ipl-logo

Interpreter Of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri

1110 Words5 Pages

There is no doubt a family vacation is a time for bonding and relaxation but that is not what happens in Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story “Interpreter of Maladies.” In principle, a vacation is a binary concept that involves contrast in order to happen: the “we and them”, the familiar and the unfamiliar, and the “here and there.” As the Das family visits India Lahiri makes use of these dualities to tell the story. She explores the idea of physical space to enhance the tension between her characters and show that the Das family vacation is anything but relaxing. According to Vera and Ansgar Nünning, characteristics of a short story include “careful selection, reduction and compression in the presentation of characters and the spatial and temporal …show more content…

Kapasi speaks English he becomes a tour guide to foreigners. This gives him the ability to contrast his world to theirs, his “here” is the tourist’s “there”. Ryan argues: […] the most fundamental human experience consists of apprehending oneself as a body located in space. […][Contrasting] Words […] organize space using the body as a point of reference (section …show more content…

Kapasi observes and describe the family, his annoyance is also perceptible. Mr. Das and the children, aside from being described as Indian looking Americans, receive an indifferent description. To Mrs. Das he is not so forgiving: “She was a short woman, with small hands like paws […] (Lahiri 46). Ryan supports that a pause in the narrative action allows the reader, through description, a more detailed glimpse of spatial frame (section 8, paragraph 1). The reader is also awarded a physical description of Mr. Kapasi which serves to intensify his own strangeness to the Das family, his clothes and mannerism show him to be just as foreign to them as they are to him. Lahiri’s discourse not only describes but also conveys the character’s feelings and that is one of the strategies listed by Ryan in order to minimize the narrative pause description demands (section 8, paragraph 1). Through the rearview mirror the disconnection of the foreign Indian family is apparent. They seem bored and irritated: the mother is distant, the father is indifferent and the children seem unruly and without direction. Lahiri gives the car a narrative function (Nünning, Nünning 129) and reinforces the tension making use of the immediate spatial frames (Ryan, section 3a). It is in the car, when the family is in most physical closeness that their emotional distance is heightened. A family that might as well have been strangers taking a bus ride and their interactions seem constricted and

Show More
Related

  • How Does The Author Use Rhetorical Devices To Simultaneously Inform And Keep The Reader Engaged

    350 Words  | 2 Pages

    Book 3 analysis prompt/analysis essay How does the author use rhetorical devices to simultaneously inform and keep the reader engaged? In the absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian junior uses many of rhetorical devices to tell us his story in a way that would keep the audience engaged and also get his message through. He uses imagery that complements his pictures and stories.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper 'And Sonny's Blues'

    535 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Elements of A Good Story What makes a good story? Oftentimes writers encounter questions like this and start to wonder about the writing essentials of a good story. As many skills and beautiful words that make up a captivating story, it will have to be one that makes connections to the readers. Only when readers are able to make a connection to their experience or values, they start gaining from the story. Through creating conflicts, conveying the theme and a relative background, the writers of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Sonny’s Blues” fully express their values and thoughts by the “bridge” between readers and them.

    Read More

  • Motifs In The Things They Carried And A Temporary Matter

    692 Words  | 3 Pages

    Characterization and motifs are two important literature terms that help give the reader a deeper understanding of the story and the characters. In The Things They Carried” and “A Temporary Matter” these two literature terms are important factors for the story plot. The motifs in the two short stories are symbols that are important to the true meaning behind the author purpose of writing the stories. The characterization in the two short stories helps you understand the characters in the story and the reason behind the actions they do.

    Read More

  • Syntax And Diction In Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks

    585 Words  | 3 Pages

    Do you have a favorite type of American short story? The author's style describes the way the author uses tone, words, the structure of sentences, and language to set a mood for the reader. In Amy Tan’s short story, “Fish Cheeks”, we learned about the author’s Chinese Christmas dinner and how she was embarrassed by her culture since her crush was there. In Edgar Allen Poe’s story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, we learned about a guy that had to kill his landlord because he had an evil eye and not greed. In “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe and in “fish cheeks” by Amy Tan, the authors use diction, syntax, imagery, and symbolism to create meaning in their work.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jhumpa Lahiri

    2148 Words  | 9 Pages

    Born to Bengali parents in July 1967,in London and with her family’s move to Rhode Island, Jhumpa Lahiri began life in the U.S.A. She grew up in the background of traditional Bengali culture. From childhood, she often accompanied her back to India-particularly to Calcutta (now known as Kolkata).. She observes that her parents retain a sense of emotional exile and she herself grew up with conflicting expectations. In her work, Lahiri, is a second-generation immigrant, reflects on the Indian diaspora and creates a narrative that reveals the inconsistency of the concept of identity and cultural difference in the space of diapora.

    Read More

  • Walker Percy The Loss Of Creature Summary

    1378 Words  | 6 Pages

    He divides his essay into two parts that of the tourists and students, explaining how humans are consumers that need to come to a more logical conclusion of experience, illustrating that their ways of interpretation need to be changed. An American couple travel to Mexico in hopes of finding “it” in order to return home. Percy gives this example as a way to refer to the development of the “symbolic complex” in society. The couple are tourists with preconceived notions on what to expect and what to experience during their travels.

    Read More

  • Bharati Mukherjee Two Ways To Live In America Analysis

    849 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author uses a sentimental appeal to illustrate Bharati’s willingness of acceptance and her sister’s averse attitude towards America through

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Interpreter Of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri

    874 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies is filled with comparisons and various motifs that could instigate the interests of the reader. The diversity of the mother-child relation shown in the symbolic portrayals of motherhood that Lahiri seems to grant more than the most basic critique is admittedly one of the more curious ones. Lahiri does not seem to prefer or priviledge any of the representations, be it American or Indian, but she certainly creates a clear image that the two characters, Mrs. Das and Mrs. Kapasi, make as mothers. There is less detail about Mrs. Kapasi and her realtions with her children, but the first time that Lahiri mentions her, she is shown as a caring mother whose son died. Lahiri writes that “in the end the boy had

    Read More

  • Mr. Kapasi's Interpreter Of Maladies

    2380 Words  | 10 Pages

    In Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story “Interpreter of Maladies”, the characters Mina and Mr. Kapasi are alike and different. Altogether, the two complement each other and differ from each other in their behavior, psychologically, and cultural values. Mr. Kapasi and Mina tend to have a similar outlook on their lives. In comparison, Mina and Mr. Kapasi share broken marriages and secrets. In contrast, Mina is immature and naïve and Mr. Kapasi shows experience and sacrifice.

    Read More

  • The Whole Town's Sleeping Setting Analysis

    626 Words  | 3 Pages

    The usage of short sentences gets the point across faster and keeps the reader engaged with the story. It also creates a feeling of realism that the reader is involved in the scene and gives them a feeling that something negative is going to happen. uThe setting also gives an atmosphere of suspense when they are walking down the streets, past the wax dummies shop “Do you suppose if we screamed they’d do anything?” The characters

    Read More

  • Imagery In Jamaica Kincaid's Short Story Girl

    464 Words  | 2 Pages

    Short stories are a piece of literature that holds a lesson in a small story, it has meaning behind it and with a large amount of imagery shows a picture of what the writer is trying to say. Short stories have been a very important piece of modern and past literature and always will, each story over the generations shows an evolution of not only english but also life in general. The story girl is an amazing short story by Jamaica Kincaid which has a deeper undertone of freedom while the mother explains how to be a lady. In the short story girl the mother explains how to be a lady, however with a deeper meaning of freedom behind it using a few key lines such as calling her daughter a slut.

    Read More

  • Geraldine Moore Point Of View Essay

    849 Words  | 4 Pages

    Three of the most important aspects of any story are the point of view, characterization and plot. In the short stories “Geraldine Moore the Poet,” “The Story-Teller,” and “Enemy Territory” this statement proves to be true. With a good analysis, all of these things can be found in the stories. Additionally, the point of view, characterization and plot can relate to the theme. The point of view needs to be scrutinized throughout the whole story.

    Read More

  • Pain And Suffering In Fever 1793 By Laurie Halse Anderson

    1308 Words  | 6 Pages

    With a little pain and suffering, there’s always something good afterwards. In the story “Fever 1793” Matilda “Mattie” is a normal girl in Philadelphia who lives in a coffee shop with her Mother and Grandfather. When a terrible disease called Yellow Fever strikes Philadelphia by surprise Matilda is forced to leave. Matilda shows extreme bravery, and commitment to helping others in their time of need.

    Read More

  • Interpreter Of Maladies Analysis

    1228 Words  | 5 Pages

    3 Hence,the rubber-filled sun temple in Konarak which is a dry region indicates the ruin of the marriage between Mr.Das and Mrs. Das. In addition ,the theme of self realization and the need of empathy to realize others are reflected through the characters of Mr. Das, Mrs. Das and Mr.Kapasi. The theme of cultural identity is reflected through the difference between the American

    Read More

  • Analysis: 'Long Enough In Jo Burg'

    848 Words  | 4 Pages

    By using “travel companions,” writers are trying not only to acquaint the the reader with racial issues but to show HOW these issues affect others in society. The extent and of the problem and the contexts of the encountered problems are different. In the poem, while narrator doesn 't explicitly discuss the issue of racial discrimination, she describes this problem as " life long practice.” On the other hand, author of the second text, explicitly detests what she has seen in the Johannesburg, but it 's her “first time

    Read More

More about Interpreter Of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri

Open Document