Interpreter of Maladies Dreams, Hopes and Plans Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Abbreviated Title.Paragraph)

Quote #7

She would never put it in her study, he knew. For the rest of their days together she would keep it on the center of the mantel, flanked on either side by the rest of the menagerie. Each time they had guests Twinkle would explain how she had found it, and they would admire her as they listened. He gazed at the crushed rose petals in her hair, at the pearl and sapphire choker at her throat, at the sparkly crimson polish on her toes. He decided these were among the things that made Prabal think she was wow. His head ached from gin and his arms ached from the weight of the statue. He said, "I put your shoes in the bedroom."

"Thanks. But my feet are killing me." Twinkle gave his elbow a little squeeze and headed for the living room. Sanjeev pressed the massive silver face to his ribs, careful not to let the feather hat slip, and followed her. (TBH 124-126)

This scene shows us how Sanjeev learns to compromise his hopes and dreams for a more traditional and typical wife and learns to be more accepting of Twinkle. (Maybe he just read our previous comment…)

Quote #8

Needless to say, Bibi was delighted by the diagnosis, and began at once to prepare for conjugal life. With some damaged merchandise from Haldar's shop she polished her toenails and softened her elbows. Neglecting the new shipments delivered to the storage room, she began hounding us for recipes, for vermicelli pudding and papaya stew, and inscribed them in crooked letters in the pages of her inventory ledger. She made guest lists, dessert lists, listed lands in which she intended to honeymoon. She applied glycerine to smooth her lips, resisted sweets to reduce her measurements. (TBH 10)

Bibi plunges right into her wedding planning as soon as her doctor suggests that "relations" might cure her illness. True, she doesn't have a fiancé yet, but is Bibi all that different from your average woman who gets a monthly wax or pedicure and buys a sexy dress, all in anticipation of meeting a guy who might turn out to be "The One"?

Quote #9

A few days after receiving the letter, as I was walking to work in the morning, I saw an Indian woman on the other side of Massachusetts Avenue, wearing a sari with its free end nearly dragging on the footpath, and pushing a child in a stroller. An American woman with a small black dog on a leash was walking to one side of her. Suddenly the dog began barking. From the other side of the street I watched as the Indian woman, startled, stopped in her path, at which point the dog leapt up and seized the end of the sari between its teeth. The American woman scolded the dog, appeared to apologize, and walked quickly away, leaving the Indian woman to fix her sari in the middle of the footpath, and quiet her crying child. She did not see me standing there, and eventually she continued on her way. Such a mishap, I realized that morning, would soon be my concern. It was my duty to take care of Mala, to welcome her and protect her. (TFC 99)

When you're a husband (or a wife), anything can remind you that your future well-being isn't yours alone to plan for anymore. The narrator is rare husband in the stories who sees the profound effect that his plans will have on his wife