Relationships are delicate. In order to thrive, it requires love, but without that durable foundation, the smallest of fractures can cause the collapse of the entire relationship. “Sexy” in the collection, Interpreter of Maladies, written by award winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, portrays what basis an extramarital relationship is supported by. Miranda, a young American, is engaged in an affair with a wedded man, Dev, who is different from any other guy she has ever dated. Through the unique perspective of the “other woman”, the reader is brought into a world of secrets and forbidden romance, which leads to pain, but more importantly, self acceptance.
There is a partition built between races, and it is bound to occur no matter how much society …show more content…
The western and Indian perspective about gender roles clash because both Miranda and Dev conform to the Indian roles of masculinity and femininity about how women are subjected to men even though they live in America. She is so enticed by his masculinity that she does everything to please him from trying to become more cultured to trying to improve her appearance. Internal conflict is sparked in her because she can either choose to love herself for who she is or she can choose to love someone whom she barely knows. By calling her sexy, he further subjugates her because Miranda now feels the pressure to live up to his expectations of being sexy. “As she shopped she thought about Dev, and about what he’d told her in the Mapparium. It was the first time a man had called her sexy, and when she closed her eyes she could still feel his whisper drifting through her body, under her skin” demonstrates how her entire world revolves around Dev and the desire to appease him, but what she does not know at first is that she is only encouraging him to “love” her for the wrong reasons (92). She renders Dev to be the ideal male because of his ethnicity and age, but he perceives her to be the ideal female because he is dominant in their affair and for her body. What Miranda later realizes is that both only admire the other for surficial aspects instead of what is on …show more content…
Children are able to grasp the simplest of truths, something even adults sometimes fail to be able to do. His perceptiveness allows Miranda to fully open her eyes to the reality of her liaison, whereas prior to Rohin’s introduction, she is blinded by Dev’s romantic gestures and the pleasure she feels through their stolen sex. They both took advantage of the other. Miranda uses him to become someone who she thinks she has to be to be desirable, and Dev used her as a sex toy. Instead of loving the person underneath the skin, they lust over the other for superficial values and focus on the wrong things. But Dev is just a player, who does not even protest when Miranda ends the affair, and Miranda is left in pieces. Lahiri prominently displayed the theme lust camouflaged as love will break a relationship for the better through Miranda’s character development because from the pain of loss, she is able to mature and learns to love herself for who she is instead of forcing the roles of gender, culture, and age upon herself. After the couple’s separation, Miranda finds herself sitting outside the Mapparium and gazing at its beauty, which signifies how she accepts herself for who she is without needing a man to validate her worth. As the fire of their relationship diminishes and turns into ashes, Miranda rises from the embers into a
There is a partition built between races, and it is bound to occur no matter how much society …show more content…
The western and Indian perspective about gender roles clash because both Miranda and Dev conform to the Indian roles of masculinity and femininity about how women are subjected to men even though they live in America. She is so enticed by his masculinity that she does everything to please him from trying to become more cultured to trying to improve her appearance. Internal conflict is sparked in her because she can either choose to love herself for who she is or she can choose to love someone whom she barely knows. By calling her sexy, he further subjugates her because Miranda now feels the pressure to live up to his expectations of being sexy. “As she shopped she thought about Dev, and about what he’d told her in the Mapparium. It was the first time a man had called her sexy, and when she closed her eyes she could still feel his whisper drifting through her body, under her skin” demonstrates how her entire world revolves around Dev and the desire to appease him, but what she does not know at first is that she is only encouraging him to “love” her for the wrong reasons (92). She renders Dev to be the ideal male because of his ethnicity and age, but he perceives her to be the ideal female because he is dominant in their affair and for her body. What Miranda later realizes is that both only admire the other for surficial aspects instead of what is on …show more content…
Children are able to grasp the simplest of truths, something even adults sometimes fail to be able to do. His perceptiveness allows Miranda to fully open her eyes to the reality of her liaison, whereas prior to Rohin’s introduction, she is blinded by Dev’s romantic gestures and the pleasure she feels through their stolen sex. They both took advantage of the other. Miranda uses him to become someone who she thinks she has to be to be desirable, and Dev used her as a sex toy. Instead of loving the person underneath the skin, they lust over the other for superficial values and focus on the wrong things. But Dev is just a player, who does not even protest when Miranda ends the affair, and Miranda is left in pieces. Lahiri prominently displayed the theme lust camouflaged as love will break a relationship for the better through Miranda’s character development because from the pain of loss, she is able to mature and learns to love herself for who she is instead of forcing the roles of gender, culture, and age upon herself. After the couple’s separation, Miranda finds herself sitting outside the Mapparium and gazing at its beauty, which signifies how she accepts herself for who she is without needing a man to validate her worth. As the fire of their relationship diminishes and turns into ashes, Miranda rises from the embers into a