Reviewed by Megan J.The Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of stories that shows the vast difference between the Indian culture and the European/American way of life. The author does a fabulous job with describing how people interact with each other. When I was reading through, I felt like I was talking to people I knew because I could picture who these people were. I could see both their thoughts and mannerisms.
My favorite story within the collection was the title piece “The Interpreter of Maladies.” This tale tells the story of a family who travels to India to visit their parents. A husband, a wife and three children take a tour to a temple. It begins with Mr. and Ms. Das arguing over who should take their daughter Tina to the bathroom. Once the tour is underway, Ms. Das begins questioning Mr. Kapasi (the tour guide) about his job and his life. She has sort of a flirty and sensual persona, and Mr. Kapasi finds her intriguing and attractive.
For a mother of three children, Ms. Das was unhappy with her duties as a mother, and seemed to look for escapes. She appeared almost tired of her life, like she didn’t want to be who she had become. None of this seemed to bother Mr. Das however. His wife’s complaining and exasperation didn’t seem to phase him. He was passionate about his own life and his family. I could tell that he loved his children.
Ms. Das acted as though she were engrossed in the tour guide’s second job as an interpreter for a doctor’s office. She flattered him with compliments, and he took them in. Mr. Kapasi admired Ms. Das for the way she walked, looked and smelled, while she talked about her own business. Toward the end of the tour, Mr. Das and the children walked off down a path, while Ms. Das and Mr. Kapasi hung back. She started telling him the story of her life, and then reveals her deepest secret to him, expecting him to give her some form of guidance. When Kapasi asks her a simple question, she gets up and leaves, because she did not get the compassion and empathy she desired.
The story illustrates the extent of human desire. Mr. Kapasi meets this beautiful woman whom he perceives as different than who she actually is. She is merely satisfying her own needs by taking what she can from him. When he discovers who she actually is, she suddenly becomes unappealing and selfish to him.
I believe the moral of the story is that people are not always how they seem to be. People can seem kind and generous on the outside, but on the inside they leave a trail of sadness and darkness wherever they travel. This story also illustrates the tendency for Americans to be selfish, looking out for only their interests. It also reveals the impatience that many Americans possess.
In contrast, the story shows the greater simplicity of the Indian way of life, loving themselves, being content in who they are, without the need to be in search of always something more.
