Introduction to Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri, in her book, Interpreter of Maladies, has beautifully captured the dilemmas of Indian immigrants and their love for their culture irrespective of their Indian origin. When they are in some other country, they tend to forget whether they are enemies or friends and also observe the same seamy side of life that they leave in their home country. Interpreter of Maladies is a bouquet of such stories starting from the very first about the same experience and then “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” and the last one “The Third and Final Continent.” However, the common thing between both these stories is that both the protagonists narrate their respective stories in first person, love their cultures, and demonstrate their sympathetic nature that is almost universal.
Characters of Stories of Interpreter of Maladies
In the first story of Interpreter of Maladies, Lilia is just 10 when she becomes habitual of taking a candy from the visitor Mr. Pirzada, and carries on narrating this in her first-person voice until the end of the story. Although she uses the passive voice in the first part of the story, leaving her identity ambivalent, she ultimately declared her ‘I’ in the second paragraph from here to onward, she carries on with her first-person narration until the end. However, the story “The Third and Final Continent” starts with “I left India in…” which shows that the protagonist does not mince words in narrating his own voice and his own perspective. He carries on with his story about his residence in the United Kingdom, preparation and arrival in the United States, his own marriage, and his living with Mrs. Croft, and until the end, everything is given in the first person. This use of first person lends maturity and credibility to the narration as the readers also join the narrator in his story. For example, when Lilia talks about the politics and war between India and Pakistan, we also join this. Similarly, when the last man of the story narrates how he first comes to love his wife in America, that is also heart-touching and credible.
Local Cultures in the Stories of Interpreter of Maladies
Secondly, both the stories from Interpreter of Maladies seem to have a voice of their own about the culture in which the author has lived and has been brought up. As an Indian, she keeps a special flavor for Pakistan and India in her story “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” in which she narrates her culture and her mother and father’s love for Mr. Pirzada, who comes to have a meal with them, only due to having been from the same culture. She narrates his full story and also feels how nervous he got when he heard about the war. She not only takes interest in the political situation back home but also feels sympathy with Mr. Pirzada due to the situation in which her daughters were caught back in Dhaka in that “I began to convince myself that Mr. Pirzada’s family was in all likelihood dead” (Lahiri 35). In a similar fashion, even when Mala arrived in the United States, she was sheepish and he was shy and they both started loving with Mrs. Croft urging them. He shows this by saying that “We at with our hands” (210) which he used to do at home in his own country.
Human Nature in the Stories of Interpreter of Maladies
Human nature and its sympathy are quite universal in the stories of Interpreter of Maladies. Lahiri has beautifully shown it through Lilia and Mrs. Croft. Although Mrs. Croft knows that he does not study or work in MIT as she used to ask about Harvard or Tech, she offers him a room and he, on his part, also starts showing his generous nature toward Mrs. Croft. When Helen came, being her only daughter, “she came and went, brining soup for Mrs. Croft” (206), while Lilia feels very bad for Mr. Pirzada when she learns that his seven daughters at home back in Dhaka are in danger of being killed in the war. She showed this sympathy for them as “I prayed that Mr. Pirzada’s family was safe and sound” (35) which demonstrated that sympathy is a universal human quality irrespective of continent or country. Mr. Pirzada is a Pakistani and Lilia and her family are Indians, but they love one another as they are from the same region and share the same language and culture.
Conclusion
In short, Lahiri has beautifully summarized human nature, human love towards common culture, love for the sufferings of others, and sympathy for the miseries in her Interpreter of Maladies. She has demonstrated this through her characters of Lilia and the man who goes to study in the United States and then calls his wife Mala with him. Both show that they not love their own culture but also are human beings and can sympathize with others. He does this with Mrs. Croft when she breaks her hip and she with Mr. Pirzada when he does not learn about his family. In short, Lahiri has beautifully summed up that the same human nature is living everywhere whether in America or back in India.
Works Cited
Relevant Questions about Interpreter of Maladies
- How do the experiences of the characters in “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” and “The Third and Final Continent” collectively reveal the author’s perspective on the universality of love?
- In what ways do the stories “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” and “The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrate that love, compassion, and human connection can bridge cultural divides and foster a sense of belonging, even in unfamiliar or challenging circumstances?
