"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Mina's Secret
In "Interpreter of Maladies," Jhumpa Lahiri uses Mina Das's red outfit as a way to represent an unfaithful woman, who is disconnected from her roots, and has fallen out of love with life. Her guilt from keeping a secret that one of her children is not from her husband, but from an affair, has caused her to act in a very distant and uncaring way. Through the family's visit to the Sun Temple, and the hills at Udayagiri and Khandagiri in India, accompanied by Mr. Kapasi, a Gujarati interpreter for a doctor and part-time tour guide, the author paints a picture of a woman who…