I’m surprised how much I’m actually enjoying the short stories in Interpreter of Maladies, I think it’s interesting learning about a whole other culture. The short story that interested me the most was The Treatment of Bibi Haldar. I thought it was really strange that Mr. Hadlar would never let anyone take her to the hospital to get her the medical help that she needed for her seizures, maybe then they doctors would have been able to give her a proper diagnosis and the right treatment. Because like someone said in class, we don’t know if her seizures are from epilepsy or if it’s something more than that. It was also weird that he wouldn’t even really support or let her try to find a husband, despite what he thought of her I think he still should have given her a chance to change and try to find a man and be happy, marriage is a big deal in the Indian culture. What I think all Bibi needed to be better is love… she was forced to sleep in a storage room and her cousins’ wife didn’t want her to be anywhere near her because she thought Bibi would somehow infect the baby. Of course Bibi had problems she probably felt awful about the way her own family thought of her. I’m really curious as to how Bibi got pregnant… I almost think it was Hadlar because he just randomly packed up his stuff and left with his family, and he left Bibi money. I also think Bibi didn’t tell anyone who it was who got her pregnant because she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, because she wanted the baby and she wanted someone to love and have someone love her back. I don’t think she really cared that she got “raped” because she did want the physical attention from a man and she wanted love, but since she couldn’t have love from a man… she got a baby and of course the baby is going to love her no matter what because she’s his mom.
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I also really enjoyed the Bibi Haldar one! There was something about how is was so different and a story about something I had never read about in the past that made it interesting to me. The treatments they try on her sound absolutely ridiculous, atleast to me. But to them I’m sure for the most part they were normal. It’s interesting comparing our culture to those of other countries. Our country has such a variety in itself but compared to other countries I feel like we are more alike in our country than we think.
ReplyDeleteThat’s really interesting that you think it was Mr. Hadlar that raped her! I never really thought of that.. but I think it could quiet possibly be! That would be weird, but I think that would definitely be reason for Bibi to not tell anyone. Also, I think it HAD to be someone she knew, because otherwise she would just say she didn’t know who it was instead of not telling. And since she didn’t know all that many men, I’m going to bet your right!
i didn't think about it being bibi's cousin either until i went to tri-cities to guest lecture on this story. several of the students in that class did the math and figured out that it was her cousin who got her pregnant. i was so shocked that i hadn't realized that that he was the culprit all along!
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