Interpreter Of Maladies Essay

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Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies places emphasis on the character’s most impactful moments of realisation, from less significant moments such as the realisation that two people can truly connect in the dark to more important ones such as the revelation of a long untold secret. This essay will discuss some of these moments of revelation and their impacts on each character in relation to two stories, A Temporary Matter and Interpreter of Maladies, As well as the reason why they were painful. From Mr Kapasi’s realisation that Mrs Das had no interest in him to Shukumar’s realisation that he never had a chance of reviving his relationship with Shoba, the moments that will be discussed do painfully impact the characters. Within these two …show more content…

The most prominent of these is the moment the the one in which Shukumar finally realises that the end of Shoba and Shukumar’s relationship was “the point of her game.” Throughout the story, he gives signs that he believes there is a chance that they can reconnect, that “when the house was dark they were able to talk to each other again.” This shows that the revelation that she had been preparing for this moment truly was a shock to him. Shukumar reveals the extent of his pain in the extent of his efforts to shock her in return with the “one thing in her life that she had wanted to be a surprise”, which was his knowledge about the baby, though he had promised himself he would never tell her. The pain felt by both characters is apparent in the last paragraph, wherein, as a last attempt to truly be together, they turned the lights of and “wept together for the things they now knew,” which shows with finality how much the last moment of realisation had hurt and changed them

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