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Research Directions
Volume 1 , Issue 8 / Feb 2014
ISSN:-2321-5488
Research Article
CONFLICT OF CULTURAL VALUESIN JHUMPALAHIRI'S
INTERPRETER OF MALADIES
ROHIT K. KULKARNI , P. R. SHEWALE and P.A.ATTAR
Project Fellow (UGC SAP), Department of English, ShivajiUniversity,Kolhapur.
Principal , Dr.D.D.Shinde Sarkar College, Kolhapur.
Professor and Head, Department of English , ShivajiUniversity,Kolhapur
Abstract:
JhumpaLahiri'sInterpreter of Maladies depicts the displaced immigrant
protagonists and second-generation Indian -American characters searching for a way
to fit into a community. The book is a collection of nine short stories concerning with the
diasporic postcolonial situation of the lives of Indians and Indian -Americans whose
hyphenated Indian identity has let them to be caught between the India-American
traditions. The stories in JhumpaLahiri's collection, Interpreter of Maladies, differ in
approach and perspective while remaining tied to the same themes and ideas. Each of the
stories involves people of Indian descent, albeit in a variety of roles and circumstances.
Some of the characters are living in India and some are Indian immigrants living in the
United States.
This paper intends to examine the relevance of cultural values and its
significance at the personal level as well as the broader social level in Lahiri'sThe
Interpreter of Maladies(1999). At the textual level, the paper shows that cultural values
acts as an aid to compensate for the understated narrative style of the author. Further,
this paper underpins the fact that marriage related with Indian tradition notonly acts as
an identity marker but also negotiates personal, racial, sexual and social identities of the
immigrant subjects with the context of cultural values.
KEY WORDS:
JhumpaLahiri, Bengali-American community, Indian diaspora, Tradition, Marriage, Identity.
INTRODUCTION
JhumpaLahiri was born in England to Indian emigrants. She was raised inRhode Island primarily
as an Indian and not an American. Her father worked as alibrarian and her mother a teacher; therefore,
literature became a “natural” calling.Through Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri recounts the lives of Indians
and IndianAmericans who are caught between the culture they inherited and the world in which theynow
find themselves. Lahiri herself struggles to understand Indian culture; for instance,she admits, “I'm lucky
that I'm between two worlds…I don't really know what a distinctSouth Asian identity means. I don't think
about that when I write, I just try to bring a person to life” (Farnsworth, 2000). Lahiri uses her cultural
background as an IndianAmerican to create plots and characters that express the juxtaposition in her own
life. Shebuilds a balanced representation of her cultural group. She openly admits that Interpreterof
Maladies is a reflection of her own experiences as well as those of her parents andtheir Indian immigrant
friends (Farnsworth, 2000). she uses her collection of stories to represent both societies in order to
transcend culturalboundaries. Lahiri's rhetorical aim is not to debate or to convince her readers
whichsociety is superior, but to provide them with a new cultural outlook that will allow themto transform
their cultural perspective. Interpreter of Maladies by JhumpaLahiri, a text whose cross-culturalthemes
create a natural opportunity to compare the presence of juxtaposed culturalvalues.
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CONFLICT OF CULTURAL VALUESIN JHUMPALAHIRI'SINTERPRETER OF MALADIES
Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of nine short stories comprised of characters of
Indiandescent living in the United States. There is a variety of plotswithin the collection that depicts a
diverse society of immigrants. For instance, thestories' characters range from children trying to make sense
of their home lives versustheir school lives, to young adults unsure of being American and their connection
to theirheritage, and finally older adults who continually struggle to accept their new lives andforget their
old. These characters react quite differently to their family, friends, andenemies, comprising an unbiased
illustration of how varied Indian immigrants'personalities are despite their common ethnic background. It
attempts to shatter previousstereotypes, by focusing on many different characters, places, and plots within
the samehistorical and cultural context. JhumpaLahiri could not escape her inheritance, because itis within
her genetic material
The title 'interpreter of maladies' may be converted to 'interpreter of troubles' andin reference to
this text it is used to describe many things. First and foremost, it is the titleof the book as a whole. For
instance, the nine stories within the book are examples of various aspects of Indian immigrants' lives in
America. Each story interprets thecharacters' sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs—consequently, the
trouble they separatelyundergo to survive. On the other hand, 'interpreter of maladies' is the title of a
particularstory in the book causing it to have multiple meanings within the text. For instance, thestory
focuses on Mr. Kapasi, whose occupation is to interpret patients' ailments in ahospital where little Gujarai is
spoken. Within the story he is giving a tour to a familywhose parents' marriage is failing. The wife/mother,
Mrs. Das confides that one of theirsons is not her husband's child and asks Mr. Kapasi for his help with this
malady, hersecret. He admits, however, that he is only an interpreter of languages, not of her guilt.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 areculturally displaced.
She vividly shows the estrangement and isolation thatoften afflict first- and even second-generation
immigrants. Although theimmigrant experience is central to her work, it is not her exclusive concern: inthe
title story, she suggests, through her characters, that there are 'maladies'that trouble all of us. This
contributes to our understanding of other peopleand of ourselves.Lahiri uses her acute powers of
observation, together with her personal experiences, to create stories that transport readers to an
imaginarylandscape, exploring and exposing the frailties common to all of humanity.
All Lahiri's stories revolve around people who are either Indianin India, Indian in the United
States or Americans of Indian descent. Further,the stories can be separated into distinct groupings and
associations, basedon their relation to Indian culture. The first and most obvious group of storiesare the two
that are set in India itself, and concern only Indians in India: 'TheTreatment of BibiHaldar' and 'A Real
Durwan'. Here, Lahiri explores theelements of Indian society that have not been muted or changed
byassociation with the outside world. Both of the main characters – BibiHaldarand Boori Ma – have
characteristics and experiences that are peculiar toIndian society, many of which could not exist elsewhere.
These women are both subject to the repressive mores of an Indian society that appears torender them
powerless. It is useful to link these two stories with the only other story set in India, which portrays an
Indian man who comes into contact with an American family of Indian descent.
The title story, 'An Interpreter of Maladies', not only illustratesthe main theme uniting the stories,
the 'maladies' that afflict Lahiri's variouscharacters, but also bridges the geographic divide between the
subcontinentof India and continental North America. MrKapasi does not understand thetourists in his taxi,
who look Indian despite their foreign mannerisms andbehaviour. This immediate confusion points to one of
Lahiri's major themes –that of disjunction between cultures. Through this story, Lahiriexplores the
connection between her narratives.
In the other hand,she concerns first-generation Indians who are inevitablyalienated from
American culture because they have left the land in which theywere born and raised. MrsSen, while still
quite young, is made to seem oldbecause she cannot adapt to life in America. She is a completely
displacedperson who yearns only for India and makes no attempt to assimilate. In asimilar way, MrPirzada
lives in America but is completely absorbed by what ishappening in the war in his homeland, where his wife
and children still reside.
Many stories of Lahiriconcentrates on marriage and relationships,particularly the arranged
marriages that underpin Indian society. 'A TemporaryMatter', 'Sexy', 'This Blessed House' and 'The Third
and Final Continent',while also portraying memorable characters struggling to adapt to Americanculture,
dwell on the intricacies of marriage and the difficulties that allindividuals have in adapting to life as a
family.
Traditionally, a shortstory cycle includes independent stories with similar characters and locations
that lead thereader through the book. However, Interpreter of Maladies, features independent anddiverse
characters, different narrative points of view, and various locales, therebychallenging the classical short
story cycle structure, Interpreter of Maladies attempts to successfully represent an entire communitywithin
Research Directions • Volume 1 Issue 8 • Feb 2014
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CONFLICT OF CULTURAL VALUESIN JHUMPALAHIRI'SINTERPRETER OF MALADIES
the limitation of a single work and Lahiri succeeds by harmonizing a variety ofdepictions instead of offering
only a single representation as many novels or single shortstories do. However, through these contrasting
elements, Lahiri creates a balanced representation of Indian immigrant culture. She uses the stories to
illustratethe many parts of the society and places these parts delicately to juxtapose them with oneanother
and create a universal whole. This balance is shown through the cheatinghusbands in 'Sexy' and the cheating
Mrs. Das of 'Interpreter of Maladies.' Also, Lilia of'When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine' participates with
relative ease in American childhoodand this is balanced by the separation of the Dixit children in 'Sexy.'
Finally, the first and
last stories of the book, 'A Temporary Matter' and 'The Third and Final Continent' mostclearly
suggest a balancing discourse through the parallelism of their basic plots. The first story 'A Temporary
Matter' describes the death of a son and adestructive marriage; however, the last story 'The Third and Final
Continent' tells a taleof the survival of both the parents' marriage and their son. Consequently,
JhumpaLahiri carefully places 'A Temporary Manner' first in order toillustrate the possible failure and the
heroism needed for the characters in 'The Third andFinal Continent' to succeed
The cultural clash is central to Lahiri's stories. Its treatment is notlimited, however, to the
encounter between India and America, but the clashcan occur on both sides of the frontier. “Interpreter of
Maladies”, thecollection's title story, deals with the encounter between an Indian cabdriverand tour guide,
also a gifted linguist, Mr. Kapasi and an Indian Americanfamily touring India. The clashes are perceived by
Mr. Kapasi from the startas foreigners as they “looked Indian, but dressed as foreigners did” (44).During
their first encounter, Mr. Das has an air of confidence given by thefact that “Mina and I were both born in
America” (45). The Das familycannot be mistaken for Indian, although they do look so. They are andbehave
American. Mr. Das cannot do without his tour book, which provides the information he thinks he needs to
acquire knowledge of India. What stirs his curiosity is the exoticism of the people and places in India. The
Dasfamily's encounter with India is an example of failed interculturalcommunication. Mr. and Mrs. Das do
not try to recover a sense of belonging,but they are rather keen on reasserting their identity as Americans.
Yet, during the trip they take to the Sun Temple in Konarak, Mr. Kapasi feels heidentifies with Mrs. Das. He
sees in her the same unhappiness he felt abouthis own marriage. “The signs he recognized from his own
marriage werethere – the bickering, the indifference, the protracted silences” (53). Butcommunication is
hindered again, as Mr. Kapasi was looking for a friend,while Mrs. Das was looking for someone to
“interpret her common, triviallittle secret,” (66) which is why he felt deeply insulted. Mrs.
Dasmisinterpreted 'the interpreter of maladies.' She wanted some remedy tocure her consciousness,
expecting to feel better and relieved. Mr. Kapasiwanted instead to “fulfill his dream, of serving as an
interpreter betweennations.” (59)
Because of the subject matter of the stories, it is rather difficult tofind a common denominator to
keep the collection together. Apparently, theonly binding element is Indianness. But to say that Lahiri's
main concern isthe status of the Indian immigrant in America, or at best, the precariouscondition of the
Indians in India would mean to over-simplify and ignoremany of the issues from which much of the artistic
vigour of Lahiri's storiesis derived. Critics themselves found it difficult to produce a consistentevaluation of
Lahiri's stories and to unerringly identify the writer's positionto the Indian or American community.
Interpreter of Maladies ends with The Third and Final Continenta story not of death but of new life
not of loss but of gain and growth. Lahiri extends the idea of cultural disparities beyond the traditional
conception of culture. Her characters encounter intense situationslike deaths of children, severe illnesses,
extramarital affairs, and immigration and are involved in significant relationships. The ending of each story
comes much like the ending of any occurrence in real life. Itsnot quite hemmed in but with a feeling of
closure and growth that gives“a sense of exile and
the potential for and frequent denial of
human communication that can be found in all of
Lahiri?s short stories.”
(Brada-Williams: 2004: 454-55)
Lahiri's collection focuses not only on men and women's struggle to create connection but also on
the loss of connection between people. Grief or an intense sense of loss can cause a breach in connection.
Relationships that are built on a connection that is not mutual or stable have a minimal chance of success.
Her charactersregardless of this instability search for a sense of connection to people, they hardly know for
the sense of security it provides. These characters are not able to shape their realities not because they don't
have the ability but rather because they don'tknow how to place themselves in their world. The childrens in
Research Directions • Volume 1 Issue 8 • Feb 2014
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CONFLICT OF CULTURAL VALUESIN JHUMPALAHIRI'SINTERPRETER OF MALADIES
the book too seem to be searching for an identity. They don't necessarily choose one by the end of the story
but are still in wonder and awe at the choices available to them.
Lahiri's stories bring to the fore issues related to interculturalcommunication, the cultural clash,
stereotyping and otherizing, and see allthese problems as having to do with human nature rather than being
strictly associated with the condition of the immigrant or Indianness. All of Lahiri's ninestories have in
common certain themes and motifs, like exile,displacement, loneliness, difficult relationships, and
problems withcommunication.Essentially, Lahiri's stories deal with theencounter between self and other,
individual identity being in most cases theresult of a mirroring effect. Although ethnicity seems to be central
to all thestories, Lahiri is too little interested in ethnic aspects and Indianness isseldom, if ever, exaggerated.
She resorts to India either as the setting of herstories or as place or cultural set of customs and beliefs most
characters referthemselves to in order to define their identity. The stories also featurecharacters that are
either Indian or Indian American. Yet, what Lahiri tries toavoid is the exoticism associated in the mind of the
Westerners with eitherthe locale or the people. She rather investigates and draws attention toproblems of
cultural values and more general human interest that totally related to India. Interpreter of Maladies
attempts to offer an interpretation of themaladies of the contemporary society and of the individual
inevitably caughtbetween here and there and yet belonging neither here nor there. Lahiri would like to serve
“as an interpreter between nations”(59), but mainly as an interpreter for the modern individual's anxieties
and exploration of cultural values through her stories and characters.
WORKS CITED:
1.Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies, Flamingo, HarperCollins. 2000. Print.
2.Brada-Williams, Noelle: Reading JhumpaLahiri's Interpreter of Maladies as a Short Story Cycle.
MELUS 29.3/4(Fall/Winter issue),2004. Print.
3.Chotiner, Isaac. “Interviews: JhumpaLahiri.” The Atlantic 18 Mar. 2008.
4.http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/03/jhumpalahiri/6725/
5.Choubey, Asha:The Postcolonial Web. Food as Metaphor in JhumpaLahiri?s
6.Interpreter of Maladies. April 2005.
7.http://www.postcolonialweb.org/india/literature/lihiri/choubey1.html
8.Davis, Rocío G.: Identity in Community in Ethnic Short Story Cycles: Ed. Julie Brown. New York:
Garland Publisher. 1997. Print.
9.Dubey, Ashutosh: Immigrant Experience in JhumpaLahiri?s Interpreter of Maladies, Journal of Indian
Writings inEnglish Feb 2002. Print.
10.Farnsworth: Elizabeth Pulitzer Prize Winner –Fiction Interview, Online News Hour. July 16, 2000.
11.Gilligan, Carol: A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development.Cambridge:
Harvard OUP. 1982. Print.
12.Holliday, Adrian, Martin Hyde, John Kullman. Intercultural Communication.An Advanced Resource
Book. New York:Routledge, 2004. Print.
13.Ketu H. Katrak: The Aesthetics of Dislocation, The Women?s Review of Books. XIX No. 5. Feb 2002.
Print.
14.Mcleod, John: Beginning Post colonialism, New York: Manchester University Press. 2000. Print.
15.Shuchen, Susan Huang. “JhumpaLahiri.” Asian American Short Story Writers.An A-to-Z Guide. Ed.
Guiyou Huang, Advisory Ed.Emmanuel S. Nelson. Westport, Connecticut and London:Greenwood Press,
2003.Print.
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