Interpreter of a MadLady (Expectations vs. Reality)

We have always been taught to “make a good first impression,” that the impression we make when first meeting someone will be their impression of us forever. However, Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies” is an examination of the idea that lasting impressions can take time to cement. In the story, Mr. Kapasi’s and Mrs. Das’s views of each other go through a whirlwind transformation, and an entire relationship is formed, altered, and ended over the course of a few hours. The tale is a representation of how our impressions can change when founded not on reality, but rather on hopes.

The story’s use of a third-person narrator that allows us into the mind of Mr. Kapasi helps to magnify the gap between Mr. Kapasi’s expectations and the reality. Through his eyes, we see Mrs. Das as an Americanized Indian woman: wearing American clothes, a boyish haircut, and large pink-tinted sunglasses. She is both familiar and foreign at the same time. He notices that her accent sounds “just like the ones… [he] heard on American television programs” (49), and is confused by her use of English colloquialisms, unsure of how to respond to the word “neat” (70). At the beginning of the story, Mr. Kapasi is simply an observer of the lives of the Das family, a transient companion, if even that. His observations depict a woman who is somewhat indifferent to her children and husband, as Mrs. Das seems bored by her surroundings. She smiles at Mr. Kapasi “without displaying any interest in him” (2), paints her nails while ignoring her daughter’s request to participate (34), and stares absently out of the window and at the sky (51). The relationship between the two characters is professional at best, and virtually nonexistent.

Mr. Kapasi’s hopes for a relationship with Mrs. Das begin to form when Mrs. Das shows an interest in his work as an interpreter in a doctor’s office. At this point in the story, we do not know why Mrs. Das is so interested in Mr. Kapasi’s profession, only that she continues to ask for more and more details and calls the job “romantic” (61). Her use of the word “romantic,” a sentiment that is so clearly lacking in Mr. and Mrs. Das’s relationship, triggers Mr. Kapasi’s internal monologue of his failing relationship with his wife. Though Mrs. Das clearly wants something, Mr. Kapasi’s own expectations, founded on his desperation for a fulfilling relationship, lead him to take his fantasy of having a meaningful correspondence with Mrs. Das much farther than what is realistic. This section of the story marks the beginning of the height of the connection between the characters. Because their “relationship,” as Mr. Kapasi views it, is based solely on hope, it is easily destroyed only a few hours later when reality sets in.

The final downfall of the relationship occurs when Mrs. Das decides to confide in Mr. Kapasi, and Mr. Kapasi’s expectations are shattered. During Mrs. Das’s story, Mr. Kapasi cannot look her in the eye and is confused as to why she is telling him this information (145). Clearly, his hopes are very different from her intentions. He is disturbed “to learn that she thought of him as a parent,” making him feel self conscious and causing his feelings for her to continue to evaporate (147). The reason for Mrs. Das’s confession becomes clear when she explains that Mr. Kapasi’s job as an interpreter includes suggesting a remedy for her problems. He feels insulted “that Mrs. Das should ask him to interpret her common, trivial little secret” (161). Their opinions of one another are finally on a similar plane when Mr. Kapasi asks, “Is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das, or is it guilt?” (161). At this stage, they both finally understand the reality of their situation, and that their expectations and hopes for one another were not at all similar: Mr. Kapasi wanted companionship, while Mrs. Das wanted a way to curb her feelings of guilt.

Mr. Kapasi’s lasting impression of Mrs. Das is finally cemented after learning the realities of her life. His indifference towards Mrs. Das’s losing of his address, her obtaining of which was one of the causes of his infatuation in the first place, is a symbol of his transition from indifference to intoxication to disillusionment. Perhaps in the case of Mrs. Das, Mr. Kapasi’s first impression was not far off. (737)