Character Clues
Character Analysis
Occupation
You are what you…do? Each of the characters in Interpreter of Maladies is defined by his or her job, or lack thereof. In fact, you might say that potential unemployment is a driving fear of these characters because, after all, what's your purpose in life if you have nothing to do everyday?
Take Shukumar. His whiny, frustrated personality has everything to do with "his anxiety that he was still a student at thirty-five" (ATM 9). Because he has no job other than to complete his graduate program and find an academic position, Shukumar is forced to depend on Shoba financially.
He's also pretty sequestered at home, which means he has the time to ruminate not just about his dissertation but about Shoba's lack of affection: "He thought of how long it had been since she looked into his eyes and smiled, or whispered his name on those rare occasions they still reached for each other's bodies before sleeping" (ATM 12).
He's an extremely passive character because there's nothing in his life that forces him to leave the house: "It was often nearly lunchtime when Shukumar would finally pull himself out of bed and head downstairs to the coffeepot, pouring out the extra bit Shoba left for him, along with an empty mug, on the countertop" (ATM 13).
As a result, his character is really interior, full of his own thoughts, memories and feelings. That's why "ATM" isn't exactly packed full of action but with deep thoughts: the story is told through Shukumar's perspective.
You wouldn't think "A Real Durwan" is much like "A Temporary Matter": there's all this hustle and bustle around the apartment building. Boori Ma is constantly doing something: cleaning her blankets, sweeping the stairwell, smacking salespeople with her broom.
But it's when she's prevented from doing her job, when she starts to wander aimlessly on the streets, that her character runs into trouble and is forcibly moved out of the building. Even the title—"A Real Durwan"—is all about what happens when the job you're doing isn't considered real anymore. Since Boori Ma more or less gets fired, that's the end of her character and, thus, the end of the story.
Bibi Haldar is another example. What we learn from her story is that she didn't really need a man to be cured of her illness. She needed a role. Once she has a child to raise and a business to run, her symptoms disappear.
We could go on with each of the main characters in the book, but you get the point. What each character does defines who the character becomes; it even determines the character's fate in the story.
BTW, Lahiri seems to feel that graduate students aren't fully-formed adults. Shukumar, Twinkle, even the narrator of TFC in his student days, seem to be people in transition, not really arrived yet in the real world. After an informal poll, Shmoop's management has decided that there is something to be said for this idea.
Props
Props aren't just extensions of egos in Interpreter of Maladies. They actually help characters try on or fit into new identities.
For instance, what does Miranda do once she starts seeing married Dev? Go on a shopping spree in order "to buy herself things she thought a mistress should have" (S 46).
And what do you think happens as the romance starts to fade? Miranda stops wearing her mistress gear and returns to being just Miranda: "So the next Sunday she didn't bother. She wore jeans. She kept the lingerie at the back of a drawer, behind her socks and everyday underwear" (S 52).
Then there are the props that show you the essence of a character. Mr. Pirzada? He's sweet. How do we know? He's always giving Lilia candy and "'only spoil[s] children who are incapable of spoiling'" (WMPCTD 23).
The narrator of "TFC"? He always delivers his rent in an envelope to Mrs. Croft. In fact, he makes sure to "[bow] slightly and [lower] the envelope, so that it hover[s] just above her hands" because he notices "her fingers, folded together in her lap, [do] not budge" (TFC 56). In a word? Considerate.
Speech and Dialogue
Who else would we consider for this section but Boori Ma and Bibi Haldar, the loudest and most talkative characters in Interpreter of Maladies? They're happy to tell their stories to any willing audience.
Boori Ma's voice, "the only thing that appeared as three-dimensional," rounds out her character as someone more than just a victim/political refugee. She's a storyteller, an entertainer, who "enumerate[s], twice a day, as she sweep[s] the stairwell, the details of her plight and losses suffered since her deportation to Calcutta after Partition" (ARD 2).
Bibi Haldar's voice is like Boori Ma's: she also likes to broadcast her suffering. It's through her speech that she engages the community around her and makes her needs known: "Her voice was louder than necessary, as if she were speaking to a deaf person. 'Is it wrong to envy you, all brides and mothers, busy with lives and cares? Wrong to want to shade my eyes, scent my hair? To raise a child and teach him sweet from sour, good from bad?" (TBH 4).
However, unlike Boori Ma, Bibi actually silences herself once she's abandoned. That signals her change in character from victim to independent woman: "Bibi had retreated into a deep and prolonged silence….She drank little, ate less, and began to assume an expression that no longer matched her years" (TBH 41).