Communication Barriers In Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter Of Maladies

In the short story “Interpreter of Maladies” the narrator is inside Mr. Kapasi’s head, so we see the story from his point of view; moreover he is one of the protagonists in this short story. However, in this story we can see another protagonist – this is Mrs. Das. Mr. Kapasi observes the Das family, their habits and manners, their relationships within their family and comes to some conclusions about Mrs. Das after their tet-a-tet conversation. In this conversation, Mrs. Das has partially opened up her soul for Mr. Kapasi; however, Mr. Kapasi will not help Mrs. Das because his sympathy for her diminishes when he hears her confession about her son Bobby. Even though Mr. Kapasi does not truly understand Mrs. Das, this trip through India is

Interpreter of Maladies is just one of the many short stories written by Jhumpa Lahiri. Interpreter of Maladies is the story of an American family and an Indian tour guide, Mr. Kapasi. Driving from location to location, Mr. Kapasi revealed his second job as a translator of symptoms of patients who speak a different language than the doctor. Mrs. Das declared his job romantic. Mr. Kapasi became smitten with the woman because he himself suffered from a broken marriage. Seeking help from Mr.Kapasi, Mrs. Das wanted a remedy for her malady; therefore, Mrs. Das admitted that her middle child wasn’t conceived by her husband. However, Mr. Kapasi could not find a solution to her problem. He could only diagnose her with the feeling of guilt. There

Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth is comprised of eight short stories about different Indian families’ struggles in America, many of them going through the immigrant experience. The conflicts are with friends and family, and also with themselves, as each of them attempt to find their own identity along with fitting in with the rest of society. One of the causes of these struggles that because the families in the stories are mixed in terms of generation. Many of the adults in the stories were first generation immigrants from India, while many of the children were raised in the United States, which is the second generation. This led to blending of culture and at the same time, clashes between the immigrant mentality of living and the American mentality of living. In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri demonstrates to the reader the important influence of environment, specifically culture and how it impacts parental teachings, on the personality and development of an individuals’ identity, and how the actions and development of characters can affect one’s family and friends; the impact of environment and culture is shown especially by the characters and stories “Hell-Heaven” and “Hema and Kaushik”.

“The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”, by Jhumpa Lahiri, describes the unfortunate illness of Bibi Haldar and the numerous, painful, and fruitless attempts her community has gone to in order to cure her. Such an account offers a profound insight about the human condition. “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” suggests that in the pursuit to completely heal those that are sick, we lose ourselves and neglect the pain and immediate need for love of the very people we are trying to help. Lahiri is able to smoothly communicate this through her eloquent use of a detached yet sympathetic overall tone, and the perspective from which is originates. Setting and its defining role towards Lahiri’s specific type of plot also plays a key role in the development of her theme. Finally Bibi Haldar herself and what she symbolizes is essential to communicating the lack of affection those that are severely ill or handicapped receive

While Smith and Anzaldua may define identity through a culture or a voice, Jhumpa Lahiri, herself, had a different experience. Rather for Lahiri, she helps the reader

First, this novel showcases acts of caring for family and friends, during a rough time for all the Indians bringing them closer into one community. The protagonist Sabine displays acts of caring among her friends and family. For instance, near the end of the novel, Sabine helps her mother’s friend, Lalita, despite having a sour relationship with her. Sabine saves Lalita from being arrested by lying to a military officer, thus making Sabine a more confident and brave person. Sabine faces her fear of the military and gains the power she

A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.

When adapting to a new culture, many find it hard to assimilate into their new world while still holding on to their past life. Finding yourself in a new place with a new language and unfamiliar faces is challenging for immigrants. Jhumpa Lahiri, an immigrant herself, sheds some light on the Indian culture in her book, Interpreter of Maladies. She conveys many challenges that immigrants face when moving away from their homeland in a myriad of short stories. These short stories introduce similar themes of immigration and adaptation through different experiences. Two of Lahiri’s short stories, “A Temporary Matter” and “Mrs. Sens”, do a great job in showing similar challenges of cultural differences in two different ways. They introduce characters

Jhumpa Lahiri short story, Interpreter of Maladies, reflect symbolism. Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Mina Das, are the main characters in the story. It is understood to be a broken family and an unhappy marriage between the Das family. Mr. Das is completely unaware and has not come to realize the fact that his marriage is broken, but Mrs. Das is trying to escape her unhappy and uncomfortable marriage. They have been long disconnected from each other, but avoid confronting each other about their feelings.

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ Mr. Kapasi , the main character, seems to be a person with mixed feelings. He does not seem to have fixed stand neither in his job nor on his thoughts. His thoughts and experience are structured by the strict cultural society of India. His hidden wants and desires suppressed by the community rules are looking for way to come out. The consequence is his changing thoughts and desires which at different parts of the story appear differently and brings

Since a young Indian writer Jhumpa Lahiri released her first book "Interpreter of Maladies," the author and her book's characters have attracted a lot of attention. The nine stories of the "Interpreter of Maladies" are filled with details of Indian culture which help the author to present the life of Indians living in America in a new sophisticated manner and assist Lahiri in her attempt to reveal earlier unfamiliar to many people aspects of the everyday lives of the Indian immigrants. In the story "Sexy" we see Dev, a first generation Indian American who has a family, but in spite of that fact initiates an affair on the side. In his search for fascination in life Dev gets involved in a relationship with Miranda, a young and pretty

The immigrant experience affects families in a unique manner wherein ethnicity, and therefore, identity becomes something continuously negotiated. Jhumpa Lahiri’s contemporary novel, “The Namesake,” beautifully illustrates the complexities of generational culture clashes and the process of self-individualization over the course of this experience. Lahiri challenges the often-one-dimensional approach to ethnic identity by allowing readers an intimate and omnipresent look into the internal struggles of the Gangulis, a first-and-second-generation Bengali family, following their relocation to America. The novel incorporates a heavy presence of reading, and the abundant representation of books and documents throughout it are vital to its

The Interpreter of Maladies reveals nine stories from the perspective of new immigrants either from the United States or India. The book expresses seemingly real life experiences, emotions, and perspectives of immigrants. In addition, the book successfully outlines the differences of American and Indian culture through the nine stories.

Anyone who has ever felt alone, separated from the people around them, or like an outcast in any way will know how hard it can be to find your place in the world, especially if you have just moved to a new place. Jhumpa lahiri explores the struggle of fitting in as an immigrant from India to America in her short story compilation, The Interpreter of Maladies. Many of her characters experience the same struggles of dealing with cultural differences, differences of perspective, and unwillingness to fit in, in their new home. Some characters struggled mainly with the aspects of daily life that they were not used to or did not understand, while others had to live with the constant burden of missing and worrying for those they had left behind. While each person's story is different, there are many key factors that link them all together.

The present study is based on the idea of displacement as the major theme of the selected short stories of Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of maladies”. The book contains nine short stories and each one of them deals with the question of identity, alienation, and plight of those who are physically and psychologically displaced. But I would like to limit my studies to the three short stories from the collection viz. “When Mr. Pirzada came to dine”, Interpreter of Maladies”, and “Mrs. Sen’s”. The migration has become one of the most important issues of the contemporary world. Jhumpa Lahiri is also a diasporic writer like Salman Rushdie, V.S Naipaul and Bharati Mukherjee. The characters in the prescribed stories are citizens of more than one country