Interpreter of Maladies Summary & Analysis

Lahiri’s story begins on a note of conflict. That both Mr. and Mrs. Das are reluctant to accompany their daughter subtly alludes to their selfishness and negligence. That Mrs. Das doesn’t bother to hold her daughter’s hand also suggests the distance between mother and child.

Mr. and Mrs. Das’s apparent youth implicitly raises the question of whether they are mature enough to occupy the role of caretakers. That the family is in India going on a visit to a temple also positions them as tourists. The description of the family’s mixed appearance alludes to their bi-cultural identity: they clearly have Indian roots, but they are also deeply tied to America.

The boys’ refusal to obey Mr. Das’s orders casts doubt over his authority as a father and highlights the issues of miscommunication central to the story; communication in the Das family is hampered not only between husband and wife but also between parents and children. That Mr. Das is reading a guidebook about India further reinforces his and his family’s position as outsiders or tourists in their own country of origin.

That Mr. and Mrs. Das were both born in America again highlights the family’s bicultural identity—they are Indian by origin but American by culture.

That Mr. Kapasi is struck by the way Mr. Das refers to his wife points to the cultural gulf that exists between Mr. Kapasi, who has lived his entire life in India, and the Americanized family that he chaperones. Mr. Kapasi’s detailed observation of Mrs. Das’s appealing appearance is significant, because it suggests that he finds her attractive. 

The parallel that Mr. Das draws between himself and Mr. Kapasi—he himself is a kind of ‘tour guide’ in relation to his American students—is ironic. Coming from America, Mr. Das is clearly much more affluent that Mr. Kapasi: he can afford to take his family to India on vacation and to employ Mr. Kapasi as a tour guide. The parallel that he draws, therefore, actually works to highlight the Das family’s comfortable circumstances in contrast to Mr. Kapasi’s.

That Mrs. Das fails to share her snack, and appears impatient, again suggests that a distance exists between herself and her family. She does not seem to be enjoying their company, nor the trip, and does not behave in a way that a caring mother and wife would.

The monkeys are a common sight in this part of India, yet the children’s excitement upon encountering them, as well as Mr. Das’s desire to take photos, highlights the fact that the landscape of India is quite alien to the family despite their roots. This reinforces their position as outsiders their country of origin. The monkeys’ leaping in front of and on top of the car is dangerous, forcing Mr. Kapasi to brake; monkeys will signify threat and danger throughout the story..

Again, Mrs. Das fails to act as a caring mother by rejecting her daughter’s request. She even blames Tina for making her mess up. Her actions here reinforce the fact that Mrs. Das is preoccupied with herself and puts her own needs and desires above her children’s.

Bobby’s confusion over the location of the driver’s seat is yet another moment that highlights the Das family’s cultural distance from India. Having never lived in India, Bobby is surprised to see that cars are different there. That Mr. Kapasi is familiar with American cars, on the other hand, points to the cultural dominance of America: even though Mr. Kapasi has never been to America, he has consumed its culture.

This is only the second time in the story when the Das parents communicate directly, and again they bicker as they did at in the moment that begins the story. The tense communication between Mr. and Mrs. Das suggests all is not well in their relationship.

Mr. Das’s desire to take a photo of what is presumably a common sight in India again positions him as a tourist in relation to his country of origin. It’s also striking that the man and the animals are emaciated. This alludes to the deprivation that many in India experience. Simultaneously, it calls attention to Mr. Das’s affluence—he is taking a picture of the emaciated man with an expensive device.

That Mr. Kapasi must work two jobs highlights the material gulf that exists between him and the family he chaperones. Unlike Mr. Das, who, on his American teacher’s salary, can take his family on vacation to India, Mr. Kapasi must take on more than one job to meet his family’s needs. That Mr. Kapasi’s second job consists of working as an “interpreter of maladies” in a doctor’s office highlights the story’s theme of communication and interpretation. Indeed, Mr. Kapasi engages in an act of interpretation here by fixating on, and being flattered by, Mrs. Das’s description of his work as “romantic.” He seems to interpret her use of this word to indicate that Mrs. Das may have some romantic interest in him.  

The emphasis on Mr. Kapasi’s financial struggles implicitly highlights the gulf between the Das family’s wealth and Mr. Kapasi’s own precarious circumstances. The knowledge that his son died, despite Mr. Kapasi’s efforts to pay for care, also reveals that Mr. Kapasi has experienced deep tragedy. It is tragedy tinged by guilt, given that Mr. Kapasi has kept his job at the doctor’s office to provide a lifestyle for his remaining family, as a way of “making up” for his son’s death. 

As he poses for the picture with Mrs. Das, Mr. Kapasi’s self-consciousness as well as his sensitivity to her physical presence suggest that his attraction to her is growing.

Mr. Kapasi’s anxiety over whether he has written the address correctly underscores how invested he has become in the possibility of maintaining contact with Mrs. Das. His fantasies, meanwhile, point to a propensity for projection on his part. Mrs. Das has only asked for his address to send him photos, yet Mr. Kapasi immediately begins to imagine that a romantic relationship will develop through their correspondence. These fantasies are a projection of his desires, rather than a reflection of Mrs. Das’s actions and words.  

The Sun Temple is symbolic of the characters’ shared Indian heritage. Yet, by virtue of their life in America, the Das family is unfamiliar with the temple and approaches it strictly as tourists. Mr. Kapasi, by contrast, is intimately familiar with the site not only because he is a tour guide but also because it is one of his favorite places. The characters’ contrasting relationship to the temple alludes to their different positions in relation to India and its cultural heritage.

The friezes of naked lovers on the temple walls reflect Mr. Kapasi’s romantic desires. Indeed, the naked bodies are associated with Mrs. Das’s bare legs, making explicit Mr. Kapasi’s erotic desire for Mrs. Das. The fact that he cannot associate these naked depictions with his wife, whom he has not seen naked despite their intimate life together, suggests the extent of Mr. Kapasi’s disconnection from his wife.

Mr. Kapasi’s uncertainty over Mrs. Das’s use of the word “Neat” points to the way that cultural distance affects the characters’ communication with one another. In launching into further fantasies about the letters that he will exchange with Mrs. Das, Mr. Kapasi imagines this correspondence will constitute a cultural bridging of the different worlds—India and America—that they inhabit. Mr. Kapasi’s thoughts suggest that he has an idealistic view of the power of words to serve as instruments to bridge cultural and national divides. His sadness over Mrs. Das’s imminent departure, finally, also points to just how infatuated he has become with Mrs. Das: he has only met her a few hours ago, and knows very little about her, and yet already feels deeply attached to her.

Mr. Kapasi’s growing infatuation with Mrs. Das is further reflected in the fact that he can hardly bear the thought of being separated from her, going so far as to come up with an excuse to extend the journey with the family. His fantasies about, and his desire for, some kind of intimate relationship with Mrs. Das have completely taken hold of him.

Mr. and Mrs. Das’s communication is never free of tension, and here again they are presented as in conflict with each another over Mrs. Das’s refusal to leave the car and to pose for the family picture. Mrs. Das’s decision not to accompany her family is another instance where she seems to behave in a cold and disengaged way towards her family. That Mr. Das and the children stop to observe the monkeys again suggests how novel these animals are to the Americanized Das family, unused to the sights and sounds of India.

Mrs. Das’s request that Mr. Kapasi remain with her in the car implicitly sets up the expectation that she wants something from him. This is the moment of intimacy that Mr. Kapasi doubtless had been hoping for. Yet Mrs. Das’s confession that Bobby is not Mr. Das’s son is completely shocking to Mr. Kapasi. He is confronted with knowledge he did not imagine nor expect, and his nervous action of dabbing lotus-oil on his forehead is an expression of his uncertainty over how to proceed.  

The story Mrs. Das tells is one of disillusionment, and it confirms Mr. Kapasi’s earlier suspicions that Mrs. Das is unhappy in her marriage; this story will also result in Mr. Kapasi’s disillusionment over the character of Mrs. Das. Although Mrs. Das had once been in love with her husband, the responsibilities of family life clearly burdened her more than they did Mr. Das. Her narrative of the marriage casts Mr. Das as an insensitive husband who failed to notice the toll motherhood was taking on his wife. The fact that Mrs. Das has never shared the secret of Bobby’s paternity with anyone also points to the extent of Mrs. Das’s negligence. Not only has she betrayed her husband, she continues to betray both her husband and her son by not sharing the truth of Bobby’s paternity with them.

Mrs. Das’s negligence is further compounded by her description of the affair. She put up no resistance to being seduced by Mr. Das’s friend. Furthermore, in indulging in sex with her husband’s friend, she neglected her son Ronny by ignoring him as he cried in his playpen. This description, therefore, reinforces the many ways in which Mrs. Das has neglected responsibilities towards her husband and children.

By calling attention to the age difference between them, Mrs. Das shatters Mr. Kapasi’s illusion that she views him as a potential romantic partner. In this scene, therefore, Mr. Kapasi’s fantasies about Mrs. Das, as well as his assumptions about her thoughts and feelings towards him, begin to fall apart.

Here, it finally becomes clear that Mrs. Das’s intentions towards Mr. Kapasi are completely different from what he had imagined. She is not interested in him romantically at all. She is turning to him as a healer, a parent-like figure who might have the power to relieve her of the “malady” of her terrible feelings. It becomes clearer to Mr. Kapasi, and to the reader, that he had completely misinterpreted Mrs. Das’s interest in him.

Realizing what Mrs. Das actually wants from him, Mr. Kapasi is forced to completely rethink his engagement with her and her family. Rather than a lover, he can only hope to play the part of mediator or healer to help patch up the broken relationship between Mrs. Das and her husband. His question to her suggests Mrs. Das’s need to take responsibility for her actions.

Mrs. Das’s outrage points to her own guilt. Her storming out of the car suggests that she is in denial about her negligence towards her family. She is unwilling to confront her guilt and to take responsibility for her actions. Her negligence is even further reinforced by her carelessness in dropping food and the subsequent ominous appearance of the monkeys. Mr. Kapasi’s own goodness is reflected in the fact that, despite her insulting treatment of him, he feels compelled to protect Mrs. Das from the animals.  

Mrs. Das’s insistence on joining a family photograph here is ironic. She has just revealed to Mr. Kapasi that her family life is built on betrayals and lies. As such, the photograph she wants to pose for would presumably reflect an image of a happy, smiling, cohesive family that is merely an illusion.

Bobby’s attack is a direct result of Mrs. Das’s carelessness: the monkeys were led to him because they were attracted by the crumbs of food that his mother dropped on the path. By associating the monkeys’ attack with Mrs. Das’s actions, Lahiri suggests the animals as symbols of the danger unleashed on children as a result of the parents’ negligence. Bobby, the product of Mrs. Das’s secret affair, is notably the child most endangered by his mother’s failure to take responsibility for her actions (and Mr. Das’s failure to keep a proper eye on his children in her absence).

Mr. Das’s paralysis in the face of the danger suggests that it is not only Mrs. Das who is unable to properly care for her children. Her husband, too, seems unable or unwilling to step up for his children, even when they are threatened. It is the stranger, Mr. Kapasi, who must finally come to the boy’s aid. This scene further confirms that Mr. and Mrs. Das are immature, and irresponsible, parents. 

In rescuing Bobby, Mr. Kapasi acts more like a parent than either Mr. or Mrs. Das do. Yet the story is ambiguous over whether Mr. Kapasi feels the urge to share this secret out of vindictiveness (Mrs. Das, after all, has not behaved very kindly towards him), or out of a desire to rescue Bobby from his mother’s lies. In choosing not to share the secret, however, the scene suggests that Mr. Kapasi ultimately attempts to act in the boy’s interests—after all, Bobby is only a child, and likely too distraught to be confronted with such terrible knowledge in this moment. 

While Mr. and Mrs. Das fuss over Bobby, neither of them seems to recognize the fact that they have both let their son down: Mrs. Das by dropping crumbs of food that led the monkeys to him, and Mr. Das by failing to act to save his son when he saw that he was in danger. Their acts of caring, therefore, are not very meaningful, given that they come too late, and again point to the fact that the parents are unable or unwilling to acknowledge their responsibilities towards their children.

The fluttering away of the paper points to the loss of Mr. Kapasi’s illusions. His hopes for a romantic relationship with Mrs. Das, as well as his assumptions about her family, have been shattered. The presence of the monkeys is also significant, given that the animals represent danger. While Bobby has been saved from them for the moment, their presence in the trees suggests that the family will continue to be plagued with strife. The image that Mr. Kapasi “preserves” of the Dases also recalls the many photographs that Mr. Das has taken throughout the story. Mr. Das’s photographs depict a happy family on vacation, whereas this final image that Mr. Kapasi notes is much darker; it is an image of a family riven by betrayal, guilt, and lurking danger. It is also an image that emphasizes Mr. Kapasi’s exclusion—he is an outsider, who can only stand at a distance and observe.