Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine And Interpreter Of Maladies

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Foreigners are frequently categorized and seen as interchangeable. The first two stories, “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” and “Interpreter of Maladies,” are connected by how people are perceived when away from home, and the third, “A Real Durwan,” is connected to the earlier two because it shows how complicated individuals are when they are not thought of as apart of a group. The order is important because the first two narratives shows the reader how Indians in America and Americans in India are all perceived to act similar by native born people. In the final tale, Lahiri explains how people are not as homologous appear to be. “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” is set in America with an Indian-American family, two parents and a daughter, and …show more content…

Kapasi’s of the American-Indian family he interacted with; they see foreigners as a group with a united mindset. Though Mr. and Mrs. Das’s parents were from India they, like Lilia, have little connection to the motherland. Because “Interpreter of Maladies” takes place in India, the American family is perceived as being like-minded, “They were all like siblings, Mr. Kapasi thought as they passed a row of date trees. Mr. and Mrs. Das behaved like an older brother and sister, not parents. It seemed that they were only in charge of the children for a day; it was hard to believe they were regularly responsible for anything other than themselves” (Lahiri 49). The family’s personality traits that are reported are mostly flaws; often times they act disinterested, selfish and uncooperative, as well as naive about how they appear to their tour guide. While families do often act similar, the prejudice of being a foreigner links their personalities so they are difficult to tell apart. Additionally, Mr. Kapasi’s opinions of the family was only gathered from a short period of time, as the case often is with outsiders. The Das’s presentation of themselves, however brief, will be remembered in a specific way so that the family will be combined in the mind of Mr. Kapisi as a single

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