K. Subapriya

Native American Storytelling Tradition in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Interpreter of Maladies

Amy Tan has stated that, “Jhumpa Lahiri is the kind of writer who makes you want to grab the next person you see and say, ‘Read this!’ she is a dazzling storyteller with a distinctive voice, an eye for nuance and an ear for irony”. Her words present a different dimension of Lahiri as a storyteller other than being a writer of novels and short stories. Consequently, the next question would be regarding the nature of a storyteller. Lahiri is not a common storyteller whose only aim is to capture the time, sense and attention of the audience. She rather falls under the mode of the Native American storyteller whose function extends to many spheres like conducting rituals, ceremonies, carrying tradition and culture, and finally the role of psychotherapists or a medical practitioner who can cure diseases. Lahiri assumes a multifaceted role being a kind of Native American storyteller. Though she does fall under the role of performing rituals and ceremonies the elements of Native American storytelling tradition can still be traced in Lahiri’s The Interpreter of Maladies.

A rereading of Lahiri’s The Interpreter of Maladies reveals the basic elements of the Native American storytelling tradition as follows:

Native Americans with distinct tribes use storytelling as a major tool to retain their identity. Lahiri through her stories enables the uprooted Indians to trace their identity. She ventures to give an identity to the dislocated.
According to the Native American tradition both the storyteller and storytelling becomes vital to pass on the culture and tradition to the forthcoming generation. She gives the knowledge of native nation to younger generations who are very ignorant of their native country. She gives a space to muse and find their roots.
In case of Native Americans, the storyteller provides a remedy for diseases through stories. Lahiri also does the same through her stories.
Telling and retelling stories is a common nature of the Native American storytelling tradition. Lahiri does not retell stories but a string of motifs and themes appear recurrently.
The oral tradition of storytelling has adopted the form of written script through the writings of authors like Leslie Mermon Silko. In the same way, though Lahiri did not deliberately seem to convert oral tradition to written script, still the subtle voice of Lahiri narrates the story to the readers.

To begin with, the first element of tracing one’s identity through stories, one can experience the search for identity in stories like “When Mr. Pirzada came to Dine”, “This Blessed House” and “A Temporary Matter”.

The author under the pretext of little girl ‘Lillia’, narrates the story of “When Mr. Pirzada came to Dine”. The girl initiates the search for her identity through a Dacca descendant guest Mr. Pirzada. She learns the difference between Dacca, Pakistan and India despite similarities, which exists between these countries in tradition, culture and customs. Her mistaken identity of Mr. Pirzada as an Indian followed by the correction of her father with the narration of history that “Mr. Pirzada won’t be coming today. More importantly, Mr. Pirzada is no longer considered Indian”, ….“Not since the partition. Our country was divided 1947” (25) rings a bell in her mind to explore her identity.

With the initiation of her father, she ventures to explore the history of Dacca; thereby she realizes the sense of being an Indian and feels the ‘Indianness’. When her teacher Mrs. Kenyon asks her to submit a report on revolution, she visits the library. Her heart throbs to learn about Asia and she skips to the shelf labeled ‘Asia’. She seizes the book entitled Pakistan: A Land and its People and concentrates on the chapter about Dacca. It is the desire to cull out her uniqueness of being Indian and to know the difference that exists between her and Mr. Pirzada that eventually drives her to study. Based on the concept of Nagarjuna the Indian philosopher who claimed the identity of ‘being’ what you are not, one can comprehend the little girl’s passion of understanding her identity.

Mrs. Kenyon fails to realize the importance of the book. She asks the little girl
“Is this book a part of your report, Lillia?”
“No Mrs. Kenyon”.
“Then I see no reason to consult it,” she said, replacing it in the slim gap on the
shelf. “Do You”? (33)

Of course, the reply to the question “Do You” will be an affirmative. However, Lillia establishes her identity as an ‘Indian Witch’ for Halloween. The happy expression of “Several people told me that they had never seen an Indian witch before” (39), reveals her joy of exposing herself as an Indian, no matter as an angel or devil.

Similar incidents of seeking one’s identity is found in short stories like “This Blessed House” and “A Temporary Matter”. Twinkle in “The Blessed House” finds the Christ, Mary idols and a list of Biblical objects, Testaments and commandments hidden in many places of her newly bought home. She feels excited but not Sanjeev. He strictly refuses to place the Virgin Mary in the lawn that could be easily seen by the neighbours and by passersby. He feels that many people would mistake them for Christians. He does not hate Christianity but for the fear of losing his identity as a Hindu-Bengali-Indian, he denies the statue to be displayed in the lawn. Douglas’ wrong notion that all Indians are Hindus followed Sanjeev’s explanation provides a broader perspective of identity and mistaken identity. “I hope you don’t mind my asking”. Douglas said, “but I noticed the statue outside, and are you guys Christian? I thought you were Indian”. “There are Christians in India”, Sanjeev replied, but we’re not” (151).

People cut off from the motherland for a long duration of time still feel for their nation in an alien land. Once again, it serves as a chord of identity. Memories, recollections and reconnecting the incidents serve as a path to retain the identity. Shoba in “A Temporary Matter” realizes being an Indian through her best preparation of Indian dishes. A power cut reminds her about India; “It’s like India”, Shoba said, watching his makeshift Candelabara. “Sometimes the current disappears for hours at a stretch. I once had to attend an entire rice ceremony in the dark. The baby just cried and cried. It must have been so hot” (11). Here, the makeshift point is not the drawbacks of the nation but the instinct of the protagonist to connect herself to her motherland.

Lahiri, apart from helping the dislocated Indians to trace their identity, extends her role like a Native American storyteller who passes the knowledge, value and the essence of tradition and culture. In the midst of the Europeans’ attempt to destroy the identity of Native Americans through the process of assimilation and taking the children to boarding schools by force, stories served as a best tool to transmit the relevance of valuable messages, continuity, history, values, beliefs, goals and tradition to the next generation. The bridging of the past, present and the future in stories fastens an individual to his roots, contemporary age and gives a hope for his future.

The Colonial forces can destroy books or any other evidence that serves as their identity but not the art of storytelling. Similarly, for the dislocated younger Indian generation her story raises the curiosity to learn and know about their native land. She speaks through the voice of an uprooted Indian young girl who attempts to locate herself in the displaced world. She voices out the urge for the need of knowing one’s own land. More than emphasizing this need, she also re-introduces the tradition, culture and a representation of India to the younger generation who are completely devoid of knowledge about India. In a Review, Amy Mac Curdy points out, “A common thread running through Lahiri's collection of stories is the experience of being "foreign." Her characters long for meaningful connection, but what they find is rarely what they expected. Those trying to adapt to an unfamiliar world don't always succeed. Some are homesick, many are misunderstood”. Inspite of these troubles as pointed out by Amy, one could find the final emancipation of her characters. They are never left in a jostled state at the end.

For ages when a child is segregated from the motherland, he/she becomes ignorant about their native land. The stories of Lahiri serve as a bridge to recapture the Indian scenario. An agony of a father over his son for missing the native culture is profoundly expressed in these lines from “The Third and Final Continent”, where he says, “We drive to Cambridge to visit him, or bring him home for a weekend, so that he can eat rice with us with his hands, and speak in Bengali, things we sometimes worry he will no longer do after we die” (197). Lahiri makes a remarkable contribution of transferring the Indian set of values and minute details on language, dressing style, culinary and customs to the uprooted kids. She gives a picturesque representation of Indian women in “The Third and Final Continent”, “I wondered if Mrs. Croft had ever seen a woman in a sari, with a dot painted on her forehead and bracelets stacked on her wrists…I wondered if she could see the red dye still vivid on Mala’s feet, all but obscured by the bottom edge of her sari” (195).

The characters in her stories trace for maps, language and scriptures of their native tongue. She never fails to explain the location of India in a map. Miranda in “Sexy” enthusiastically interrogates Dev about the location of India in a map and questions him about his mother tongue Bengali. Dev initially introduces her to the map of India, which appears in The Economist and then once again points out to India at the Christian Science Centre globe. Through the thoughts and conversation of Dev and Miranda, Lahiri paints the picture of India providing a feast for the uprooted younger generation. She succeeds in driving the young minds to learn about India.

Unlike Indian storytellers who grasp the attention of the listeners and carry them into his world, Lahiri falls into the module of Native American storyteller who allows the listener (reader) to have their own space and contemplation that leads to a self-revival, confession and healing. In the process of storytelling, a Native American storyteller transforms the listeners to the sphere of the story and converts them to the position of protagonists, thereby they experience the situations and circumstances of the stories. When the character of a story confesses and feels the agony, the listener also feels the same; hence it helps the listener (reader) to undergo purgation. This concept of purgation resembles Aristotle’s “Tragedy” and its major element ‘Catharsis’. According to Aristotle, Tragedy is superior to all other forms since it enables the audience to purge themselves by tears and emotions. So, the stories of Lahiri which promotes the confession and healing falls under a noble category.

The best example for the mode of confession and healing can be observed in two short stories namely “A Temporary Matter” and “Interpreter of Maladies”. Confession begins at a night during the power cut as a form of game; “No, no jokes.” She thought for a minute. “How about telling each other something we’ve never told before” (13). She expresses her lucid idea that it is not a form of game but something ‘different’. This ‘different’ is nothing but the confession. Both Shoba and Shukumar initially reveal trivial things, which they had hidden from each other for many years. However, slowly the intensity of sharing their feelings increases. The revealing of unknown incidents unwinds their mental burden. On the fifth night both reveals their reason for their depressed state and they feel relieved. “They weep for the things they now knew” (22), denotes the process of healing.

In “Interpreter of Maladies” Mrs. Das tells the secret to Mr. Kapasi who plays a dual role of a tour guide being the car driver and an interpreter for a doctor. Mrs. Das discloses the private affairs and the details of her illegitimate baby to Mr. Kapasi for two major reasons. She feels relieved to unburden her secret. She also expects a remedy from him for her trouble who in general interprets the maladies of a patient to the doctor. She considers his job to be romantic and responsible. She feels so, because the slightest change in his interpretation to the doctor would cause an adverse effect on the patient. If he is able to understand the maladies of a patient and interpret the correct version, she expects the same kind of comprehension for her problem and expects him to suggest a remedy.

“That’s not what I mean. I would never have told you otherwise. Don’t you realize what it means for me to tell you?”
“What does it mean?”
“It means that I’m tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I’ve been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better, say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy”. (65)

Featuring another major concept of the Native American Storytelling tradition of telling and retelling stories, Lahiri instead of telling and retelling, uses the mode of recurrent themes and motifs. The Goddess Kali, the right hand drive in America, locating India in maps, description of Indian culinary and Women’s traditional wear ‘Sari’ forms a link for the stories. This link connects the stories that give the impression of individuality.
Adhering to the final concept of transforming the oral tradition into the written form, one cannot fail to observe the underlying structure of the storytelling fashion in Lahiri’s stories. Her story does not begin with ‘once upon a time’, yet her style of narration helps the readers to realize her voice as a storyteller.

Native American Black Elk states that stories showers an integrity mind set up with uniqueness and identity. It is these stories that helped their tradition to prevail with a strong passion for their nation and would do so in the future. No other forms of literature can put an end to their art of storytelling. The spirit of Nation can always be nurtured by this art of storytelling. If Black Elk speaks in praise of his storytelling tradition on the other hand it is possible for us to read Lahiri as a powerful storyteller who has served the dislocated generation with her stories.

With the arguments and examples presented in this study, one can see the transition of Lahiri from being a ‘writer’ to that of a ‘Storyteller’, with unique qualities of Native American storytelling tradition. She is not reduced to a level of mere storyteller who merely entertains, but she is elevated to the position of a Native American storyteller who plays a vital role in shaping society and providing a rich culture to the dislocated and uprooted generation. This style of telling stories in the Native American fashion demands more responsibilities and unique qualities, which Lahiri undoubtedly possesses. Reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s stories do not merely engage the attention of readers. More importantly, they recreate and establish one’s culture and tradition, thus time and again proving that Jhumpa Lahiri is a “storyteller” with a uniqueness, characteristically her own.

Bibliography

Primary Source:
Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Interpreter of Maladies. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999.print.

Secondary Sources:

“Bond without Bondage: Bharati Mukherjee and Jhumpa Lahiri”. Contemporary Indian Writing in English: Critical Perceptions. Ed. N.D.R. Chandra. Vol.2. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, n.d. print.

“Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies stories”. Rev. by Amy Mac Curdy.
India Star Review of Book. Web. 8 Jan. 2010. http://www.indiastar.com/wallia23.html.

Interpreter of Maladies: A Mouthpiece of Immigrants Feelings. Shvoong. Web. 9 Jan. 2010. http://www.shvoong.com/books/short-story-novella/1701425-interpreter-maladies-mouthpiece-immigrants-feelings/