Wednesday, October 31, 2018

For Friday: Lahiri, "The Interpreter of Maladies" (pp.43-69)



The "Egypt" group should answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: The Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, once wrote “All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.” Why do you think happiness is universal but unhappiness is singular? How does this story seem to shed illustrate this idea?

Q2: Mr. Kapasi observes early on that Mr. Das “looked exactly like a magnified version of Ronny. He had a sapphire blue visor, and was dressed in shorts, sneakers, and a T-shirt. The camera slung around his neck...was the only complicated thing he wore” (44). Why does Mr. Kapasi disapprove of the family, and the parents in particular? What makes them strange and “alien” to him?

Q3: When Mr. Kapasi dismisses his day job as "a job like any other," Mrs. Das exclaims, "But so romantic" (50). Why does she find it romantic, and why does she suddenly decide to make him her confidant? How does she also change for him in this instant? 

Q4: How is this also a story about the clash between East and West, and why ‘translation’ is so difficult? Why is culture more than language and custom? What is Mr. Kapasi unable to translate for Mrs. Das and for himself?

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