Author Question: On one level, Interpreter of Maladies is about a clash of cultures. Inwhat ways do the members of ... (Read 71 times)

meagbuch · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

On one level, Interpreter of Maladies is about a clash of cultures. Inwhat ways do the members of the Das family seem particularly American to Mr. Kapasi? How are these characteristics contrasted with Indian life and behavior?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What can we determine about the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Das fromthe details given in the first few pages of the story?

What will be an ideal response?

Moriaki · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Though Indian in appearance, Mr. and Mrs. Das dress like Americans and speak with American accents (unsurprisingly, as they were born and raised and have lived their entire lives in America). Their reactions to the monuments of their ancestral culture range from shallow to indifferent and are expressed in terms such as neat and cool. They seem incapable ofand, except for a few perfunctory tries, uninterested indisciplining their children, and in fact they seem to Mr. Kapasi more like children than parents: it was hard to believe they were regularly responsible for anything other than themselves (par. 45). As Mrs. Das later makes clear, they were thrown together from a very early age and allowed to explore and fashion their own relationship: The things we did those Friday and Saturday nights, while our parents sat downstairs drinking tea . . . I could tell you stories, Mr. Kapasi (par. 141). This is in sharp contrast to Mr. Kapasis arranged marriage, with its total lack of physical joy and intimacy (par. 99).

Answer to Question 2

The first clause of the very first sentence of the story is Mr. and Mrs. Das bickered. Mrs. Das agrees to take their daughter to the toilet only after he points out that he gave Tina her bath the previous night: they do not freely assist and support each other as partners in a mutually loving relationship, but instead keep strict domestic accounts, as if each fears to be taken advantage of by doing more than the other. While Mr. Das is eager to enjoy the sights of the tour (though he derives more enjoyment from reading descriptions in his tour book, even when he is standing right in front of the thing being described), he makes no real effort to communicate that eagerness to his wife, who is clearly, behind her sunglasses, bored and apathetic. Their annoyed exchange over his supposed stinginess (par. 4648), as well as their readiness to act this way in front of a stranger, also shows the strains in their relationship.