Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

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What symbols are present in the "Mrs. Sen's" chapter of Interpreter of Maladies?

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"Mrs. Sen's" features symbols like food, Mrs. Sen's chopping knife, and her driving. Food symbolizes community and home, contrasting Mrs. Sen's elaborate meals with Eliot's mother's hasty eating habits. Mrs. Sen's knife, a link to her Indian roots, represents power and control, unlike her struggles with driving, which symbolizes her alienation in America. The story's climax, where she crashes a car, highlights her discomfort with adapting to her new environment.

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Some symbols in the chapter "Mrs. Sen's" in Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies include the food consumed by the characters within the story, Mrs. Sen's chopping knife (brought to America from where she grew up in India), and Mrs. Sen's driving. The knife, food and eating in general, and Mrs. Sen's driving all appear throughout the entirety of Lahiri's short story and tie together in meaningful ways.

Food plays a central role in this story. In nearly every scene, someone is either eating, cooking, or talking about food. Mrs. Sen, for example, explains to Eliot, the young boy she looks after while his mother is at work, her love of fish. Fresh fish from the market is what connects Mrs. Sen to her home back in India. Each afternoon, Eliot watches as Mrs. Sen prepares elaborate, party-worthy dinners that will shockingly only be enjoyed by herself and her husband....

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In comparison, Eliot thinks back to dinners shared with his mother, who, right after work, fills herself up on bread and cheese (and wine) to the point where she cannot even enjoy the pizza she ordered for the two. Eliot and his mother drift apart because of the profound lack of bonding over food. Food, then, comes to represent community and home. The love and care in preparing the food allows us to better characterize both Mrs. Sen and Eliot's mother—Mrs. Sen seeks out food and its preparation in order to better connect with those around her; Eliot's mother is hasty and lazy in her relationship with food, even when it is lovingly prepared for her. Mrs. Sen offers her homemade snacks upon retrieving Eliot at the end of the day; Eliot's mother deems the gesture unnecessary and criticizes the food behind Mrs. Sen's back.

Deeply connected to the symbol of food is Mrs. Sen's chopping knife, a common kitchen instrument the likes of which Eliot has never seen. Mrs. Sen's knife is not your typical chopping knife; instead, it has "a blade curved like the prow of a Viking ship, sailing to battle in distant seas." Each afternoon, Mrs. Sen sits on her kitchen floor chopping vegetables, and sometimes chicken or fish, over newspaper. She instructs Eliot to remain on the couch during her intense chopping sessions so she can ensure his safety. Mrs. Sen explains this knife to Eliot, sharing that back home in India, during large celebrations like weddings, all of the neighborhood women would bring their knives over, and they would all chop vegetables together on the roof. The knife becomes a symbol of power and control for Mrs. Sen, a woman who feels powerless and out of control because she was forced to leave her home and her family. Mrs. Sen's chopping knife connects her to her home through experiences of food and friends. Most importantly, Mrs. Sen recognizes the ultimate dangers of her knife, as she implements strict rules for Eliot–to remain on the couch—while it is in use. Eliot remains unharmed, and we recognize the knife as a tool over which Mrs. Sen has immense mastery.

The third symbol presents a foil to Mrs. Sen's chopping knife—her relationship with driving. Mrs. Sen, as it is explained at the beginning of the story, cannot drive but is slowly but steadily learning from her husband. She harbors intense anxieties over the act, and we see her frequently hesitating to signal and turn while she practices with her husband. Driving becomes a physical embodiment of Mrs. Sen's feelings of loneliness and alienation in America. While the chopping knife—a symbol of home, family, and nourishment—demonstrates to readers Mrs. Sen's comfort and ease, even in the face of something potentially dangerous, driving illustrates her difficulties adjusting to her new home. The most striking comparison between the knife and driving can be identified through the final scene of the story. Mrs. Sen decides to illegally drive herself and Eliot to the fish market, driven (pun intended) by her need for fish to include in a stew she is preparing. On their way to the market, Mrs. Sen swerves into a telephone pole, slightly injuring herself and Eliot. Mrs. Sen, despite her efforts to keep Eliot safe when she uses her knife, is unable to keep him out of harm's way once she is driving a car. While Mrs. Sen confidently steers her "Viking ship" of a knife, she falters and panics behind the wheel of a car—something foreign, alienating, and impersonal.

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