"Post Modernism & Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri


Post modernism is a time period all about one’s own prospective and how we interpret the world. People are constantly interpreting signals and body language on a daily basis and these affect our views on everything. People were more concerned about the I instead of the us. This means people began to look out for themselves and what was in there self-interest. A glance to one person can be a loving gaze but for the person doing the glance it can be an aggravated glare. It is about people construe what they see and feel. This time period is all about how one action can be seen differently by individuals. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri reflects the concepts of post modernism by allowing the reader to see how each character has his or her own perspective on the same situation. There is this one action that misconstrues and distorts the characters views.
The characters, Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi, both express the ideas of post modernism. Mrs. Das and her husband are on a tour led by Mr. Kapasi. Mr. Kapasi is a crushed man who once dreamed to be an interpreter for dignitaries but now all he does it help at a doctor’s office. Mrs. Das is this non caring mother who ignores her children. The misinterpretation all began with one simple word “Romantic.” Mrs. Das had called Mr. Kapasi’s job “romantic.” This one word changed his view of Mrs. Das. Everything from that point on led him to believe that she wanted to be with him. Mrs. Das had taken a picture with him in it and she was going to mail it to him. After giving her the address, “He dreaded the possibility of a lost letter, the photograph never reaching him, hovering somewhere in Orissa, close but ultimately unattainable” (Lahiri, 56). This shows that he thinks of her in a romantic way he is frantic that he might not get the picture of the two of them. Mrs. Das sees him as an answer to her problems she wants him to interpret her life. She sees him as an older wise man who has helped people heal. Mrs. Das was unfaithful to her husband. This unfaithful one night stand had result in her hiding that Bobby was not Mr. Das’s. She was looking for him to just interpret her problem and prescribe a cure so she could move on with her life. In this post modern story everything is about one’s own interpretation.  With one word they both felt desire but unfortunately they both desired different things. The purpose of this technique is to express that not everyone thinks about things the same.

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