12 Angry Men
Year 12 ENGLISH: Interpreter of Maladies
Essay Topics:
1. Lahiri has said, “As a storyteller, I’m aware that there are limitations in communication.”
What importance in the stories do miscommunication and unexpressed feelings have? 2. For Mrs. Sen, “Everything is there” in India.
What instances are there in Lahiri’s stories of exile, estrangement, displacement and marginality in an emotional, social, historical and cultural context? 3. The narrator of the “Third and Final Continent” ends his account with the statement: “Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept.”
In what way are Lahiri’s characters bewildered? 4. Rather than leave his weekly rent on the piano, the narrator of the “Third and Final Continent” hands it to Mrs. Croft.
What similar acts of small kindness, courtesy, concern or compassion make a difference the characters’ lives in Lahiri’s stories? 5. In an interview Lahiri has commented that at the heart of her short stories is “...the dilemma, the difficulty and often the impossibility of communicating emotional pain of affliction to others as well as to ourselves.”
How is this true of Lahir’s short story collection? 6. ‘Secrecy is a recurrent theme in Interpreter of Maladies.’ With reference to at least three stories, what are the causes and effects of this trait on the lives of the protagonists? 7. “ The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did.” What do the stories in Interpreter of Maladies tell us about the experience of migrants? 8. ‘Larihi explores the difficulty of fitting in for several of her characters in her collection of short stories.’ Discuss. 9. ‘Lahiri’s stories make us aware of the loneliness people experience as they go about their ordinary lives.’ Discuss. 10. ‘Lahiri’s stories demonstrate that it is
Essay Topics:
1. Lahiri has said, “As a storyteller, I’m aware that there are limitations in communication.”
What importance in the stories do miscommunication and unexpressed feelings have? 2. For Mrs. Sen, “Everything is there” in India.
What instances are there in Lahiri’s stories of exile, estrangement, displacement and marginality in an emotional, social, historical and cultural context? 3. The narrator of the “Third and Final Continent” ends his account with the statement: “Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept.”
In what way are Lahiri’s characters bewildered? 4. Rather than leave his weekly rent on the piano, the narrator of the “Third and Final Continent” hands it to Mrs. Croft.
What similar acts of small kindness, courtesy, concern or compassion make a difference the characters’ lives in Lahiri’s stories? 5. In an interview Lahiri has commented that at the heart of her short stories is “...the dilemma, the difficulty and often the impossibility of communicating emotional pain of affliction to others as well as to ourselves.”
How is this true of Lahir’s short story collection? 6. ‘Secrecy is a recurrent theme in Interpreter of Maladies.’ With reference to at least three stories, what are the causes and effects of this trait on the lives of the protagonists? 7. “ The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did.” What do the stories in Interpreter of Maladies tell us about the experience of migrants? 8. ‘Larihi explores the difficulty of fitting in for several of her characters in her collection of short stories.’ Discuss. 9. ‘Lahiri’s stories make us aware of the loneliness people experience as they go about their ordinary lives.’ Discuss. 10. ‘Lahiri’s stories demonstrate that it is