Interpreter of Maladies is the titular tale in Jhumpa Lahiri’s award-winning debut short story collection. The stories deal with different aspects of the cultural and relationship issues facing people of Indian heritage in the modern world. This story contrasts two empty marriages. The Indian protagonist (a doctor’s translator who moonlights as a tour guide) fantasizes that the wife in an Indian-American family he takes sightseeing has a romantic interest in him. Rather than love, she wants his help to find a “cure” for a foolish mistake she once made. Themes include marriage, communication, poor parenting, loss, guilt, loneliness, self-esteem. More…
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Silent Snow, Secret Snow
Conrad Aiken’s Silent Snow, Secret Snow is a psychological horror fantasy. It begins with a twelve-year-old boy (Paul) imagining overnight snowfalls. This leads to a growing fascination with snow, the thought of which provides relief from the mundane routine of his daily life, the ugliness of the world around him, parent-child conflicts, and awakening sexuality. As the imagined snowfalls increase, Paul begins to lose touch with reality. In the disturbing climax, his boy’s “snow voices” come alive and he completely withdraws into himself as they tell him a story. Major themes: mental illness, concealment, detachment and alienation. More…
The Magic Barrel
In this humorous story from Bernard Malamud a rabbinical student, a matchmaker, and an errant young woman with “desperately innocent” eyes are all potential winners. The story is as much about the young, introverted rabbi-to-be’s spiritual emptiness as it is his desire to find a wife. His first meeting with a potential match reveals an embarrassing truth: he can’t explain the reason for his calling. He feels a need to re-invent himself, and finds a path to possible redemption in the photograph of a woman whose face carries an “impression of evil”. Themes: tradition, materialism, loneliness, identity, religion, love, redemption. More…
Araby
It is tempting to think the central theme of this story by James Joyce is an adolescent boy’s infatuation with a friend’s older sister. However, the title gives it away. The main theme, brought about by the boy’s wish to impress the girl, is his obsession with visiting the Grand Oriental Fete (Araby). The story helps us vicariously re-live our own Arabies. Whether it be a relationship, work opportunity or important event, we all have experiences where something much looked forward to greatly disappoints. We know how the boy feels! We know how the boy feels! Other themes: alienation, loneliness, religion, vanity, disillusionment. More…
A Night in the Life of the Mayor
This humorous story by Manoj Das takes a satirical swipe at the abuse of power and narcissism of Indian officials. A mayor belittles his old professor for complaining about a stray cow that chewed up his granddaughter’s psychology notebooks. Karma strikes when that same cow runs off with the mayor’s half-eaten clothes and car keys as he is taking a dip in a secluded part of a river. He experiences an epiphany as he floats down the river, lying naked in a boat, after people arrive and start searching for him. Themes include ambition, power, pride, narcissism, self-discovery, redemption, regret. More…