Analysis of "girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

...

also mentions that she is accompanied by “ghost women from Ville Rose who ride the crests of waves while brushing the stars out of their hair. There they woo strollers and leave the stars on the path for them.” The stars serve as a reminder for her that there are women out there who find excuses so “they will not have to lie next to the lifeless soul of a man whose scent still lingers in another woman’s bed.” Lastly, she describes the movement of the stars as they “slowly slip away from the hole in the roof”, to which she also thanks them that “at least she has the days to herself,” and perhaps implies that she believes that her life has been already predetermined and she is simply walking her destined path.

Unlike the woman in Night Women, who accepts reality and sees things the way they are, Mr. Das in Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, does not. Throughout the story, Mr. Das is almost obsessed with his camera, never once putting it down, always taking pictures of everything he sees. Because of this constant usage of vision through the camera lens, it also depicts his failure to see the world for what it is or even engage with it for that matter. Mr. Das tells Mr. Kapasi to pull over the cab several times, and each time, it was for him to take pictures. One of the time, he took a snapshot of a starving man, “his head wrapped in a dirty turban, seated on top of a cart of grain sacks pulled by a pair of bollocks,” just so he would have a souvenir to bring back home. It never even crossed his mind to help this peasant but to only take pictures. He is so caught up in his own world through the lens that he ignores the ugliness of reality that surrounds him. Mr. Das would never fully experience his visit to India because he chose to remain in the realm of frozen images rather than to take part and actively engage in the activities with his family.

The camera also symbolizes Mr. Das’s inability to comprehend the problems with his family, fooling himself into believing in a family life that doesn’t actually exist. He constantly tries to get Mrs. Das to pose for pictures even though she is fed up with him. With his persistent urges for her and the children to pose, this may suggest harmony and intimacy, something that the family clearly lacks: Mrs. Das is distant and is clearly irritated by him, and his children are disrespectful and troublesome. He is unconsciously trying to capture his dysfunctional family as a “happy family” on paper, so he could perhaps show other people how perfect their lives are, when in fact, it is the opposite. The lens also further emphasize his weakness when Mrs. Das reveals to Mr. Kapasi that Bobby is not Mr. Das’s son. By throwing himself behind the lens of his camera, he is also throwing himself in a world that only exists in an imaginary state full of ignorance and insensitivity.