Post
modernism can be simply described as a period of time where nothing is explicit
but left to interpretation. It is individual understanding of things what
creates reactions. People as individuals are important. Unlike realism,
post-modernism focuses on the self interpretation and the truth seen through a
person’s perspective not on family, society or roles (Brady notes). Post
modernism is also literature emphasized in the complexity of human
relationships and on the chaotic human interaction is. The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri is a clear example of post-modern world literature and
also of the complexity of human relationships.
In The Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri
depicts a scenario where individual understandings of concepts lead to misunderstanding.
Mr. Kapasi, the tour guide, feels his life is a failure, he believes “the job
was a sign of his failings…He had dreamed of being an interpreter for diplomats
and dignitaries, resolving conflicts between people and nations, settling
disputes of which he alone could understand both sides” (Lahiri 52). For this reason, he wishes
to feel recognized and appreciated for his profession. He wishes to find the
admiration his wife is not giving him. These feelings of need lead him to
misinterpret, even though it is the title of his dream profession, Mrs. Das’
admiration for his job when she says, “But so romantic” (Lahiri 50). Post-modern
behavior is noted in the selfishness with which he creates the idea of a
romantic story with Mrs. Das. He thinks, “She would write to him, asking about
his days interpreting at the doctor's office…In time she would reveal the
disappointment of her marriage, and he in his. In this way their friendship would
grow, and flourish” (Lahiri 55). Talking about their inconformity with their
marriages is also prove of the complicated relationships are and how human
behavior comes to play. Mrs. Das herself misinterprets Mr. Kapasi’s profession
because of her own personal situation. The guilt and remorse of keeping the
secret from her husband his drowning her conscious. The fact that she says,
“But so romantic” (Lahiri 50), comes out of her belief Mr. Kapasi might give
her the relief she needs and since she is only worried about her feelings, she
never realizes the man is also in need.
The
story centers on the individual “maladies” of two different characters in need
for something they have not achieved. Mrs. Das situation displays life today
with both the urge for solutions and the urge for relief. Mr. Kapasi reflects
the post-modern period and the complexity of human relationships in his individual
problems and feelings with his marriage and his life. Neither culture or skin
makes a difference in their lives, they are both facing life in a complicated
modern world.
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