bybrings to the surface unhappy marriages. Told from a third-person limited point of
view, the objective narrator reveals the perceptions of Mr. Kapasi, the main character. Kapasi,
a well-educated man, drives a taxi as a tour guide to supplement his finances that have been in
crisis since the death of his seven year old son.
The Das family is visiting
India from the United States. They are of Indian heritage, but the entire family was born in
the US. Kapasi views the Das family as disconnected from each other. Mrs. Das hides behind
her glasses and wants to be left alone. Mr. Das limits his involvement with the family by
reading a tour guide book.
Kapasi is taking the family to see a sun temple.
On the way, he reveals to the Das adults that he is an interpreter for a doctor who does not
speak the ancient language of some of his patients. Mrs. Das becomes interested in Kapasi after
this and labels him an interpreter of maladies.
Mrs.
Das includes Kapasi in a family picture and takes his name and address to send him a copy.
Kapasi begins to feel a connection with Mrs. Das. His perception of Mrs. Das begins to change.
He foresees them having a long distance correspondence.
Both marriages lack
intimacy. Unfortunately for Kapasi, he has no one to talk to about his unhappiness. His
marriage has become unsatisfactory because his wife has turned away from him since the death of
their son. His wife does not want to listen to the events of his workday, because the doctors
office reminds her of her sons death. Rather than talk about her problem with her husband, she
belittles his work. Resentment has built in Kapasi, and he has become starved for
affection.
When Mrs. Das says that she finds his job romantic, Kapasi
develops an infatuation for her. When she asks for his address, he dreams about them having a
long distance correspondence.
On the other hand, the reader learns that
Mrs. Das actually sees Kapasi as a father figure, who because of his translator job for the
doctor, can help her with her problems. It is obvious that she wants to talk to Kapasi by
herself.
Mrs. Das confides in Kapasi that she has had an extramarital
affair. She feels guilty over her affair with her husbands friend and the subsequent birth of
her son Bobby. She wants advice from Kapasi. He suggest that her terrible feelings arise
from guilt. The diagnosis shocks and troubles her. A change in her seems to take effect
immediately.
She turned to him and glared at him. She
opened her mouth to say something, but as she glared at Kapasi a certain knowledge seemed to
pass before her eyes, and she stopped. It crushed him€¦
Kapasi now dislikes Mrs. Das because of her trivial little secret. It is nothing like
the anguish he and his wife suffer with the death of her son and nothing like the silence he
must endure at home.
Both of the characters failed in their perception of the
other. Through guilt and anguish, people look for something in the other person that may not be
there.
The problems for all the characters in the story come from lack of
communication. No one has honestly confronted any situation and been honest with his mate. The
signs of an unhappy marriage Kapasi recognizes in the Das marriage because these are in his
marriage as well: long silences, lack of intimacy, and constant fussing over insignificant
things.
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