Interpreter of Maladies Themes

Interpreter of Maladies is all about gaps in communication, even between people who speak the same language. But that doesn't mean characters don't communicate in Lahiri's stories; they just often...

If you're looking for stories of marital bliss, you might want to move on. There are few successful marriages in the collection. The most troubled marriages in Interpreter of Maladies tend to look...

"Family first": that's what motivates and breaks the characters in Interpreter of Maladies. Why? Because "family" is all about responsibilities and (failed) expectations—what a son should do for...

Dreams, hopes and plans don't just get "deferred" in Interpreter of Maladies. They disappear, fracture, even change midway through a character's story. What's the point? Dreams, hopes and plans are...

All you need to know about society and class in Interpreter of Maladies are these two things: the American Dream and the Indian caste system. Think of the American Dream and the caste system as ide...

Sometimes getting what you want isn't such a great thing. That's the situation for some of the characters in Interpreter of Maladies; they seem to fulfill their dreams and then—lo and behold—th...

Generally speaking, the past isn't exactly a happy place for most of the characters in these stories. In fact, it's usually a portal to some pretty traumatic memories. What triggers these memories?...

In Interpreter of Maladies, there aren't just two regions to think about. There are (at least) three to compare to each other: America, India and Pakistan. Why is the theme so complex? Because in t...

You know how sometimes you're just really curious about that other person who's different from you? In the world of Interpreter of Maladies, everyone ends up appearing "foreign" or "other" and, in...

Who exactly makes up a community anyway? It turns out that, in Interpreter of Maladies, the answer changes depending on where you are in the world. If you're in India, there's a good chance that th...