Interpreter of Maladies #8

This story, Interpreter of Maladies, in it's entirety confused me at certain points because of the development of the character's in Jhumpa Lahiri's story. The slow build in the thinking habits of Mr. Kapasi, the taxi driver, allowed the focus in the beginning to stay on the family and this driver. I thought this was a smart move by Lahiri because I was able to really see the family as a whole and Mr. Kapasi as an individual before I intertwined their stories together. The background information given by Mrs. Das later on in the story helps in the understanding of her actions and thought process which became really evident in the rereading of this short story. The compiling thoughts from Mr. Kapasi really allowed me to believe that Mrs. Das was a woman that did the right thing and was going to show him simple kindness that one would expect in a story as this. Therefore the ending really surprised me when Mrs. Das revealed the startling news that one of her children was not her husbands. This fact will influence Mr. Kapasi and how he sees his wife and family. I would not be surprised at all if this actually changes his treatment of the people in his life into a relationship that he cared about more. I hope that this would have a permanent change in his life because of how significant the information is to a relationship as intimate as marriage. Appreciating what God has given us through marriage seems to be neglected so often by so many people that I hope an event as drastic as this occurring in any one's life would have a long-lasting impact. I feel as though this is an unhappy ending. Unhappy because Mr. Kapasi now has to know for the longest time what this woman has told him without letting her husband in on the secret. Knowing someone is enduring a long pain does not sound like something that I would want to stand by and have at all. The end seems to relate Mr. Kapasi's scenario to that of the monkey's when he writes, "Solemnly observing the scene below"(Lahiri).