• Is the main perpetrator of colonialism modern media? As in, without the inside implosion of media, particularly American, would colonialism or assimilation be as prevalent?
• How would the story continue from where it left off?
• Does Mr. Kapasi’s idealization of the United States and its culture include relationships? As in, does he imagine American relationships to be perfect and everlasting?

All this talk of colonialism and assimilation and all that has been really interesting from someone who comes from a foreign country and who feels like, to a certain extent, has been a victim of this concept. I find myself including English words and slang into my Arabic, and it concerns me slightly. I find myself more being able to identify with American ideals and concepts more than my homeland’s. There’s no blame here to give, it’s just the nature of the world. I was born here, I was raised in a household that was super Muslim, sure, but the outside world influenced me too strongly for me to stick to my roots.

Interpreter of Maladies has some really interesting points, as in points of the story. You have Mr. Kapasi’s total naive and benign idealization of America and American culture, ideals, and so on. This really bleeds onto Mrs. Das, and he associates her with his idea of the American dream. This becomes problematic when in a sudden change she spills to him her entire life. The failures of her marriage, her not liking her kids, cheating on her husband. I found this all to be very sudden and lazy writing. What happens in of itself was not problematic to me, and felt it fit and was a clever way to dispel of the idealization found here. The way it was written though stuck out to me, and will unfortunately be what sticks with me most from this story.