Interpreter of Maladies

"I am not a doctor. I work with one. As an interpreter." pg 152
Interpreter of Maladies
Juhmpa Lahiri


This story was rather ironic because of how Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das had completely different interpretations of situations. First off, Mr. Kapasi took Mrs. Das's interest in his job as an interpreter for doctor's as a sign that she was hitting on him.  Mrs. Das, on the other hand, was instead trying to dig deeper into Mr. Kapasi's career to see if he could somehow help her out with her maladies in life. The entire time, Mr. Kapasi imagined himself falling in love with Mrs. Das and receiving her letter in six weeks while Mrs. Das was focusing on what advice she could possibly pry from Mr. Kapasi.  Mrs. Das's character was a little bit manipulative.  She was intent on receiving comfort from Mr. Kapasi as to how she could deal with the guilt that she experienced from the affair she had with another man. She was depressed with her life, since she was constantly reminded of the affair because of her son Bobby, who was not even the real son of her husband, Raj. Although I understand her reasoning behind why she is depressed, it was still sad when Mr. Kapasi realized Mrs. Das was only after him for the benefits his career might provide her. I found it funny and ironic too that Mrs. Das thought Mr. Kapasi was basically a psychiatrist, when instead, he really only interpreted physical problems, not mental problems; Mrs. Das's misinterpretation of Mr. Kapasi's career made the ending ironic.