Disillusionment and Discontent in "Interpreter of Maladies":

“Interpreter of Maladies” is a story which focuses greatly on the Das family’s cultural and moral distance from their genetic and ethnic background. But the underlying driving force behind the plot movement is Mr. Kapasi’s quixotic belief that despite the Das’s distinctly foreign and very liberal values, he can still connect with Mrs. Das on a romantic level.

In the story’s opening sequences, the tone of the writing indicates mild disapproval for the lifestyle of the Das family, but also focuses heavily on a physical description of Mrs. Das, her hair, and her clothing. Since the story is told from the a third-person narrative view that is limited to Mr. Kapasi’s point of view, one can safely intuit that Mr. Kapasi himself holds mild disapproval for the Das’s and spends quite a lot of mental energy gathering an image of the very attractive Mrs. Das, noting minute details such as her blouse’s “calico appliqué in the shape of a strawberry” (15), which he “found irresistibly becoming” (116).Later, when Mr. Kapasi and the Das family are at the temple, Mr. Kapasi is “pleased especially that it appealed to Mrs. Das”(97) and specifically notes via the narrative her interest in “the topless female musicians”(97) which are carved into the frescoes. Seeing Mrs. Das and the topless figures side by side brings his mind to his own dissatisfaction with his love life.

Mr. Kapasi’s physical attraction to Mrs. Das, along with his own discontentment at home, sets him up to fall for her at the slightest hint that she might be interested in him. And—perhaps predictably—he does. He misconstrues Mrs. Das’s usage of the word “romantic” when she remarks on his job as a medical interpreter, and when Mrs. Das asks for his address so that she might send him pictures, Mr. Kapasi creates in his mind a delusional fantasy of a clandestine, trans-oceanic relationship that he and Mrs. Das may have, in which she “would reveal the disappointment of her marriage, and he his” (89). Throughout the most the “Interpreter of Maladies,” Mr. Kapasi is “anxious to be alone with [Mrs. Das]” (100), so that he might have a chance to pursue his fantastical relationship with her.

But when he finally does get a chance to be alone with her, the secret she confides in him and the reasons behind her sharing that secret shatter any of his hopes that she and he might liaise. Mrs. Das confides in Mr. Kapasi the secret of her emotionally painful extramarital affair with a friend of Mr. Das. Instantly, Mr. Kapasi’s delusional illusions disappear: he realizes that her confiding in him about her sordid past means that she has no romantic interest in him, but instead only a practical interest in his talent as an “interpreter of maladies.” He resolves himself rather quickly, deciding to do his best to interpret her malady by asking the incisive question that a psychologist might ask: “is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das, or is it guilt?” (162). Mrs. Das glares at him and leaves the car, without responding, indicating to Mr. Kapasi that he was not even important to Mrs. Das as an interpreter of maladies, but as simply a receptacle for the dirty secret of hers which she had grown tired of holding all to herself.

So when boiled down, “Interpreter of Maladies” is a story of disillusionment. Mr. Kapasi’s mental image of his relationship with Mrs. Das was detailed almost to the point where it was real to him. Part of this mentally real fantasy is Mr. Kapasi’s daydream-like belief that Mr. Kapasi feels the same way about him as he does her. When he learns otherwise, his imagined relationship with her shatters instantly, broken in to so many little pieces that he does not even try to hold on to it.(636)