The Interpreter Of Maladies

The Interpreter of Maladies is a short story about an Indian-American family the Dases, and their Indian tour guide Mr. Kapasi. In the Interpreter of Maladies, the difficulties Indians have in understanding and relating to Americans can be seen. The story also shows the ways that Indian Americans are caught between two different worlds. In learning details of the Das family, it can be seen how they fit in between these two worlds. Both Mr. and Mrs. Das were born and raised in America but at the same time both of their parents held onto and passed on some of their Indian culture and have since moved back to India where their children have now come to visit as they do every few years. The Das family iss Indian but not of India, Mr. Kapasi can
In the story “Jesus Shaves” by David Sedaris, a French class while learning of activities of different French holidays, attempts to explain to one of the students, a Moracin woman what the holiday of Easter is. After realizing that the Christians had no cultural point of reference to explain what Easter is, to the Muslim Moroccan woman, they resorted to using food as a reference point, something every human has in common. All the characters in this scenario have their knowledge tied to their cultures and beliefs. It is the fact that this knowledge is unable to be articulated because of the language barriers. All the students and the teacher are influenced by different models of knowledge rooted in different cultural beliefs along with having different grammar eudicot. This creates a comical situation as the students and the teacher discuss Easter its meanings and activities. This is a good example of how even if a person completely understands a subject or an issue, it can be still extremely difficult if not impossible to explain it to another person without the knowledge of reference points in language and
Judith Templeton was working for the Canadian government who was handling the incident, and she wanted Mrs. Bhave to help her communicate with the family member of other victims; she asked her to be the translator for her, because she had handled the incident so resolutely, Ms. Templeton thought that Mrs. Bhave could provide a cultural connection between the victims and herself. Mrs. Bhave agrees to help her, and when they arrive to work with the first family it is a mother and father who had just moved to Canada from India because their sons had moved them there to be with them. Both of their sons perished in the accident, and the couple felt that signing any papers from Ms. Templeton and accepting any money from the Canadian government is acknowledging that their sons are dead, and will not be returning home. Ms. Templeton’ callous nature towards the Indian culture and seeming unwillingness to try to understand where the victim’s family is coming from causes Mrs. Bhave to be unwilling to assist her any