Interpreter of Maladies

The short story titled “The interpreter of maladies” represents the bigger collection of Jhumpa Lahiri who is an award winning Indian author. He is renowned for winning the famous Pulitzer award in 2000 (Noor, 2004). Furthermore his book has stood the taste of time as being a collection of craftily written fictional books. Specifically, the story dubbed the interpreter is motivated by the character played by Mr. Kapasi who works as a tour guide during the weekend and as an interpreter at a local hospital. His job description entails listening to patients after which he interprets their pains to the doctor who then treats them. He is oblivious of the pertinent role he plays in the lives of patients and people suffering from maladies until when he meets with an Indian family, born and raised in the United States. Mr. Kapasi; a middle aged tour guide at 46 years is assigned the role of taking them to their predestined destination which is the great shrines hosting the historic Sun Temple.

The temple is located at Konarak which is a bumpy ride from the Hotel Sandy Villa where the young couple and their three children had been booked for the night. Apparently Mr. Kapasi realizes that the parents are too young to take responsibility of their children let alone themselves. They easily pick quarrels with each other and even avoid the responsibility of siring their own children. The whole story becomes intriguing when Mr. Kapasi fantasizes about having Mrs. Das instead of his wife who had grown too cold for his liking after the loss of their children some years back. After they take photos over their lunch break and exchange addresses, Mr. Kapasi thinks of creating a long lasting relationship with Mina with the hopes that they would open up to each other and actualize their marriage lives which have become unbearable. Mr. Kapasi even offers to elongate their interaction by taking the family to another distant place with monastic dwellings and caves. It is while Mr. Das is away with the three children; Ronny, Bobby and Tina that Mrs. Das opens up and speaks to Mr. Kapasi about her love life with Mr. Das also known as Raj. Mr. Kapasi is agape when he is told that Bobby is a product of promiscuity and when he asks why she told him her secrets, Mrs. Das says that she is the interpreter of maladies so he could help her solve a marital problems (Noor, 2004).

Looking at the first question, Lahiri (1999) describes the Das family as a young family where both the children and their parents behaved like siblings. Mr. Kapasi also notices that the couple interacted like an older brother and a sister. This is implied by their calling each other Raj and Mina. He also notices the lack of responsibility among the two parents as they argue every time about who should take care of the children. The tone presented by Mrs. Raj while talking to her children shows that she is irritated with having a family. Thus her tone is critical even as she confides in Mr. Kapasi that she is still young to be a mother. The family’s relationship with India is disjointed as they even fail to visit their parents who retired and flew back to Assansol, India. On the other hand Mr. Das association with a camera and tour book is symbolic of his deep desire to retrace his heritage. Lahiri laments that the couple is too busy for India.

Apart from being a tour guide, Mr. Kapasi is an interpreter for Gujarati patients. This is a job that connects him to his childhood ambition of being an agent of peace across by interpreting and mediating conflicting countries with language barriers. He is a self-taught interpreter who had the ambition of interpreting for international diplomats. Mr. Kapasi is the main character in the story that is faced with the crisis of advising Mrs. Das after she confided in her believing that he was the best person to interpret her marriage maladies. The secret is that Bobby was born out of a promiscuous relationship with Raj’s friend who visited them. This encounter has made her to feel cold, detached and guilty for her actions that it hurts their relationship. Mrs. Das gets offended because she expected the interpreter of maladies to give a solution to her marital dilemma. Incidentally, Lahiri, (1999) uses the story to present the effect of acculturation and cultural shock on the growth and development of modern families. He emphasizes on the identity crisis and negated judgment that Indian Americans are exposed to when living in diaspora. Mr. Kapasi envisions a united family brought together by the misfortune that befalls them when Bobby is hurt by wild monkeys. At this instance, American families are seen to be so different from Indian families. The story therefore portrays Indian families as being cohesive and united while the American families are portrayed as being irresponsible especially when it comes to parenting.

References

Lahiri, J. (1999). Interpreter of maladies: stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Noor, R. (2004). “Review: Interpreter of Maladies”. World Literature Today 74 (No. 2, English Language Writing from Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines): 365–366.