"Interpreter of Maladies"

                I have to admit after reading “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri that I am very confused as to the purpose of the article and in which way it relates to the theme of identity. Initially, as I read of how Mr. and Mrs. Das were born and raised in American though of Indian descent, I anticipated that the short story would be focused around the idea of a comparison of American and Indian cultures. Because I read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan for my AP Language class last year, I was already making comparisons in my head between the two stories as I read and expecting some massive revelation to be made upon the family’s arrival at the temple at Konarak. However, I soon began to discover the short story’s main focus was on unrequited love and unsuccessful relationships. The reader quickly learns that both Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi are entrapped with the confines of very unhappy and lukewarm marriages. The fact that Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das both feel as though their lives are empty, lacking, and unfulfilled due to their lack of happy relationships with their spouses leads me to feel as though the purpose of “Interpreter of Maladies” was to reveal how love is just as essential a component to our identities as our backgrounds and cultures are.

                Throughout the course of the short story Mr. Kapasi develops a bit of an infatuation for Mrs. Das based solely on the fact that she, unlike his wife, actually took an interest in his work and considered it a noble and “romantic” occupation. The fact that Mr. Kapasi assembled romantic feelings for Mrs. Das so rapidly in response to this display of interest is highly indicative of the fact that he is desperate for a mutual relationship with someone in which he loves them completely and the feelings are reciprocated. As soon as Mr. Kapasi entertained the idea of falling in love with this woman, he also began to imagine a bolder and brighter future for himself, even in regard to his career. Due to this insight, I believe that Lahiri was intending to make use of the third person omniscient narrator in order to reveal how, for Mr. Kapasi, love represented happiness and a more promising future. On the other hand, Mrs. Das merely wanted a relationship with Mr. Kapasi so that he could utilize his skills as an interpreter to perhaps absolve her of her guilt for having an affair. This is reflected in Mrs. Das’s request for Mr. Kapasi’s address and then her loss of the address: the request and loss of the address symbolizes her request for absolution of her guilt and then her indifference towards Mr. Kapasi when he could not grant her this. (This is in response to question 4 on page 166). While I admit that I am still confused as to the ultimate purpose of this story and its connection to the identity theme, a line on page 164 truly stood out to me in regard to the relevance of identity. Lahiri writes, “He looked at her… who loved neither her husband nor her children, who had already fallen out of love with life.” This quote embodies the essence of the story, that love is an inherent component of our identity, and without this love, we cannot embrace our identity nor embrace our zest for life.