Interpreter of Maladies Analysis
Essay 3
While reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s text, Interpreter of Maladies, we have discussed several consistent themes present throughout.
Identity care / neglect, barriers to love / loss communication, race / racism community
In her article, “Reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies as a Short
Story Cycle,“ (https://canvas.pasadena.edu/courses/1131891/files/75140822?wrap=1) Noelle Brada-Williams uses these same themes to link together stories in Lahiri’s text, and Brada-Williams argues that we should view this text as “story cycle” rather than a short story “collection.” Other famous examples of story cycles would be The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros or Dubliners by James Joyce. These more conventional story cycles repeat characters and setting while often telling multiple sides of a story within a given timeline. Lahiri’s text has none of this. The collected stories involve wildly different characters, take place on three different continents, and seemingly occur in a reverse chronology.For This Essay
For this essay, compose an essay in which you either agree with the scholarship of Noelle Brada-Williams or disagree with her assertions.
Option One: Agreement
If you agree with Noelle Brada-Williams claims about situating Lahiri’s text as a story-cycle, I would like you to add to her argument using one of the themes above that you feel Brada-Williams did not cover very well. For your discussion, you will need to draw on specific examples of your chosen theme and how it’s used within multiple stories we have covered in class an in your own reading of Interpreter of Maladies. To accomplish this task, you may want to do some research about the social and historical contexts that present in Lahiri’s text. A special focus on Indian immigrant experiences in the United States and/or the United Kingdom would likely help a great deal.
For this option, you might begin with a research hypothesis like, “In addition to the themes covered by Brada-Williams, the theme of [insert theme] has important iterations throughout Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, which adds to significantly to Brada-Williams arguments.”
Option Two: Disagreement
If you disagree with Noelle Brada-Williams claims about situating Lahiri’s text as a story-cycle, I would like you to deconstruct Brada-Williams arguments by examining how her examples of recurrent themes Interpreter of Maladies “miss the mark” when trying to construct a convincing argument. To accomplish this task, you may want to do some research about the current critical assessment of literary works. A special focus on Postcolonial literatures would likely be very helpful.
For this option, you might begin with a research hypothesis like, “Noelle BradaWilliam argues X about the recurrent theme of barriers to communication throughout Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. While Brada-Williams presents a largely convincing argument, I would like to point out some problems with her approach that might, when given careful attention, unravel Brada-Williams larger claims.”Essay Three Expectations
For essay two, you needed only to complete close textual analysis of the play Actually to assist with your argument. For this essay you will need to do the same for Interpreter of Maladies while also including evidence from Brada-Williams article, “Reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies as a Short Story Cycle.” For each option, you will need to fully understand Brada-Williams argument and evaluate the evidence she uses to support her thesis.
In addition to the above expectations, I would like you to search for another scholarly source to add depth to your argument. I encourage you to use the
Shatford Library’s English Research Guide (https://libguides.pasadena.edu/english) to aid in your search for scholarly articles. In addition you will need to access the library databases (https://libguides.pasadena.edu/az.php) to find appropriate sources for your essay. The most helpful databases will be Academic One File, JStor, ProQuest.
Below are some rather standard expectations for any paper you would write for our class:
Papers should be thesis driven and rely on close textual analysis of for support. Papers should contain an introduction with a thesis, body, and concluding paragraphs.
Each paragraph should present pieces of evidence directly from the text and your analysis of the evidence should point back to your topic sentences and your thesis.
Please follow MLA guidelines for paper formatting
(https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_s tyle_guide/mla_sample_paper.html) , which includes margins, header, font typeface and point size, in-text citations, and works cited.