The Interpreter of Maladies

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Interpreter of Maladies
Mr. Kapasi wants an exciting life away from the monotony in his marriage life and is impressed by Mrs. Das as American tourist of Indian descent. This extends from Kapasi’s loneliness and feeling of emptiness in marriage, as his wife still reels from the loss of their son. Even though, Mrs. Das also has a loveless marriage. Kapasi has fantasies and imaginations that prevent him from understanding reality in his contact with Mrs. Das who has American mannerisms. Mr. Kapasi is a doctor interpreter as well a tour guide, but miscommunication and misinterpretation occur when dealing with Mrs. Kapasi. This paper explores how Mr. Kapasi fails to interpret Mrs. Das’ malady.
Mr. Kapasi interprets patient’s symptoms because of language and communication barriers that exist between patients and the doctor. The revelation that Mrs. Das’ younger son Bobby is not the husband’s child is surprising to the tour guide, as Mr. Kapasi only saw himself as an interpreter of language, and could not offer solution to Mr. Das secret. Mr. Kapasi is unable to offer any advice to Mina and is frustrated that she only confessed to him because of his perceived talent in interpretation (Lahiri 65). The revelation stuns Mr. Kapasi who sees Mrs. Das in a different light making it harder to offer any kind of advice. It is apparent that because of misunderstanding, Mr. Kapasi is unable to interpret the malady, where his fantasy to be involved romantically with Mrs. Das leads to misunderstanding.
Mr. Kapasi fails to interpret Mrs. Das’ malady because of his inability to fully comprehend Mrs. Das situation at the time of Bobby’s birth. Thus, he wanted to know whether the lady merely felt guilty or relived from the confession (Lahiri 66). ...