Jacob Schulman
World Lit Analysis
April 2007
Ms. Grgas
Interpreter of Maladies Study Guide
1. Lahiri presents the reader with many different types of marriages within the
short stories in Interpreter of Maladies. The collection of pieces starts off with
Shoba and Shukumar, a couple that has not been the same since Shukumar
wasn’t present when Shoba had a still birth. They are forced to eat together by
candlelight when the power company has to fix some problems. Shukumar thinks
that he can save the marriage, but Shoba is done. Then, there’s Lilia’s parents,
who seem to be very stable in their relationship, and like a very normal couple.
Mr. Pirzada is in a completely different country than his wife, and that must be
causing much strain in his relationship. In “Sexy”, Dev puts Miranda in a very
awkward position. He is still with his wife, and he is cheating on her with Miranda.
But Dev probably isn’t ashamed of what he’s doing, cheating on his wife,
because he has probably done it before. The definition that Rohin gives Miranda
for the word “sexy” is enough to get her to believe that she has to end it, and that
it’s just wishful thinking that it could ever be something more real for either of
them. I agree with the quote that “subject is not love’s failure…but the opportunity
that an artful spouse can make of failure” because an artful spouse should be
able to make something good out of failure. It may not always be easy, but a
good spouse should be able to take the work of things and make them better,
and do things to improve their and their family’s conditions. But, I disagree
because arranged marriages could end up terrible, but they aren’t the fault of the
husband and wife, they’re the fault of whoever is the one arranging.
2. Miscommunication and unexpressed feelings play a major role in pretty much
every single story in the book. In “A Temporary Matter”, for example, the
miscommunication between Shoba and Shukumar is very apparent. Towards the
end, Shukumar believes that his situation with Shoba is improving, only for her to
tell him that she has found herself a different apartment for her to live in. In
“Sexy”, Miranda misinterprets Dev’s feelings, especially after Rohin tells her the
definition of the word. “It means loving someone you don’t know,” (107), he tells
her. Miranda realizes that she can’t continue like this with Dev, and that their
feelings have not been true. Many of the characters in the book realize that their
relationships have not been “true” and that, to some extent, there has been
significant miscommunication between husband and wife.
3. Lilia gains knowledge about how the world is truly not just limited to the safe
town that she is lucky enough to occupy. Mr. Pirzada’s situation is a good
example of how life can be difficult for other people, from other parts of the world.
On Halloween, for example, Mr. Pirzada offers to accompany Lilia and Dora out
on their trick-or-treating adventures. Lilia’s parents have to assure him that the
neighborhood is completely fine, and that it’s not dangerous in this community.
I’m sure that Mr. Pirzada would be very worried to let his daughters to that in their
hometown of Dacca, especially with the tightening military situation that existed. I
believe that Lilia learns that she is lucky in her place in life. She has it pretty
easy, especially compared to Mr. Pirzada, and how his family may be in major
danger at home. She should really be thankful that she has as good a life as she
does in the United States.
4. Throughout the stories in the book, exile, estrangement, and displacement all
have important roles for many of the characters. In “A Real Durwan”, Boori Ma
must feel incredibly out of place. She sleeps on her newspapers, and always
refers to what it was like at home, with her “rose scented” bath water, and other
luxuries. Her change of scenery is incredibly different for her, and she must feel
incredibly displaced in her new surroundings. In “The Third and Final Continent”,
Mala surely feels estranged due to her predicament. She has not even known
her husband, and she is forced to move to America to be with him there. This
feeling must be shared by thousands of wives and husbands who all have had
arranged marriages. Finally, in “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”, Bibi must feel
exiled due to her condition and then her illegitimate son. She doesn’t even know
who is the father of her child, and that must be one of the worst feelings in the
world. Most of us are lucky enough to not have any of these depressing kind of
feelings, and it’s just such a relief to not have to deal with such painful things like
this every day.
5. For most of the characters in the individual short stories of the book, their lives
in wherever they are now, are just not “complete” or “right” compared to their
lives back in their homelands. Boori Ma is an excellent example of this. She
sleeps on newspapers, and has her whole life savings hanging by her neck, but
the thought of her incredible homeland is just so good that it can make up for all
her hardships in the apartment building. Her life in the United States just doesn’t
have the sense of community that she had back home. Despite the tenants trying
to take care of her, she just doesn’t feel at home like she did back in India. In
“When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”, the setting of the United States is generally
shown make the characters very content, however, the one outlier is Mr. Pirzada.
His family is still in India, and he feels like he is deserting them, and he misses
them dearly. He doesn’t have the same sense of community that he had back in
India. He worries about his family especially now that the country may become
involved in a war. For him, the United States is not his community, but his true
home in Calcutta is really where he belongs. The same feelings exist for Mrs.
Sen, who passively accepts her life in the university apartment, but in her heart
knows that she will always hold her homeland closer to her heart. She
remembers the old times when she would sit around with all the other women
and their blades and cut vegetables, the sense of community that she misses
strongly.
6. Food and meal preparation are always a very traditional and important part of
any culture. Most cultures have their own specialties, delicacies, traditions, and
individual palettes. In “A Temporary Matter”, Shoba cooks traditional dishes that
he takes from Shukumar’s cookbook. In “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”, the
fusion of Indian (or Middle-Eastern) culture and more American culture is fused
with the pumpkin carving; although Lilia’s mother still cooks traditional cuisine
from their culture. “Mrs. Sen’s” spends a good amount of the storyline focusing
on Mrs. Sen’s blade, and how important it is to her. Her whole being, and her
purpose in her life truly surrounds that blade. It is the link between her life in the
small apartment, and her true home back in India. In “The Third and Final
Continent”, once the narrator’s new wife finally gets to be with him in America,
she immediately starts by cooking new foods. Different cultures have different
kinds of traditions, flavors,
7. The narrator of “The Third and Final Continent” is by no means the only
character in the book that is bewildered, but he is certainly the one to make it
frank. The narrator is certainly bewildered by his wife, who almost just appears in
his life. Boori Ma, too, is bewildered about how she has ended up in her new life,
which, to her, seems light-years away from what she used to have. Shukumar is
bewildered that Shoba still wants to leave him, despite the progress that he
thought they had made during the times with the lights out. Miranda in “Sexy” is
confused emotionally. She wants to be with Dev, but she knows that he is
married, and that he probably doesn’t want to change that. Her sexual confusion
tied with her emotional confusion must be very difficult for her to deal with.
8. Rituals seem to play an intrical role in many of these stories. Cultures are often
based on rituals and traditions that are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.
One of the most prominent traditions throughout the stories is arranged
marriages. A few of the couples in the stories have had arranged marriages, and
the tensions that they can create really shine through. That’s a major
disadvantage of arranged marriages: arrangements don’t always work out.
Another ritual that is present in “This Blessed House” (although it may not be that
of the actual inhabitants of the house) is religion, and the placement of all the
Christian relics placed all over the house. Whoever lived in the house before,
must have been especially religious and religion is a very old tradition.
11. When Mrs. Sen looks at the traffic that makes “her English falter” and says
that “Everyone, this people, too much in their world,”, she means that for her, the
people in this world aren’t living correctly. People in the US only care about
themselves, and don’t take the time to give any thought or respect to anyone
else. In America, people can be “too much in their world” because America is a
very materialistic country. Everyone likes having their things, and we like to know
that we have them and then make other people know that we have them. India
seems much more traditional, whereas in the United States, we can tend to get a
little too involved with having everything new, and we are so used to the “hustle
and bustle”. “Their world” can refer to either the Indian way of life, or the
American one. No one in these countries goes out and spends a substandial
amount of money on someone else, they just spend it on themselves. That’s why
Mrs. Sen puts it as plainly as it truly is, “Everyone, this people, too much in their
world.”
12. People do many things for others that show that they care. It’s small acts of
kindness that can truly show how much a person is willing to do for another
person. Just as how the narrator of “The Third and Final Continent” hands Mrs.
Croft the rent, rather than just placing it down, people do little things like that just
to show some concern. When people go to pay a Shiva call after someone has
died, it shows that they have compassion for the family members of the lost
person. Similarly, sending “Get Well” cards, and paying sick people in the
hospital visits, also show that you care. Helping out a new student in a school
can just make a person’s life a lot easier. Just like Rachel Scott said, small acts
of kindness can start a whole chain reaction. Doing something nice for someone
else, can even mean the difference between life and death for some people, and
it’s nice to know that you helped make a person feel better.