Interpreter of Maladies Essay

In Interpreter f Mldies, Jhump Lhiri uses second Dss red clothing s wy t represent n unfithful wmn, wh is disnneted frm her rts, nd hs fllen ut f lve with life. Her guilt frm keeping seret tht ne f her hildren is nt frm her husbnd, but frm n ffir, hs used her t t in real distnt nd unring wy. Thrugh the fmilys visit t the Sun Temple, nd the hills t Udygiri nd Khndgiri in Indi, mpnied by Mr. Kpsi, Gujrti interpreter fr dtr nd prt-time tur guide, the uthr pints piture f wmn wh hs grwn ld nd disnneted frm her feelings. Beuse f the events tht hppened n this trip t her ntive lnd, she my hve me t relize the errr f her wys.Mrs. Ds, n merin wmn, is in Indi t see the untry with her fmily. Mr. Kpsi is tur guide fr the fmily nd is ls n interpreter in dtrs ffie. They beme friends very quikly nd they bth think t themselves tht the friendship uld beme smething mre. t the end f their tur, Mrs. Ds tells Mr. Kpsi tht ne f her hildren desnt vitamin B complexng t her husbnd. The hild tully b elngs t ne f his gd friends, nd her husbnd des nt knw. She sks Mr. Kpsi fr help beuse he hs n imprtnt jb s n interpreter. Mr. Kpsi is surprised in tw wys. He disvers tht she isnt t ll wht he thught. Insted, she is, wmn nt yet thirty, wh lved n any her husbnd n her hildren, wh hd lredy fllen ut f lve with life. (Lhiri, 66)hildren plyed mjr prt in stry Interpreter f Mldies. Mrs. Ds nstntly shwed irrespnsibility nd negletful behvir twrd her hildren. In ne exmple, the uple qurreled but wh wuld tke their dughter Tin t the bthrm. fter the shrt brek in their trip, Mr. Kpsi lked the drs t mke sure tht it ws sfe t permit ging gin. s sn s the r begn t mve gin, the belittled misfire strted plying with the lk n her side, liking it with sme effrt frwrd nd bkwrd, but Mrs. Ds sid nthing t stp her. She st sluhed t ne end f the bk set, nt ffering her puffed rie t nyne (257). She ws either nt wre f the dnger r she estimable didnt re.s they left n their wy t the Sun Temple, the hildren sptted mn keys nd were very exited beuse they hd never seen mnkeys utside f z. Mr. Ds sked t stp the r s tht he uld tke piture. While Mr. Ds djusted his telepht lens, Mrs. Ds rehed int her strw bg nd pulled ut bttle f lrless nil plish, whih she preeded t strke n the tip f her index finger (258). While Mr. Ds nd the tw bys were fsinted by the sites, she is mre nsumed with herself. It is ls pprent tht her unring behvir is rubbing ff n her dughter. t this sme time, the little girl wnted t get her nils dne t. When Mrs. Ds refused, the little girl upied herself by buttning nd unbuttning pinfre n her dlls plsti bdy. (258) In this situtin, the little girl ws just s disinterested s her mther.gin Mrs. Ds shwed her irrespnsibility nd mplete indifferene twrds the hildren by telling Bbby the truth. fter they hd rrived t the Hills, Mrs. Ds mplined tht she ws t tired, nd refused t leve the r. Mr. Ds nd the hildren ntinued n hed. When Mr. Kpsi went t jin them, Mrs. Ds sked him t sty. lne in the r, Mrs. Ds tld him tht Bbby ws nt Mr. Dss sn. Mrs. Ds never tld this t nyne befre. She explined t him tht she nd her husbnd hd knwn eh ther sine they were very yung, tht their prents were friends nd they hd gne t shl tgether. She tld him hw she ws verwhelmed in her mrrige by hving hild s quikly.The friends she hd stpped lling her, nd she ws left lne with her bby. She tld him hw Bbby ws neived when ne f Rjs friends me t sty fr week. She mde n pr tribulation when the friend tuhed the smll f her bk s she ws but t mke pt f ffee, then pulled her ginst his risp nvy suit. He mde lve t her swiftly, in silene, with n expertise she hd never knwn, withut the meningful expressins nd smiles Rj insisted n fterwrd. (267)The sme issue is disussed in the bk The Wmn Wrrir, by Mxine Kingstn, stry f girl trpped among the ulture f her fmilys pst nd the ulture urrently surrunding her is presented. s well s Min Ds in Interpreter f Mldies the girl, Mxine, enters int nflit with her herself ignring her heese r ts.Mxines wn beliefs re fund in the newer merin wy f life with her ttempts t ssimilte t the ulture, mking it diffiult fr her t feel ny reltin mingled with the tw very different envirnments. It is thrugh these tribultins tht Mxine is wmn wrrir ming t ge s hinese-merin.Mxine Hng Kingstns utbigrphy, The Wmn Wrrir, fetures yung hinese-merin nstntly serhing fr n unusul bird tht wuld serve s her impeble guide n her quest fr individulity. Insted f the flwless guide she seeks, Kingstn develps under the influene f ther tehers wh either seem mre fllible r less relisti.(Zh 67)Dependent upn their guidne, she grws under the influene f merin nd hinese shls nd the rle mdels f Brve rhid, F Mu Ln, nd Mn rhid. Her edutin by these unselrs nsequently uses her t bndn her serh fr n esrt, the bird t be fund smewhere in the mesureless sky, nd she begins t lk inside herself fr the idegrph t fly (Kingstn 35). The new sng Kingstn finlly retes with her tlk stry f Tsi Yen, verifies her ptimisti distintin fr m her edutrs, ulturl nrms, whih hve indtrinted nd restrited her hildhdBut the mther-dughter reltinship in the nvels f the frmer hinese-merin wmen writers ll reflets press f nflit nd renilitin between the immigrnt mther nd merinized dughter wh is brn nd grw up in the U.S., thus reveling the nflits nd fusin f the hinese nd western ultures. But Mei Ngs Eting hinese Fd Nked breks this usul mther-dughter reltinship with the srt f lesbin inlintin. It is ntieble tht the dughter Ruby in this nvel hs kind f lesbin lve twrds her mther nd she views herself s white wmn in the dminnt siety, slice the mther ships bell is trditinl hinese wmn wh bers the mltretment f her husbnd. Ruby determined t resue her mther. Hwever, she is nonoperational the ther in the eyes f the white, nd is mrginlized by the minstrem f white dminnt ulture. Nturlly, her determintin t resue her mther mes t be filure.(Brwn-Guillry 60)Thrugh the explrtins f the min hrters nd their nflits nd mprmises, this thesis is t exp lin the filure f Rubys nstrutin f the hinese-merin wmen subjetivity nd depart shw the imprtne f ethni nsiusness in the press f nstruting the hinese merin identity. Within the text f Wmn Wrrir, Mxine Hng Kingstn hrterizes her mther s strng, independent nd eduted wmn, nd the udiene n see tht Brve rhid is ls n verbering mther nd submissive wife. Thrughut her life, nd within the bk, Kingstn tries t seprte herself frm her mthers shdw. riti lleen Kennedy sys in Dilgue Within Trditin, tht the nrrtr emerges whle nly if her mther is exluded, but in lser reding f the text, Kingstn n nt pssibly be whle withut her mthers inlusin. lthugh it my seem resembling Kingstn estblishes her wn identity within her memirs, she relly never mpletely mes int her wn. She is nd will ntinue t be her mthers dughter.Eting hinese Fd Nked is the stry f Ruby, twenty-tw yer ld hinese merin girl wh, fter grduting in Wmens Studies, ges bk t her prents huse (whih is ls their lundry) in Queens, sensitive Yrk. Ruby is in lve with her byfriend, the Jewish Nik, but she nnt help plying rund with ther men nd fntsizing but wmen, while eting hinese fd, wrking s temp nd trying t pe with her mther buzzer nd fther Frnklin t hme. The plt fllws the pttern f the hinese mther- merinized dughter enunter presented by writers suh s my Tn in her first tw nvels. Frequent flshbks shift the nrrtin frm urrent dys in the US t the times when Bell gthered she hd t get mrried t strnger ming frm meri, wh wuld pull her wy frm hin t tke her t n unknwn, freign lnd.(utter 48)Wht strikes the mst, hwever, is tht Bells strytelling unflds thrugh n imgery, whih is tightly, lmst bsessively, nneted with fd, whih bemes the nly mens t verme her displement nd trums. Her grndmthers bund feet, hrrible in their defrmity, re eventully pprhed when mpred t hlidy rie dumplings, ll wrpped up in bmb leves nd tied with strings s wedding present, Bell reeives sme dishes her mther hd piked ut f her wn kithen t give t her, s if she uld indu ce t keep eting with her fmily, t hme.Ruby ets hmburgers she lves rissnts, bgels nd dughnuts, like ny ther merin girl. But, t the sme time, she is mpulsive k f hinese fd nd, in her llege dys, she wuld wke up in the shopping center f the night, she wuld g t the kithen nd k, t feed her friends, t fill her vid inside, t verme the sense f unesiness fr hving left her mther behind. Bell tught her hw t k when Ruby ws still hild, when she hd t reple her mther in the kithen sine Bell hd undergne hysteretmy. king nd fd represent therefre strnger bnd between mther nd dughter, in mment f life when femininity physilly hed.s the se f the mixed ulture in The Wmn Wrrir, the dughter must understnd her fmily histry, ulture, nd her mthers life-stry in rder t find her identity nd her vie. Mrever, thse fitinlized utbigrphies revel tht the white merin ulture undersres the individulity in the mther/dughter reltinships while the sin ulture emphsizes the dughters filil piety nd bediene t their mthers nd fmilies The filure f Rubys resue f her mther prvides us n pprtunity t see tht western feminist thery might nt be ttlly useful when pplied t n understnding f the reltinship between mthers nd their dughters f lr. unspoiled s the pst-lnil feminist therist Mhnty sttes, when the study refers t the third-wrld wmen, n the ne hnd we shuld py ttentin t the wmens rights, n the ther hnd we shuld ls ntie the ulturl differene between the pst-lnil ntins nd sttes.In the explrtin f the Rubys reltinship with her mther in this nvel, we shuld nt nly nsider it frm the feminist perspetive, but ls nsider the ulturl regnitin differene between the first-wrld mther nd her dughter wh grws up in the first wrld s well s the influene f this differene n the nstrutin f their subjetivity. lse ffinity between mther nd her dughter is pwerful. Hving experiened muh in their life, dughters hve new understndings f their mthers views. nd mthers lve is n lnger kind f impsitin. The hnge f reltinship between mthers n d dughters is symbl f tht between hinese ulture nd merin ne. lthugh the immigrnt mthers nd the meri-brn dughters re influened by different ultures, they shre the sme ril identity.BibligrphyBrwn-Guillry, Elizbeth. Wmen f lr Mther-Dughter Reltinships in the 20th- entury Literture. ustin University f Texs, 1996.utter, Mrth J., n Impssible neessity trnsltin nd the Reretin f linguisti nd ulturl identities in ntemprry hinese merin literture, in ritiism, utunn, Wyne Stte University Press, 1997.Elbz, Rbert, The hnging f The Self, 1988, Lndn rm Helm.Hinduism. Mirsft Enrt nline Enylpedi, 2004Kingstn, Mxine Hng, The Wmn Wrrir Memirs f Girlhd mng Ghsts.New Yrk Knpf, 1976Lhiri, Jhump. Interpreter f Mldies. New Yrk Hughtn Mifflin, 1999Tung, My Pmy. hinese merins nd Their Immigrnt Prents- nflit,Identity, ndVlues, The Hwrth Press, In., Binghmtn New Yrk, 2000.Zh, Wenshu, Psitining ntemprry hinese merin Literture in ntestTerrins, Nnjing University Press, Nnjing, 2005.