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English - II

Notes For most of her stories, Lahiri has chosen a third-person omniscient narrative structure. In this way,
she can present her characters from an outsider’s point of view. For ‘When Mr. Pirzada Came to
Dine’ and the closing story, however, the first-person narrative voice lends immediacy to the poignancy
of the speakers’ experiences.

9.3 Characters and Relationships

Lahiri builds her characters around the immigrant experience and the cultural divide between America
and India. At the same time she paints, with sympathy and understanding, indelible characters who
experience the pain and suffering of ordinary people.
In the title story, ‘Interpreter of Maladies’, Mr Kapasi is a character who signifies the deep divide
between the culture of American-born. Indians and that of Indians living in India. As the Das family’s
tourist guide, he is constantly bemused by the fact that these people ‘looked Indian but dressed as
foreigners did’ . To him, they each seem completely selfabsorbed: far more ‘like siblings’ than parents
and children. The couple also appears to be emotionally unaffected by the reality of India, particularly
the grim conditions under which many are forced to live. Mr Das stops to take a photo ‘of a barefoot
man, his head wrapped in a dirty turban’ – treating him as if he is there merely to add local colour to
his travels, rather than as a human being in his own right. Mrs Das is completely indifferent to the
whole tourist experience, only becoming interested when Mr Kapasi begins to tell her about his other
line of work.
Mr Kapasi’s main occupation is as a language interpreter for a doctor. Mrs Das views the dependence
of the patients on him as ‘romantic’ and is suddenly interested in Kapasi as a man, rather than just as
a dispensable Indian guide. She unexpectedly provides Kapasi with a different view of himself as
someone worthwhile, whereas he is only considered a lowly worker in his everyday life. Kapasi sees
his occupation as ‘thankless’, whereas Mr and Mrs Das see him as bearing a great ‘responsibility’ .
For him ‘the job was a sign of his failings’ , as it underlined his lost dream of becoming an indispensable
interpreter to diplomats. Kapasi’s job is simply the means by which he sustains his family and, notably,
has recently become a symbol of his wife’s reproach for his inability to save his son from dying: ‘she
resented the other lives he helped … to save’ . He begins to see that human behaviour is the same in
all cultures. Mr and Mrs Das are no more suited to each other than he and his wife are. He recognizes
the signs of a dysfunctional marriage – ‘the bickering, the indifference, the protracted silences – and
is flattered by Mrs Das’ attention. While in conversation with Mrs Das, Kapasi begins to see her as a
sexual being on his own level, rather than simply a tourist; he is charmed when she includes him in
their picnic. Her offer to send him some photographs encourages him to anticipate some extension of
their relationship: ‘she would write to him … and he would respond eloquently’ . For him, there was
a sense of promise ‘that all of life’s mistakes made sense in the end’ . His hopes are fuelled further
when Mrs Das displays her interest in the sensuality of the carved figures at Konarak temple. Alas,
Kapasi is merely fantasising that Mrs Das’ polite interest indicates something deeper. His attempt to
prolong their tour only prompts an unwanted admission from Mrs Das that her son is not her
husband’s. He is dismayed to find that she thinks of him ‘as a parent’ rather than a potential partner,
and that she has only felt comfortable in confessing to him because of his ‘talents’ as an interpreter.
Each person has seen the other as a kind of saviour, only to be disappointed. Kapasi feels ‘insulted’ at
being used by Mrs Das, while Mrs Das realises that he is merely an unimportant tour guide after all,
irrelevant to her family.
The character of Kapasi, then, demonstrates that human misunderstandings, and not merely cultural
divides, can lead to misinterpretation. As the ‘slip of paper’ on which he has written his address
floats away, he is reminded of the harsh truth that life is full of missed opportunities.
Children as key characters

Children are crucial to the action of a number of Lahiri’s stories. They serve to illuminate adult
characters while, at the same time, they have a definitive role as individuals. In ‘Mrs Sen’s’ the boy,
Eliot, functions as a foil to demonstrate Mrs Sen’s inability to assimilate into American culture.
Although Mrs Sen dominates the story, Eliot becomes a figure who not only illustrates the balance
between the cultures, but also develops as a character who grows through experiencing other customs.

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