Suggest a Remedy

In my English class we have been reading short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. As I was writing my essay on one of her stories I noticed that in Interpreter of Maladies Mrs. Das is the basic portrayal of humanity. We make our mistakes, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and yet too often we don’t take responsibility for our actions. Now, I think every person who reads the story has, at some point in the story, unwittingly identified with Mrs. Das, whether sympathizing with her “dull” life, apathetic words, or life choices. The interesting thing though when she reveals her actions to Mr. Kapasi, he pinpoints her feelings of guilt and not pain. Humanity feels the pangs of guilt and tries to disown them or describe it as pain.

When it comes to the guilt Mrs. Das feels I realized it is not because of her actions. I don’t think she regrets what she did, rather she regrets what came out of it. If she really regretted the affair I think she would have confessed it to her husband. Yet it took her eight years to finally confess it to someone and when she did it was because she thought he could “suggest some kind of remedy.” Bobbie’s presence was a continual reminder to her of her affair and she probably thinks that if she could do it over again she would have stopped herself from getting pregnant rather than not having the affair at all. It reminds me of humanity. We sin and are very protective of our sin. We would rather cover up our sin and mistakes than expose them for what they are. We do not want anybody to point out our sin and we become quite defensive of it. I think this portrays humanity at its finest (without God).

What do you think?