Interpreter of Maladies

Interpreter of Maladies is a 1999 short story collection by Jhumpa Lahiri, who is an American of Indian (specifically Bengali) heritage. Lahiri’s publishing debut, the collection was well-received and garnered many awards, including the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Prize. Its nine stories are works of literary realism that consider the immigrant experience in the United States and contemporary Indian life. They have been held up as a model for high cultural pluralism, a subgenre of literary realism that focuses on identity, particularly regarding race, culture, and nationality. Threaded throughout these stories are shared themes like The Difficulty of Empathy for the Other, The Immigrant Experience as Alienation, and Love Takes Deliberate Effort.

Plot Summary

The stories in Interpreter of Maladies are not linked by narrative but by purpose: Each story explores the immigrant experience and how it changes or alienates people from their heritage. Six of the nine stories focus on first- or second-generation Indian immigrants living in the United States, and the narrative conflicts are often driven by their difference or difficulty adjusting to life in the US. Three stories are set in India, with two concerning impoverished women and their role in the community.

The first story, “A Temporary Matter,” is the most thematically distinct. Shoba and Shukumar are comfortably settled in America but struggling with a miscarriage that disrupted their marriage. When they learn the power will be shut off in their home for an hour each night, they take the opportunity to confess their secrets in the darkness. Each night, Shukumar’s confessions grow more intimate, and he thinks he and his wife are reconnecting, but on the final night of their game, Shoba reveals that she has found a new apartment. Shukumar makes one last confession—that he held their child’s body before he was buried—and the two cry together in grief.

In “When Mr. Pirzada Comes to Dine,” a young Indian girl is introduced to Mr. Pirzada, a family friend whose hometown of Dacca was invaded at the beginning of the Bangladesh War for Independence. His wife and daughters are still in Dacca, so he spends evenings with the family watching the news for updates. Meanwhile, the young girl struggles to understand the difference between her family and Mr. Pirzada since they are of different nationalities. Mr. Pirzada and the girl grow close, and when he leaves to find his family, she learns what it means to miss someone.

“Interpreter of Maladies” is the story of a tour guide, Mr. Kapasi, taking the Das family, who are Americanized Indian immigrants, on a tour of a temple in East India. Mr. Das views the family as strange and undisciplined, but he like Mrs. Das, who shows an interest in his other job as an interpreter at a doctor’s office. He tries to prolong the tour by offering to take them to another site, and when they arrive, Mrs. Das stays in the car with him and confesses that one of her children is not her husband’s. Mr. Kapasi’s image of her fades, and when that child is attacked by monkeys, Mr. Kapasi saves him, knowing he has a secret that has ruined the illusion of this family.

“A Real Durwan” concerns an old woman living in the stairwell of a run-down building. The tenants put up with the stories of her fall from grace since she watches over the building, but when one resident installs a wash basin in the stairwell, her life is disrupted as other tenants jealously compete to add improvements of their own. The old woman takes to sleeping on the roof and wandering the streets during the day. She is robbed of her life savings, and her absence from the building leads to the wash basin’s theft. She is cast out by the tenants, who no longer have any sympathy for her.

In “Sexy,” a young woman named Miranda has an affair with an Indian man, Dev, at the same time that her Indian colleague’s cousin is separating from her husband due to his infidelity. Miranda is caught up in the whirlwind romance and buys a sexy cocktail dress, but when Dev’s wife returns home, their affair becomes a routine weekly occurrence without any excitement. She agrees to watch the cousin’s son while her colleague takes her around the city; her experience with the boy disabuses her of any hope of getting what she wants with Dev, and she breaks off the affair.

“Mrs. Sen’s” is the story of a woman who is relatively new to America and her experience watching over a young boy, Eliot, after school. Eliot and Mrs. Sen grow close, and Eliot watches as she struggles to learn to drive and experiences loneliness as an isolated immigrant. After going back and forth with her husband on driving, Mrs. Sen decides to learn the bus schedule instead, but she is insulted when bringing home fresh fish—her favorite indulgence—on the bus. The next time she wants fish, she drives, but she gets into an accident, leading to the end of her time with Eliot.

“This Blessed House” is about two immigrant newlyweds, Sanjeev and Twinkle, who keep finding Christian artifacts in their new home. Twinkle wants to display the artifacts, but Sanjeev finds them distasteful, and this difference leads him to consider if he really loves his new wife. He presses her to get rid of them before a housewarming party, but she refuses; at the party, the guests are charmed by her and decide to go on a scavenger hunt for more items. They all go to the attic, and Sanjeev considers shutting them in there until Twinkle returns with a giant bust of Christ, leading Sanjeev to resign himself to who she is.

“The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” depicts the plight of a poor Indian woman with epilepsy. Although Bibi tries everything, there is no treatment, and she is left in the care of her cousin and his wife, who dislike her. The community agrees she should be married, but they cannot find a suitor. Nevertheless, they teach her how to be a proper Indian woman. When the cousin’s treatment of her grows worse, the community puts him out of business, and he and his wife leave the city, leaving Bibi alone. The community thinks she has isolated herself in depression, but she is actually hiding a pregnancy. Though the father is never found, she is happy and opens her own store to support the child.

“The Third and Final Continent” is about a young man arriving in America after traveling to London and briefly returning home for an arranged marriage. He spends six weeks renting a room from a woman who is over 100 years old, and he grows to respect and worry about her. When his wife arrives from India, they get an apartment, but he does not feel close to her until he takes her to see the old woman, who declares her perfect. The couple explore their city and find community, and they make a home in America. The story closes with the narrator reminiscing on the journey he took to get here—it’s an ordinary one, the immigrant experience, but still beyond his comprehension.