Interpreter of Maladies and Marriage

Indian culture is largely devoid of talk about love in marriage and other marital issues. Divorce is often seen as a taboo and public shows of affection are frowned upon and illegal to some extent. As a result of this, I think that Interpreter of Maladies serves as a great discussion on the problems that can arise from unsuccessful marriages as well as how they may be able to be fixed. 

Many of the relationships in the book are dysfunctional in some way. In many of the relationships, love has been lost to some extent, or there is no communication between the man and woman. In addition, one of the major stressing factors on the relationships is the fact that many of the women came to America because their husbands found jobs in the States. It is almost as if they are dragged here by the prospect of a better life than in India, but without any real purpose to fulfill other than to take care of and help the guy that they have most likely only known briefly before getting married to and one who they have probably not lived with for more than a few days. They are expected to raise a family without any experience living with the man they are married to, as well as to assimilate to society without really any introduction. This sentiment exists very prominently in Mrs. Sen’s life, where she longs for India and everything that comes along with it. The ruckus that India has where you can call and all the neighbors will come running to gossip and the fresh fish whose quality you can’t beat. This uneasiness with the relationship caused by Mrs. Sen’s unwillingness to be in America would never be discussed in a public setting in a traditional Indian setting. Interpreter of Maladies in this serves as a discussion about what can happen when assimilation into another culture is forced through marriage presumably with less love than ideal in this situation.

Another instance of the book serving as a discussion on marriage in Indian culture happens in the story “Interpreter of Maladies”. The issue of cheating on one’s husband would probably never come up in any discussion in a traditional Indian household but this story serves as a look into how it is dealt with. Ms. Das clearly struggles with the issue of whether to tell anyone about the issue and eventually decides to confide in the tour guide and interpreter Mr. Kapasi. We find that he also doesn’t really know what to do with the information, but the story still deals with the issue of marital problems and how to deal with them. The story presents confiding in someone else as a viable solution for the problem of maintaining your sanity, and also provokes some thought as to why one would keep it a secret for so long especially when she has to raise the child who is a product of the infidelity.

Overall, Interpreter of Maladies serves a good venue for discussion about infidelity and other problems in marriage which is a topic rarely discussed in traditional Indian culture. The issue of unwillingness to fully assimilate to different cultures as a product of marriage is explored fairly thoroughly as well as the issue of how to deal with infidelity. The book sparks thought about topics that aren’t really ever brought up in Indian culture.