Jhumpa Lahiri’s
“Interpreter of Maladies” describes the interactions that take place between an
Indian tour guide, Mr.Kapasi, and a visitor from New Jersey, Mrs.Das. They both
seem to misinterpret what one wants from the other. These misinterpretations
being Mr.Kapasi thinking Mrs.Das would want to be involved in a future
relationship with him and Mrs.Das only wanting some advice on her dilemma of a
past affair. The outcome of that affair was a child being born and Mr.Das not
being the father in which he has no idea of this.
I made the connection
between “Interpreter of Maladies” and a song called “Hypothetically” by Lyfe
Jennings. Although the outcomes of this short story and the song are very much
different, there are still many similarities that I made between the two. “Hypothetically”
is a song which describes the conflicting relationship between a man and woman
in which they both state their “hypothetical confessions” and the woman is contemplating whether or not she should tell her mate about the affair she had.
“Hypothetically” reads,
“what if I told you that I had a confession, what if I said four years ago when
we were arguing he came and comfort me and I wound up pregnant.” I connected
this verse with Mrs.Das because she too had an affair with another man when she
too was in a state of distress with her being a lonely housewife. “What if I
confessed it and it turns out not to be your baby.” I connected this verse with
the fact that Mrs.Das also became pregnant by the man which she had an affair
with and that the baby was not Mr.Das’.
The overall connection
that I made between “Interpreter of Maladies” and “Hypothetically” was that
Mrs.Das was contemplating what to do in terms of telling her husband, Mr.Das,
about what she had done and what the resulting factor of that mistake was. In
“Hypothetically”, the woman is thinking hypothetically about the affair she also
had and that result and whether or not she should tell her mate. “Would you
rather have me tear you away from the only family you know or is this just too
big a secret to keep it on the low?” Both of these women are unsure if they
should tell their significant others about the mistake they both made because
they know that it could possibly tear their families apart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE46T7ruqV8
I see and understand the connection that you made between the two. Both women in the song had not only had an affair but they were both wondering how to go about telling their spouse that they had been unfaithful. Also the “What if I confessed it and it turns out not to be your baby.” Lyric is very precise in relating the two together. This is because Mrs. Das had a child that did not belong to Mr. Das. Add this to the fact that she was looking for advice on a way to tell Mr. Das. The way Mrs. Das approaches the subject when speaking to Mr.Kapasi is in a “What if” matter. It’s like she wants to tell him but what if he doesn’t accept it nicely? Would it even be worth it?
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