Response to “Interpreter of Maladies”

To be completely honest, when I began reading the passage, I was highly uninterested. I didn’t pick up on any clear theme and the text did a poor job capturing my attention. I did notice the tension between the Das family. I wasn’t even sure what Mr. Kapasi’s role was in the passage, besides being the Das families tour guide. However, as I kept reading I thought  Mr. Kapasi was “prying” on Mr. and Mrs. Das. There was obviously poor communication between Mr. and Mrs. Das, and Mr. Kapasi decided to get involved in their business. Even though marriage problems are common and don’t always mean the people in a marriage are bad people, in this case Mrs. Das seemed to not have poor morals. In the text we learned about her affair, 8 years ago, where she cheated on Mr. Das with Mr. Das’s friend, which resulted in the birth of Bobby. Furthermore, she seems interested in Mr. Kapasi and Mr. Kapasi seems interested in Mina Das, while the Das family is on vacation. There are a lot of morality issues with Mina’s actions. When Mina revealed to Mr. Kapasi that she had an affair resulting in a child and explained her dissatisfaction with her current marriage, Mr. Kapasi began to second guess his feelings towards Mina. In fact, his crush on Mina, faded away as he learned more about Mrs. Das’s morals. Interestingly, Mina’s attraction to Mr. Kapasi also began to fade when he told Mina that the tensions between Mr. and Mrs. Das are only a result of Mrs. Das’s guilt of cheating.