ANALYSIS OF TWO STORIES:

INTERPRETER OF MALADIES “Interpreter of Maladies”

“The Third and Final Continent”
BY JHUMPA LAHIRI
 AUTHOR’S LIFE
• Jhumpa Lahiri: born in London in 1967 and raised in
Rhode Island (US) by her Bengali parents.

• She visited Calcutta often as a child and recognizes

the importance of both Indian and American cultures in
shaping her perspective on life.

• Family’s influence. Her parents remained committed to

their East Indian culture and determined to rear their
children with experience of and pride in their cultural
heritage.

• She is critical of the superficial adoption of elements

of either culture, and she admits that she feels
neither Indian nor American.
 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES
Her first book, Interpreter of Maladies (1999), a collection of nine stories.

Each of the stories involves people of Indian descent, albeit in a variety of roles and
circumstances: living in India or Indian immigrants living in the United States.

HOWEVER: most are, like Lahiri herself,

it is this conflict
foreign-born children of Indian immigrants, which shapes most of
the stories
torn between being Indian and being American.

The nine stories differ in approach and perspective while remaining tied to the same
themes and ideas.
The two themes which arise most frequently are marriage and the relationship that the
Indian characters have with their Indian ancestry.
 STORY “INTERPRETER OF MALADIES”
The title gives us an American-born Indian The sense of distance from
family on vacation in India, strangers to their Indian heritage (a
common thread among other
their own culture and heritage.
characters in this collection)

The attraction that Mr. Kapasi, tour guide, has toward Mrs. Das.
Infidelity also
arises in Although no actual infidelity takes place between them, Mrs. Das
different ways. reveals to Mr. Kapasi that Mr. Das is not the father of one of their
children, a fact that Mrs. Das says she has never revealed before to
anyone.

PLOT: on one-day experience of a tour guide, Mr. Kapasi. His usual profession is working
as an interpreter of maladies to a doctor. His responsibility is to explain the patients’
saying in Gujarati to the doctor who has no idea about that regional language in India.

Why does he work as a tour guide?

He works as a tour guide as a part time job as he is burdened with financial requirements.
On a tour with a family of complex cross-cultural identity, he encounters a real patient
who requests his expert idea to overcome a desperate condition but Mr. Kapasi who too
undergoes mental turbulence fails to respond to it properly.
 CHARACTERS
• Mr. Kapasi plays a dual role as an interpreter as well as a guide. He suffers financially and leads an
unhappy life both as an interpreter and a husband. His marriage life is not favourable and it does not
give the sensual fulfilment he craves for. This might be a reason for him to be obsessed with the
personality of Mrs. Das. He develops an infatuation towards her and lives in that fantasy till he is
disillusioned. So, his life of disappointments has another failure to be counted.

• Mrs. Das is an Indian descendent whose grandparents were Indians. She too leads an unhappy life as a
housewife. She craves for an emotional fulfilment which she does not find from Raj. She considers her
marriage is as a set up by her parents and she has to bear a solitary battle with children at her young
age. She had nobody to share her pain until she meets Mr. Kapasi. We see she has developed a faith and
trust towards this old person which too ends up with disappointment. She wields a secret that can
entirely destroy her family life. This feeling of guilt, anger and boredom makes her a less
affectionate mother who seemingly do not care enough about her children.

• Mr. Das – Raj leads a contented and a carefree life and happy about spending time with his children. He
has no idea why his wife is so dull and unhappy as he is preoccupied with his own affairs. He is a less
supportive husband who has no idea to share the burden that carried on his wife’s shoulders. This
nature leads her to have an unethical relationship with his friend.
 NARRATOR AND POINT OF VIEW
• It is told from third-person limited point of view, that is, the story is told by an
objective narrator who reveals Mr. Kapasi’s perceptions but not those of the other
characters. Events are unfolded primarily as Mr. Kapasi perceives them.

• Even the characters’ names reflect the focus on Mr. Kapasi. Instead of calling Mrs. Das by
her first name, Mina, as both her husband and her children do, the narrator refers to her
exclusively as Mrs. Das, which is how Mr. Kapasi sees her.

• Likewise, the narrator does not disclose information that Mr. Kapasi would not know. Example:
We do not ever learn the exact ages of Ronny and Tina. We do, however, hear about how Mr.
Kapasi has only two suits.
• Why is this point of view used?
+ Lahiri limits the scope of our
disconnection between Mrs. Das
+ Although Mr. Kapasi interprets
Mrs. Das likely did not intend
knowledge about the Das family and emphasizes the
and Mr. Kapasi.
Mrs. Das’s comments as flattering and even flirtatious,
her comments to be construed this way.

• What happens at the end of the story? What is the consequence of using this POV?
+ Mr. Kapasi wishes for an intimate connection with Mrs. Das, BUT when she finally does
spill her secrets (her affair, her true feelings about her husband, the heated beginning
of their relationship) → Mr. Kapasi is overwhelmed and disgusted.
+ Mrs. Das was unaware of how crass and inappropriate her revelations would seem to Mr.
Kapasi, just as she is oblivious (unaware of) to how insulting it is for her to expect
him to have a “cure” for her pain.
+ Mr. Kapasi thinks he and Mrs. Das have a connection because he recognizes in Mrs. Das’
situation the distant spouse and troubled marriage from his own life. However, any
connection between them is only in his mind.
• Likewise, when Mrs. Das leaves the taxi to take Tina to the bathroom, the narrator stays in
the car with Mr. Kapasi, who waits alone while the boys and Mr. Das get out of the car.
 PLOT SUMMARY (I)
The story is built upon two plots: one is the visible story of Mr. Kapasi and Das family going on a
journey to the Sun Temple and the other one is Mr. Kapasi’s fantasy of having an emotional relationship
with Mrs. Das.

Both plots have their own story line and a climax which makes the story be interesting to read on. The
Journey of Mr. Kapasi, a part time tour guide gets a job to take a family to Sun Temple in Konarak. The
Das family – Meena, Raj and their three children Tina, Roni and Bobby are not the ideal type of parents
in the eyes of Mr. Kapasi. Though they have Indian roots, they were born Americans. This cross-cultural
clash is seen throughout the story.

On the way, Mrs. Das admires the job of interpreter as something romantic and responsible which touches
the heart of Mr. Kapasi who was never appreciated neither in his job nor in his unsuccessful family life.
All go to the Sun Temple and spend the day there.

On their way to the hotel, Mr. Kapasi suggests a detour to the monastic dwelling in Udayagiri to prolong
their journey - to which everybody gave their consent to.

Mrs. Das reveals her secret of betrayal to Mr. Kapasi: Bobby is not Raj’s real son. She requests Mr.
Kapasi to remove her terrible feeling of guilt using his expert knowledge at such psychological dilemmas.
However, the return question by Mr. Kapasi makes her furious, failing his job as an interpreter.
 PLOT SUMMARY (II)
• Day is going to be over with the dissolved hope of Mr. Kapasi to have a prolonged
relationship with Mrs. Das as he sees the piece of paper is blown away to the sky with his
address written on it. Fantasy of Mr. Kapasi is a great observer wearing his Indian-culture
glasses on.
• Through his strictly - Asian view point, he sees the mismatches between Mr. Das and Mrs. Das.
He sees that they are too young to be parents and less responsible too.
• On the other hand, he himself suffers from an unsuccessful marriage life as his wife is not
what he expects to be. His observations generate a spark of infatuation towards Meena whose
appearance and behaviour are appealing to his senses. The admiration of Meena about his job
enkindles an idea in the mind of him as she too has the similar feeling towards Mr. Kapasi.
• So, he enlivens a fantasy to have a mutual relationship with Mrs. Das. Mr. Das and Mrs. Das’
behaviours make up his fantasy. He makes plans to have a prolonged relationship with her
after they leave the country. However, his dream starts shattering as he realizes Mrs. Das is
not what he intended to be. As she reveals one of her secrets of life, he comes to the real
world from his illusion. His failing to give proper interpretation to the malady of Meena,
closes every door to have a relationship with her. The address he gives to her is blown away
symbolically, which suggests their formal end of the relationship.
 THEMES

+ Communication can be strongly decisive in family life. It is visible that

Meena suffers from her lonely life without having one to share her
feelings. The lack of proper communication is evidently has made a huge
chasm between them making their family life is an unsuccessful one. She
finds a good companion, Mr. Kapasi who listens her well.

+ Cultural identity and cultural difference. Mr. Kapasi’s Asian ideologies

and Western way of living keep on clashing throughout the story.
 TECHNIQUES AND IMAGINERY
+ Irony and humour → to highlight the dark realities of human beings
under their shadows and human weaknesses in working as a hole. Each
major character has their own negative personalities and are not
visible to the outer world.
+ Monkeys play a symbolic role throughout the story. It may symbolize the
untamed, wild nature of human desires or temptations.
+ The story is visually so rich and descriptive. The writer gives a clear
account of characters in the places in the story. This is also an
indication that Mr. Kapasi is a good guide as well as a good
interpreter.
+ Moral: communication is a key factor to lead a better family life and
the secret one carry can ruin a person psychologically.
 THE THIRD AND FINAL CONTINENT

• “The Third and Final Continent” is the story of an Indian man who settles in Boston after
going to college in England. Before traveling to the United States, he returns briefly to
India to marry a woman he has never met in an arranged marriage. He waits six weeks for
her in Boston, and then describes the awkwardness of their relationship once she arrives
and they begin to live together. On the final page of the story, however, looking back
many years later, he tells us he is amazed “that there was ever a time that [he and his
wife] were strangers”.

• The stages of the narrator’s adjustment to the new culture are loneliness, alienation,
assimilation and then, acculturation.
 NARRATOR AND POINT OF VIEW
First-person narrator :
He's a Bengali man who left India in 1964 to go to London to pursue his studies.
While in London, he attended lectures and worked at the university library. (MAIN
CHARACTER)

The story is told in retrospect and he refers to his own life, experience and
feelings.

AS A RESULT, the reader tries to put himself in the protagonist’s shoes, identifies
with the condition of immigrants and empathizes with their psyche, feelings and
imagination.
 THEMES AND RELEVANT ASPECTS
IMMIGRATION AND CONNECTION WITH INDIAN ROOTS, NOSTALGIA, MEMORIES OF THE PAST.
• The narrator grows up in India and attends school in England, living there as an immigrant
with several other Bengali bachelors.

• When he gets a job in Boston, North America becomes the third continent in which he lives.

• The story shows the immigrant experience through the narrator’s fears and expectations
regarding his arrange wife, Mala, as she comes to join him in the United States.
• Complexities of immigrant life: the balance and struggle between maintaining traditions, the
alienation of being alone in a foreign land, and the pride of building a new life.
• Contrast of the narrator’s life (in London and then Boston) → different immigrant
experiences. In London, the narrator lives with several other Bengali bachelors./ Maintenance
of Bengali traditions. //In Boston, the narrator lives alone at the YMCA, and has no Bengali
community. / Some changes regarding his Bengali traditions.
• The narrator’s feelings about his immigration experience are complicated by his fears
about the Mala’s arrival (his new wife)

+ He sees his wife as Indian woman’s sari grabbed by a dog on the street. He worries
about how Mala will cope in Boston. → not compassion, but instead, the burden of having
to protect Mala.
+ First, a new immigrant trying to find his place. // Then, he is worried about how
associating with other immigrants will affect his own life and growing assimilation.

• Mrs. Croft’s influence on the shift of the narrator’s perception --> he realizes their
Indianness is not a thing to be left behind but, in fact, embraced as they make a home in
this new country. However, they also embrace new things.
• CULTURAL PLURALISM:
He witnesses the similarities and dissimilarities in the two continents. He sees
that London is a liberal society, where one can ‘live with a man’; America is a
Confusion/
double
place of intense competition where according to the narrator, ‘Everybody feels he
displacement
must get to the top’ and he says, ‘Don’t expect an English cup of tea’

Jhumpa Lahiri’s life: she was born in 1967. When she was three years old, her
family moved to Rhode Island. There her father worked as a University
Librarian. She attended Boston University, completing Master’s degree in
creative writing, English. Lahiri and her family move from Rhode Island to
Boston.
The protagonist’s life: he is also a librarian at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology like Lahiri’s father. He moves from London to Boston.

• FOOD AND FLAVOURS through the elaborate descriptions of the American and Indian cuisine.
The boundaries of mind as well as food are dissolved as the immigrants sail through life
every day.

• CONTRAST between American way of dressing, appearance and Indian way of dressing.Indian
women’s attitudes towards their husbands and married life → different from the western
women (Mrs. Croft and the protagonist’s mother)
THE THEORY OF ALIENATION, ASSIMILATION AND ACCULTURATION (Gordon, M.)
He proposes two kinds of assimilatory patterns:
• cultural assimilation is a process where immigrants embrace the culture, customs, values
and system of the new society.
• structural assimilation is when the immigrants participate in the larger social, political,
historical and economic affairs of the host country.

→ CAN WE SEE THESE TWO PATTERNS IN THE STORY?

• The two stages are seen in the characters of Mala and the protagonist.
Towards the end of the story, we see that total assimilation or acculturation happens to the
protagonist and his wife.
In his words, ‘We are American
The desire in immigrants to see home in the U.S. citizens now, so that we can
The alien land now becomes their home country. collect social security when it
is time.’
Lahiri’s words: “For immigrants, the challenges of exile, the loneliness, the constant
sense of alienation, the knowledge of and longing for a lost world, are more explicit and
distressing than for their children. On the other hand, the problem for the children of
immigrants, those with strong ties to their country of origin, is that they feel neither
one thing nor the other”
 According to a survey on the assimilatory patterns of the Indian immigrants
conducted by the sociologist Paramatma, S.:

Three different groups and three different ways these Indian groups adjusted to
the new society.

1ST GROUP →people became completely Americanized and this

constituted a small portion.

2ND GROUP → people tried to maintain their Indian identity and at

WHICH ONES DO the same time accepted new values trying to be a part of the
YOU THINK? mainstream society.

3RD GROUP → people were highly conscious of its Indian identity,

resisted new values and Indians lived as marginals in American
society.

The narrator, his wife, and their son belong to the second group
of Indian immigrants where they embrace both the cultures.

Although they feel the host country
to be their own country, a feeling
of connectedness to Indian roots
still persists.
• MARRIAGE
+ ARRANGED MARRIAGE
+ POSITIVE RESULT IN A MARRIAGE + POSITIVE OUTCOME OF NARRATOR’S TRAVELS
Nostalgic feeling despite assimilation and
acculturation → a natural phenomenon
AT THE END: narrator’s confused feeling →
‘Still, there are at times I am bewildered by
each mile I have travelled, each meal I have
eaten, each person I have known, each room in
which I have slept. As ordinary as it all
appears, there are times when it is beyond my
imagination’

The narrator uses this as a projection of hope for his son’s future:
“Whenever he is discouraged, I tell him that if I can survive on three continents,
then there is no obstacle he cannot conquer”.
 Humans have the innate capacity to build relations
irrespective of caste, class, culture and national
boundaries.
AUTHOR’S Immigrants also consider the host country to be their
MESSAGE home country and choose it as the final destination of
their lives.

However, they remain and live with the memories of the

past and simultaneously live in the foreign land.