Page 147 - DENG201_ENGLISH_II

Gowher Ahmad Naik, LPU
Unit 9: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies: Discussion on all Important Spheres of the Text Questions

Unit: 9 Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies: Notes
Discussion on all Important Spheres of the Text Questions

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
9.1 Interpreter of Maladies
9.2 Background and Context
9.3 Characters and Relationships
9.4 Themes, Ideas and Values
9.5 Plot Overview
9.6 Analysis of Major Characters
9.7 Summary
9.8 Key-Words
9.9 Review Questions
9.10 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this unit students will be able to:
• Understand the background and context.
• Discuss the important spheres of Interpreter of Maladies
Introduction

Lahiri’s Indian heritage forms the basis for her short stories; stories in which she deals with questions
of identity, alienation and the plight of those who are culturally displaced. She vividly shows the
estrangement and isolation that often afflict first- and even second-generation immigrants. Although
the immigrant experience is central to her work, it is not her exclusive concern: in the title story, she
suggests, through her characters, that there are ‘maladies’ that trouble all of us. This contributes to
our understanding of other people and of ourselves. Lahiri, like many Americans and Australians, is a
second-generation immigrant who feels just as much at home in her parents’ homeland as she does in
her own – yet she felt she belonged nowhere when she was young. The psychological dislocation that
immigrants often suffer can cause their children to feel a similar sense of alienation. Although Lahiri’s
parents ultimately adjusted to living in America, they must have frequently longed for their mother
country, giving Lahiri the opportunity to observe, at first hand, the often painful adjustment of immigrants
to life in an adopted country. Her narratives weave together not only the stories of immigrants, but also
those of their children, who feel that they belong neither in one place nor another. Lahiri uses her acute
powers of observation, together with her personal experiences, to create stories that transport readers
to an imaginary landscape, exploring and exposing the frailties common to all of humanity.

9.1 Interpreter of Maladies

As the short story genre uses a wide variety of plot types, several strategies must be employed to gain an
overall picture of how different stories are connected. Although each of Lahiri’s stories has its own self-
contained plot and characters, they are linked in ways that bind the collection together as a complete entity.
To begin with, all Lahiri’s stories revolve around people who are either Indian in India, Indian in the
United States or Americans of Indian descent. Further, the stories can be separated into distinct
groupings and associations, based on their relation to Indian culture. The first and most obvious
group of stories are the two that are set in India itself, and concern only Indians in India: ‘The Treatment

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