Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies: Summary of This Blessed House

The short story, “Interpreter of Maladies,” written by Jhumpa Lahiri, is about an Indian tour guide who has an epiphany once he realizes that one of his clients finds his side job, an interpreter for the doctor, romantic. Mrs. Das, the one who appears to show interest in the tour guide’s occupation, struggles throughout her married life to remain loyal and loving to her husband. This characteristic of Mrs. Das’ is highlighted through the author’s use of tone, which is defined as the way the author feels about a certain character. As well, the use of tone, seen specifically in the diction, syntax, and detail of this story, helps to identify and support various themes. Lahiri’s use of a condescending tone towards Mrs. Das bolsters the theme that unfaithfulness causes someone to become alienated from their family.

American Translation, the prologue talks about a daughter who invited her mother to check her new bedroom. However, her mother kind of overly reacted when she saw a mirror at the foot of her bed, so her mother puts another mirror, which faced the original one because she thought that this would multiply her “peach blossom luck”.

Marriage is described as two people as partners in a personal relationship. There are two typical ideas of marriage that we know today. The first one that comes to mind is the one we all know, based on love, but there is another one that some may not even know of and its arranged marriages. Arranged marriage is not typically in our culture we know but in different cultures arranged marriages are their normal marriage. Throughout this essay, I will discuss the importance of realizing cultural diversity and how we apply the perspectives we gain from cross-cultural comparison to our own experience using central concepts about marriage to compare and contrast marriage in several cultures.

Thinking a little more in depth about the incident, the fact that the pieces are triangular, could also depict the three main people involved: Robbie, Cecelia and Briony. The breaking of the vase is what starts up their minds and makes them come to understand that it is not just awkward tension between them, but a sexual tension that they have not thought about until that event. Cecilia was actually surprised and “put the fragments in the pocket of her skirt and took up the vase. Her movements were savage, and she would not meet his eye” (McEwan 29). She began contemplating her decisions, ‘“I’ve been seeing strangely, as if for the first time”’ (McEwan 125). This can represent her unconscious feelings towards her lover Robbie. Robbie’s provocative letter to Cecilia on the other hand, opens her eyes and makes her realize the truth, being that she in fact has feelings for him. She later attaches the pieces that broke off of the vase and “judged the vase repaired” (McEwan 40), but the vase obviously still has cracks and is very fragile. When Briony witnessed the intimacy between Cecilia and Robbie in the library, she envisioned Robbie as a monster, clearly unsure of the situation. Also, Briony’s claim of seeing Robbie raping Lola is another piece of the vase that will be forever shattered. Robbie and Cecelia both know he was falsely accused, which causes Cecilia to risk her

As a beginning of this film, a myth is told by the Nyinba people of Nepal: a story of fearsome spirits thought to kill children and the weak. Their crime was adulterous passionate love and it was this that had condemned them to live eternally between life and death. In this film, we learn about and explore marriages in tribal societies. We can clearly identify the differences that challenge both side’s ideas and sensibilities about marriage bonds.

In Jhump Lahiri’s The Namesake Gogol Ganguli is constantly forced to choose between his American side and his Bengali side. Throughout the novel he has many relationships and goes through many stages of life, especially with his name. Gogol is running from his culture, but his culture has been so forced and pushed on him his entire life he will never really be free from his Bengali culture. From a young age Gogol has had a separation from his culture. So it is up to him to choose whether he wants to follow his cultural traditions or be a full and true American.

Established with Adam and Eve, still surviving, marriage is the oldest institution known. Often the climax of most romantic movies and stories, whether it may be ‘Pride and Prejudice’ or ‘Dil Wale Dulhaniya Ley Jaein Gey’, marriage has a universal appeal. It continues to be the most intimate social network, providing the strongest and most frequent opportunity for social and emotional support. Though, over the years, marriage appears to be tarnished with high divorce rates, discontentment and infidelity, it is still a principal source of happiness in the lives of respective partners. Although marriage is perceived as a deeply flawed institution serving more the needs of the society than those of the individuals, nevertheless, marriage is

The Monk wears a gold pin on his habit. The gold pin with a love knot at the end of the hood is strange because it indicates that he is not religious because instead of the gold pin, he should have a rosary.

The lines “Crucify him, crucify” piqued her attention. She was looking for a crucifix: an item she never thought she’d actually be looking for.

The moment it dinged, she collected both of the pieces and shoved them into her mouth as fast as she could possibly manage. She snatched her bag and ran out of the house, yelling a goodbye to her parents. She sprinted as far as her legs could carry her until finally, she slowed down to rest. Breathing heavily, she was reminded of when she’d woke that morning. That dream… That boy… I’ve never seen him before. Or that place, even. She was pondering the matter when suddenly, she was seized from behind. Yelping with surprised she turned her head to look at her attacker. Familiar blue eyes met hers and she immediately

Flakey’s office is as large as you can imagine, lots of plaques and ribbons decorating the baby blue walls, with a large photo of the whitest Jesus ever painted. Carl thanked the man for taking the time out to visit us, without much hesitation Carl sets the box of promotional material on Flakey’s desk and began his questioning. Flakey, looking a little flustered, admitted that this was old promotional material used to recruit new people for the church, as they were looking for more numbers. I butt into the conversation, sort of like a good cop, bad cop type of scheme, and insisted that there are gift packages still being handed out, no return address. Flakey replied that the promotion ceased sending the paper bags of incense when he found out people were using the incense to get high, but people are still receiving them. The church thought they’d already put this fire out, but someone has been distributing these on the church’s behalf. The story gets interesting, as Flakey brings up Mr. Shufner, who unfortunately no longer works at the church. Carl’s eyes bug out, head leaning forward. I turn to look over to Carl realizing we have the same expression on our faces. He asks about what happened to Schufner, who was excommunicated from the church during a random outburst during one Sunday morning mass. Mr. Shufner was picked off the

Sunlight beams through arched windows encased in stained glass; reflecting rays of red, blue, green, and yellow throughout the entryway. Below our feet, a wood floor echoes as we walk, and silences with a step onto the red carpet. Dark mahogany pews stand at attention to our left and right. Directly above on the back wall, a stained glass image of a woman standing over an infant in a cradle, sunlight illuminating her delicate features, she gazes down at the child. Her thin angelic lips slightly open, her hands clasped together in a prayer-like stance. A blue veil cascades down her shoulders interlocking with her robe below. To the right of the infant, a table displays a large white book with gold-tipped pages. On the cover, prominent gold

Sanjeev accommodated Twinkle by overlooking his own religion for love, he compromised so their relationship would not be broken. After Twinkle found the Christ statue in the storage room, Sanjeev told Twinkle to throw it away because they are Hindus, but Twinkle insists to keep the statue. Sanjeev dislikes the idea of having a Christ in the house but he allowed Twinkle to keep it, then “Each time they had guests Twinkle would explain how she had found it, and they would admire her as they listened. He [Sanjeev] gazed at the crushed rose petal in her hair… His head ached from gin and his arms ached from the weight of the statue” (Lahiri 157). Sanjeev’s feelings and actions highlights the compromise he makes for his wife Twinkle. The compromise is the

Through her tasteful selection of contemporary Indian influenced prose pieces, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the unique journey of Indian families established in America. Focusing on the intergenerational aspect of traditional households, Lahiri conveys the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies a person who is branded as a foreigner. In America, there exists a common misconception that immigrants who arrive in this country fully assimilate or seek to assimilate as time progresses. The category I chose was "The Dot of true Happiness." The dot which signifies the bindi, a traditional red mark worn by Indian people, is the source of true happiness among these immigrants.

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