"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, …

…e grew more and more distant to her family. She did not face the secret that she kept for so many years and it ate her up inside. By internalizing all her thoughts and not expressing them to anyone, her family paid through her uncaring and hard heartened ways. When she realized that her son Bobby was in danger, she may have finally woken up and realized the things that were important in her life.