Page 156 - DENG201_ENGLISH_II

English - II

Notes to such a divide. Though she feels guilty about her tryst with Dev, her desire for him lingers. In
Lahiri’s fiction, each person is their own continent.
Environment/Nature

The environment often reflects the inner turmoil of its characters. The rubble-filled Sun Temple that
sits atop a dry river is indicative of the ruin of the marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Das as well as the
well of disappointment that Mr. Kapasi carries with him. The gray waves outside Eliot’s window
belie a sadness that he is unable to express. The snow that thaws only after Shukumar and Shoba
return to honesty directly relates to the thaw between the characters. In The Treatment of Bibi Haldar,
the changing seasons chart the life of the troubled main character. In the fall, she is shunned and in
the winter she is isolated. In the spring, she is pregnant and emerges from her misery. There is a
rhythm of life reflected in the changing seasons.
Motifs
Seeing
Each character in the story has a distorted way of seeing the others, as each views others through
some artificial means. Mr. Das views the world through his camera. His camera is always around his
neck, and he sees even harsh realities through its lens. For example, he takes pictures of the starving
peasant, even though doing so blatantly ignores the peasant’s essential reality. Mrs. Das hides behind
her sunglasses, seeing the others through their tint and blocking others’ view of her eyes. Additionally,
her window does not roll down, so she cannot directly see the world outside the taxi cab. Mr. Kapasi
watches Mrs. Das through the rearview mirror, which distorts his view of her and prevents him from
looking at her directly. Each child is wearing a visor, which suggests that their vision will one day be
as distorted as their parents’ is. Finally, Mr. Das and Ronny closely resemble each other, whereas Mr.
Das and Bobby have little in common. Mr. Kapasi simply observes this fact but draws no inference
from it, even though this simple fact hints at the deeper truth: that Mr. Das is not Bobby’s father.
Because Mr. Kapasi sees the Das family as a unit, he never suspects this truth. His idea of family
distorts the reality of the situation.

Symbols
The Camera
Mr. Das’s camera represents his inability to see the world clearly or engage with it. Because he views
the world through his camera, Mr. Das misses the reality of the world around him, both in his marriage
and in the scenes outside the cab. Mr. Das chooses to have Mr. Kapasi stop the cab so that he can take
a photograph of a starving peasant, wanting the picture only as a souvenir of India and ignoring the
man’s obvious need for help. His view of the man’s reality is distorted because he sees the man only
through the camera lens. Mr. Das snaps pictures of monkeys and scenery, taking the camera from his
eye only when he turns back to his guidebook. Rather than engage actively with the India that
surrounds him, he instead turns to the safety of frozen images and bland descriptions of ancient
sites. He has come to visit India, but what he will take away with him—pictures and snatches of
guidebook phrases—he could have gotten from any shop at home in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Mr. Das also uses the camera to construct a family life that does not actually exist. His children are
insolent and his wife is distant, yet Mr. Das tries to pose them in pictures that suggest harmony and
intimacy. When Mrs. Das refuses to leave the car when they visit the monastic dwellings, Mr. Das
tries to change her mind because he wants to get a complete family portrait—something, he says,
they can use for their Christmas card. This “happy family” that Mr. Das aspires to catch on film is
pure fabrication, but Mr. Das does not seem to care. He would rather exist in an imaginary state of
willful ignorance and arm’s-length engagement than face the disappointments and difficulties of his
real life.
Mrs. Das’s Puffed Rice
Puffed rice, insubstantial and bland, represents Mrs. Das’s mistakes and careless actions. Physically,
Mrs. Das is young and attractive, but she is spiritually empty. She does not love her children or

150 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY