Throughout Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies we see many, many dysfunctional marriages. In fact, we see more marriages that are falling apart than not. We first see a less than functional marriage in “A Temporary Matter”, the very first story. In “A Temporary Matter” Shukumar and Shoba’s broken relationship is put on display when they begin confessing things to each other when the power goes out. The couple’s marriage has been going downhill since the still birth of their baby, especially due to the fact that the husband wasn’t even there for the birth. At the end of the story the Shoba admits that she has plans to move out, implying the end of their marriage.
One of the strangest relationships we see is Mr. and Mrs. Das’. In this story, the title track as Mr. Mitchell would say, “Interpreter of Maladies”, not only do we see an unfaithful and unhealthy marriage, but we see Mrs. Das’ odd fixation on Mr. Kapasi. I interpreted her fixation to be a way to make Mr. Das jealous. Or maybe she’s just craving something new and interesting, and Mr. Kapasi fulfills that. Either way, I saw her detachment from her family very strange. The biggest relationship stumbling block we see in this story is definitely her child born from wedlock, Bobby. We see that this is clearly something that weighs very heavily on Mrs. Das, so much that she chooses to share this secret with Mr. Kapasi when the rest of her family is touring India. Mr. and Mrs. Das’ relationship is clearly strained/not there at all, and no matter what Mrs. Das chooses to do about Bobby (tell Mr. Das versus keep it a secret) it will continue to weigh heavily on their relationship and family.
We see this again in “Sexy”, a very familiar story about an affair between a young woman, Miranda, and an older man Dev. A love story that involves a married man can never be a healthy one. As most of these stories go, Miranda ends up leaving Dev, but not after numerous attempts to change herself for him (for example, learning Indian).
In “This Blessed House” we see an obviously different newly married/newly introduced couple, Sanjeev and Twinkle, yes, Twinkle, quarreling over multiple things. It begins as an argument over the Christian relics Twinkle begins to find in their new home. Twinkle sees it as a fun game, and doesn’t mind putting the figurines up in their home. Sanjeev on the other hand, is completely against these objects. Sanjeev’s family is still living in India, and he seems to have a more devout Hindu faith than Twinkle. Sanjeev doesn’t want the relics on display when he has his work friends over for a party, for he fears they will think he and Twinkle practice Christianity (which, admittedly, many guests do). During the party, which Sanjeev spent all morning preparing for, Twinkle quickly becomes the center of attention. This seems to greatly upset Sanjeev, especially since they’re his colleagues, and he planned the party. At the end of this story we’re left with Sanjeev carrying a large bust of Jesus Christ downstairs in front of all the party guests, and questions about the future of their marriage.
All of these stories have the same theme of a dysfunctional relationship. This is the majority of Lahiri’s stories so far. It makes me wonder if this was her intention, or if perhaps the stories just evolved like that. It’s an interesting way to connect all of these seemingly unconnected stories. I’m interested to see how Lahiri ends this collection of short stories.
You make a really strong connection between these stories from Lahiri. I don't really know what her intention was behind drawing this connection between these stories. I think this has been an major theme that we have seen throughout many collections that we have read this semester not just in Lahiri. I found it interesting that you included "Sexy" in the stories that you said showed examples of dysfunctional relationships. I never thought about it that way since there was a husband and wife in the story, which is common in most other dysfunctional relationship stories. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI read your blog post after reading the last story, and I think that it's interesting how "The Third and Final Continent" is placed at the very end of the book. It seems to provide some sort of resolution for all of the problems that Lahiri has brought up in the rest of the stories. Many of the earlier stories seem to be some kind of commentary on problems in relationships or immigration, but I felt like the last story was sort of like a disclaimer saying that not everything has to go wrong for there to be a story to tell. I think Lahiri uses the last story to show that good relationships do happen.
ReplyDeleteThe last four books we've read (In Our Time, Self-Help, Drown, and Interpreter of Maladies) have featured primarily stories about dysfunctional relationships. It's got me wondering, why is it such a prevalent theme? We often have to draw conclusions or make judgements about the couples so clearly the intricacies of relationships, dysfunctional or not, are too much to be explored enough through short stories.
ReplyDeleteThe stories our class have been reading seem to have mainly dysfunctional relationships. The last one in this story was an anomaly. However, the first story of Interpreter of Maladies seemed to be going on a distinctly positive arc, from practically roommates, to what seemed to be more personal connections, until the final devastating reveal. Mrs. Das does really seem to have something with Mr. Kapisi, and she clearly thinks very highly of his abilities, given the things the tells him and asks him for help with.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned something to this effect in class, but I'm not so pessimistic about Twinkle and Sanjeev. It's true that they seem really different, and incompatible, at this early stage in their relationship. But that relationship is young, and the ways they're incompatible have to do with the style and tone of their household, the little negotiations entailed in making a home *together*, which reflects both of their sensibilities and not just one. I may be in the minority who finds Twinkle charming and fun (I'd totally be following her up into the attic on the "scavenger hunt," and I think her kitschy affection for these horrid quasi-Christian knick-knacks funny and endearing). But I think Sanjeev needs to learn to loosen up a bit (a LOT), and hanging out with Twinkle may be just the thing for him.
ReplyDeleteConsider the narrator and Mala's story in "Third and Final Continent"--their prospects seem even dimmer in the early stages of their marriage (their housewarming party probably not very fun at all!), but that story ends with the narrator reflecting on a long and happy life together. It just took some time for the ice to melt.