the youngest child of Das's family wants to go to the washroom. Mr. and Mrs. Das argue about who should take their daughter, Tina, to the bathroom. Mr. and Mrs. Das are reluctant to accompany their daughter, subtly alluding to their selfishness and negligence. Mr. Kapasi observes them carefully. Mr. and Mrs Das are a young couple, perhaps not yet 30, but they have two boys – Ronny and Bobby – in addition to Tina. Mr. Kapasi is struck by how American they are despite their Indian heritage. Finally, Mrs. Das takes Tina to the bathroom but isn’t happy about it. Mr. Kapasi notices that Mrs. Das doesn’t bother to hold her daughter’s hand as if she is a negligent mother.
Mr. Kapasi is 46 and has silver hair and an unlined brow. He wears suits tailored to sitting long hours in a hot car. He is an observant, somewhat jaded, tour guide, native to India. He's been there, done that—but usually with white American tourists, not this family of Indians who appear and act American. Ronny, who looks just like his father, inspects a goat near the tea stall where the travelers have stopped. Mr. Das tells Bobby to make sure his brother doesn’t do anything stupid, but Bobby is too engrossed in a picture of the elephant god taped to Mr. Kapasi’s glovebox to be bothered. None of the boys pay attention to what their father says. Mr. Kapasi says that the goat is harmless and asks Mr. Das about him and his family. Mr. Das proudly says that he and Mina (Mrs. Das), both were born in America, not India, and that their parents moved back to India after retiring. The Das family visits them every couple of years. Mr. Das is a science teacher at a middle school in New Jersey while Mrs. Das is a housewife. When Tina returns alone, Mr. Das asks where Mina is? Mr. Kapasi observes that Mr. Das referred to his wife by her first name to his daughter, which is not common in India. Mr. Kapasi notices Mrs. Das buying a pack of puffed rice from a street vendor. As she returns, the tea shop owner serenades her with a Hindi love song which she ignores as she doesn’t understand Hindi. Mr. Kapasi notices her plump figure under her shirt featuring a large strawberry on her chest, revealing clothes, and stylish hair. She wears her sunglasses even when there's no sun. She's way into self-grooming, dressing to the nines, manicures, while it appears that her kids are kind of an afterthought to her. She slouches in the back seat and begins eating her puffed rice without offering to share it with anyone, and the group commences their journey to the Sun Temple. Mr. Kapasi notices the ways the children misbehave and the parents are impolite or uncaring with each other. Mrs. Das complains about the heat and chides her husband for hiring a car that is not air-conditioned just to save a little money. Mr. Das tells her it’s not hot. The boys see some monkeys, and despite their relative ubiquity in the area, Mr. Das instructs Mr. Kapasi to stop so they can take a photo.
Mr. Kapasi tells about his other job as an interpreter in a doctor’s office which attracts Mrs. Das’s attention. Mrs. Das remarks that his job is romantic and asks him to tell her about some of his patients. She asks him to describe typical situations he encounters at the office, and Mr. Kapasi obliges by telling of a patient who had come in with a pain in his throat. Mrs. Das compliments him and suggests that his job is no less than the doctor’s job. However, Mr. Kapasi views his job as a failure. At one time, he had been a scholar of many languages, and now he remains fluent only in English. He took the interpreting job as a way to pay the medical bills when his eldest son contracted typhoid and died at age seven. He kept the job because the pay was better than his previous teaching job, but it reminded his wife of their son’s death. Mr. Kapasi’s marriage was arranged by his parents, and he and his wife have nothing in common. Mrs. Das offers Mr. Kapasi a piece of gum. Their eyes meet in the rear-view mirror.
Mr. Kapasi, seduced by Mrs. Das’s description of his job as “romantic,” begins fantasizing about Mrs. Das.
After some time, they stop for lunch. Mrs. Das insists on him sitting with her and he obliges. The children leave to look at the monkeys perched in the trees. Mrs. Das asks Mr. Das to take pictures of her with Mr. Kapasi. Mr. Das tells her to lean a bit closer to Mrs. Das which she does. Mr. Kapasi is excited by the closeness to Mrs. Das, noting her appealing scent. He worries that she can smell the perspiration on his skin. Mrs. Das gets Mr. Kapasi’s address so that she can send him a copy of the picture, and Mr. Kapasi begins to daydream about how they will have a great correspondence that will, in a way, finally fulfill his dreams of being a diplomat between countries. He imagines the witty things he will write to her and how she will reveal the unhappiness of her marriage.
They arrive at the sun temple. Mr. Kapasi explains the history of the temple while Mr. Das continues to read his book about India. The temple is a pyramid-like structure carved in the shape of a chariot sitting within a dry river. The wheels are 9 feet high and represent life. Friezes of men and women in erotic poses appear along with symbols of daily life like trading and hunting. Mrs. Das praises the site, to Mr. Kapasi’s delight. He explains the three statues of Surya, the sun god, representing dawn, afternoon, and sunset, and says that he hopes Mrs. Das understands beauty and power. He asks when she will return to America, and he calculates the time it will take for her first letter to arrive. Mrs. Das grows very friendly to him. He is excited because she is the first person to take an interest in his work. He wishes to spend more time with her and thus, he suggests a detour to monastic dwellings. He fantasizes about taking Mrs. Das’s hand while her husband is occupied with his camera.
Mrs. Das stays in the car because her legs are tired. The children are delighted by the monkeys that line the path. Bobby picks up a stick and plays with one of the more aggressive monkeys. Mr. Kapasi compliments the boy and Mrs. Das reveals that Mr. Das is not the boy’s father. He gets his bravery from another man. She confesses to him that her younger son, Bobby, is the product of an affair she had eight years ago. Mrs. Das has kept this a secret for 8 years– Bobby’s age. She tells him how she and Mr. Das had been together since they were young; how they married in college; how she didn't have any friends other than Raj (Mr. Das's first name); how lonely she became; how Raj seemed unaffected by all of this and even invited his Punjabi friend to stay over at their house. The Punjabi made advances towards Mrs. Das and she did not resist. The man is now married and the couples trade photos at Christmas time. Mr. Kapasi can't help wondering aloud why Mrs. Das is telling him all of this, at which point Mrs. Das gets a little snippy with him and tells him to stop calling her Mrs. Das since she's only 28 and he probably has kids her age.
Her remark somewhat offends Mr. Kapasi who was romanticizing about her. Mrs. Das tells Mr. Kapasi that she confided in him because of his job as an interpreter, insisting that his talents caused her to open up, which may unburden her. Mr. Kapasi doesn't get it because, after all, as he points out, they don't have a language barrier. But Mrs. Das seems to think that Mr. Kapasi has special powers of some type that can heal her "terrible" pain and her urge to throw everything in her life away. But the truth of a woman not yet thirty who is in love with neither her husband nor children simply depresses Mr. Kapasi. He thinks that her problems really are nothing in comparison to the patients who come to see the doctor at the office. Patients, who can't physically function because they're truly ill. Mr. Kapasi asks her: "Is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das, or is it guilt?"
Insulted, she gets out of the car, spilling her snack of puffed rice on a trail behind her. The monkeys gather for the treat, unbeknownst to Mrs. Das. When she joins the family, she realizes that Bobby is missing. He is surrounded by aggressive monkeys. Mrs. Das calls Mr. Kapasi to rescue Bobby. He shoos away the monkeys and delivers Bobby safely back to his parents. Mrs. Das grabs stuff out of her bag to tend to him, suggesting she still cares for Bobby, her son from her affair. The slip of paper on which Mr. Kapasi wrote his address flies out of Mrs. Das's bag while she's rummaging through it. No one notices except Mr. Kapasi, who knows that this is how he'll remember the Das family.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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