Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

How does Jhumpa Lahiri use the minor action and subtle details to express the unmet needs of the characters?

I think this story has a lot to do with symbolism and depictions. There are various minor actions and subtle details that express the unmet needs of the characters. Tina’s way of handling her doll shows that Tina lacks the opportunity to show her emotions and speak out her mind. In the story, we are able to find out that the doll’s hair was cut short, just like Mrs. Das. I think Tina lacks the love that she needs from her mother therefore she replaces her mother with the doll. The overall impatient and snobby attitude and actions of Mrs. Das tells the reader what is going on in her life. Mrs. Das’s life lacks the adventure and youthfulness that she wants so she shows her discontent through her actions, which eventually became her personality. I think she is quite young to be tied down by her kids therefore she needs occasional freedom. At the beginning of the story, it says that Mrs. Das was wearing her sunglasses. However, when she started talking to Mr. Kapasi, she takes her sunglasses off. This shows that Mrs. Das has a need of attention. By her taking off her sunglasses, it shows that she feels the necessity of opening up to others to get the attention she needs as herself. Not as a mother or the wife of Mr. Das. Lastly, Mr. Kapasi’s unconscious action of staring at the naked bodies in the temple show that he has unmet needs within his personal relationships. I assumed that it wasn’t the first time for Mr. Kapasi to be seeing the naked bodies or to be thinking of the unaffectionate relationship he has for his wife. He needs love and attention, but that need is unmet. 

Weblog Entry 7

Why are writers driven to write, according to Tobias Wolff? Also, what does Wolff say should be our motivation in reading short stories?

Tobias Wolff gives evidence throught different parts of the text to identify the reason to why writers are driven to write. Firstly, he states one of his own opinions saying "Seldom have I been more hungry for a sign of favor." This shows that as a writer, even a little favor from his readers encourages him to write and gain confidence, soon looking for more favor. Also, Wolff writes "It's a gracious moment when you meet one." when he talks about finding a reader that has equal passion as the writer about the book. In my opinion, authors in general look foward to sharing emotions with her audience through their words. near the beginning of the text, the author describes writing as "the social act of a solitary man.". This shows how powerful words can be, since even a solitary man would use it to convey his emotions and opinions. It's almost like another langauge that the author can be fluent at.

There are various motivations for us in erading short stories. I think they are mostly linked to emotional connections. Firstly, Wolff mentions "that sense of kinship is what makes stories important to us.". This explains how stories and people that appear in it can become so attached to us we will want to read more. Through short stories, we feel extreme emotions, sometimes emotions don't come across our lives very often. We can feel "outraged, exposed, in danger of heartbreak and change." and these feelings given motivate the audience to read more and get a sense of those emtional levels. It sometimes become seared to our memoires. Positive memories can change a person, who will be motivated to read more and mature as a reader.

Weblog entry after reading "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant"

Questions: Describe a time you had divided interests. How did one interest win out over the other(s)? What factors came into play?
Also, how does the author foreshadow that the protagonist will be unsuccessful at wooing Sheila Mant?

There are many times that I had divided interest due to the lack of my ability to concentrate on one thing. The most common occasion is when I’m sitting in a math classroom. For some odd reason, my other interests in my head conflict with my “interest” in math. I guess it’s wrong to say that I have an interest in math. It’s more like I’m interested in getting good grades and doing well in school. However, my constant daydreaming doesn’t seem to cope with my “mathematical interests”. Whenever an important lecture is going on about what will come out in the next big exam, the same pattern in my head repeats like any other day in math class. It all starts off with my head putting all its attention to what the teachers saying, but after a few minutes, the interest moves to what the teacher is wearing, then to what I might want to wear tomorrow, moving on to what I want to buy when I go shopping next time. The distraction goes on, and stops when I realize that I wasn’t understanding what I was hearing from the teacher and that the math exam wasn’t going to be very easy for me.

Wetherell foreshadows that the protagonist will be unsuccessful at wooing Sheila Mant through various part of his story. When the author wrote “There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a largemouth bass was Sheila Mant., it indicates that the summer was only the past. There was only one time when Shelia Mant seemed lovely to him. Shelia Mant’s attitude towards the author proved that she would never be too interested with him. The author’s “best tucks and dives” did not attract her attention. She is described as “approachable, but barely, and it was only in those glorious moments”, telling the reader that it was already hard for the author to even approach her. It seemed as if the author worshipped Shelia Mant who was a Goddess that never cared about it.

No News from Auschwitz

I think the writer had various reasons to why he would title the article as “No News from Auschwitz”. Firstly, I think the Rosenthal has purposely made the title ironic in order to gain attention from readers. The phrase “no new” indicates that they is nothing new or nothing new to report on about Auschwitz. However, the writer decides to write a long article about the place. The second possible implication that the writer might have had was to indicate that Brzezinka still remains to be the horrible place it was in the past. To support his title, Rosenthal describes the place throughout the whole article. He also mentions people’s reaction towards the area. Phrases such as “mass exterminations” and “suffocation dungeons” definitely add to the effect. The writers third implication is to tell the reader beforehand that he is not writing to tell them anything new. The phrase “No News” indicates that there has been some acknowledgment about the area before. Rosenthal’s purpose was to remind his readers about the horrors of Brzezinka and let them know about the people who suffered in the past. The last implication is very minor but I think it is a possibility. The phrase “No News” indirectly signifies that the place is abandoned and quiet, which was exactly the way Brzezinka seemed to be. I the article made me imagine Brzezinka as a lonely abandoned area that people didn’t want to be reminded of.

In my opinion, the article belongs in the “Opinions” section. Whether his article may be fiction or non-fiction, his writing shows the opinions the tourists had of Brzezinka. There is a big possibility that this article was written as a narrative to voice his opinions through the characters introduced in the story. I think his opinion represents the readers’ after they read the article too. He wrote “It all seemed frighteningly wrong,”, which definitely sounds like an opinion, seeing that he word “seemed” was used. It shows uncertainty from the person that is writing the article.