How do the characters views of one another differ from the way the reader is encouraged to view them? How does this ironic technique help to...

Although Mr. Kapasi
seems to be attracted to Mrs. Das, he looks at her legs her breasts and feels flattered by her
fascination with his job as an interpreter for a doctor's office, readers are not encouraged to
find her attractive in the least. She is irritated that she has to take her daughter to the
bathroom, and she barely pays attention to the girl when her daughter begs to have her nails
painted too. She is even described as having "hands like paws" when the narrator
outlines her appearance: a pretty unflattering image that seems designed to distance us from
her. Thisserves to build suspense because we await Mr. Kapasi's realization that Mrs. Das is not
a good, or even a nice, person. He continues to fantasize about her, believing that they might
have some kind of correspondence when she gets home and that she will send him pictures of them
together. The more he builds Mrs. Das up in his head, the more the suspense builds as we realize
how much it will hurt him when he realizes that she does not care about him; she does not really
care about anyone but herself.