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Interpreter Of Maladies Summary

Satisfactory Essays

Nicole Lopez
Professor Salgado
Introduction to Expository Writing and Literacy Studies
October 10, 2017 The success of any relationship relies on one’s ability to communicate well. Communication is important is relationships as it allows us to share our interest, concerns, support each other; and it allows us to organize our lives and make decisions. Effective communication is based on the way we talk and listen, how we respond and our body language. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories “A Temporary Matter” and “Interpreter of Maladies” lack of communication has taken place in both of the couples relationships. In both short stories the couples has a misconception about someone that leads to unhappiness. The misconception of the …show more content…

Although the blackout was only a temporary matter, it brought Shukumar and Shoba together for that time being. “Something happened when the house was dark…They were able to talk to each other again. The fourth night they walked carefully upstairs, to bed, feeling together for the final step with their feet before the landing, and making love with a desperation they had forgotten” (Lahiri 19). The blackout makes them realize that their relationship is also only a temporary matter. As Shukumar endures the revelation he has received and the one he has given, he takes the plates to the sink and then looks out the window. “As he watched the couple the room went dark, and he spun around…They wept together, for the things they now knew” (Lahiri 22). They are bonded to one another out of their shared hurt and misery. They are only able to bond through their hurt, pain and regret.
Lahiri illustrates to the readers how the misconception of both people in the relationship can cause it to fail; the inability to meet someone’s needs or make sacrifices in a relationship destroys it.
In Lahiri 's short story "Interpreter of Maladies," Mr. Kapasi is a workingman in India with two jobs, an interpreter for a doctor and a tour guide. He is stuck in a dysfunctional relationship after the doctor could not prevent the death of his child. One day he is assigned to the Das 's, a young, irresponsible, and equally dysfunctional couple with nothing that holds them together except

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