Change in Character

At the begining of Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of the Maladies, I did not really care for Mrs. Das. She seemed selfish, superficial, and disinterested in anyone but herself. During the car ride to the Sun Temple, Mrs. Das decides to paint her finger nails instead of embracing the culture around her. When her daughter asks if she will paint her nails as well she responds "Leave me alone. You're making me mess up"(Lahiri). Her attitude seems selfish and snobbish, as though she cares for no one but hereself, not even her own daughter. However, later in the novel I started to see Mrs. Das is a more vulnerable light. When she reveals to Mr. Kapasi that she had an affair and that Bobby was not Raj's child, I felt a little bit of sympathy for her. Although what she did was wrong, she still feels horrible about her actions. She tells Mr. Kapasi "I feel terrible looking at my children, and at Raj, always terrible. I have terrible urges, Mr. Kapasi to throw things away" (Lahiri). We see a change in the character now. She seems vulnerable and unstable, needing a friend to talk to. Before she appeared unwelcoming and stand-offish, but now she seems broken and needy. Her change in the novel evokes pathos to the reader and allows her character to become more open to the reader.

This is intriguing because it seems to be the exact opposite change in character of the narrator of "Everyday Uses"....