Weblog Entry 8

In Jhumpa Lahiri's short story "Interpreter of Maladies," Jhumpa meticulously inserts small details to reveal the unmet needs of her many characters. For instance, early on in the story Jhumpa highlights the neglect that her character Tina receives from her mother Mrs Das. In that scene in the story Tina wants to use her mother's nail polish yet her mother Mrs Das, agitated by her remarks, tells her to leave her alone. By using the small detail of Mrs Das neglecting to paint her daughter's finger nails, Jhumpa manifests the non existent bond between Mrs Das and Tina. Not only that, however, there are many other unresolved Das family issues that Jhumpa carefully unveils throughout the story. This can be seen within another scene between Mrs Das and Mr Das on page 63. Mrs Das complains that the car they are riding in is too hot, and that Mr Das is a miser for being so reluctant to rent a car with air conditioning. However, to Mr Das rebuffs that remark by stating car isn't very hot at all, thus implying that Mrs Das should quit complaining. This short argument reveals the flaws in Mr and Mrs Das relationship, and how Mr Das fails in satisfying Mrs Das's needs for comfort. Finally, Jhumpa Lahiri indirectly reveals how Mrs Das is unsuccessful in providing for the children's well being and safety when she disregards Mr. Kapasi's warning to not feed the monkeys, and trails behind puffed rice which leads to Bobby's isolation from the group and being attack by the monkeys. In this way Mrs Das is not accounting for any of her children's needs and is ultimately a danger to her family in an insidious way. Although minute and minuscule, the small details that Jhumpa embeds in her story ironically reveals more about her characters than most broad descriptions on them ever could.