Interpreter of Maladies begins with a story about a couple who becomes depressed over the death of their child and lose the connection to each other. Their lack of relating leads to them breaking up. Interpreter of Maladies ends with a story of a couple who start out as total strangers who then become a loving couple. Eventually in passing they mention their son, a direct result of their successful relationship. These two stories have mirrored sequences of events except for the move to America. The relationships of the couples in them show that in times of strain, there must be an interpreter of maladies to ease the situation.
"A Temporary Matter" features a couple who is blind to each other's thoughts. The day that their baby died, their relationship died. The guilt over not being able to be there for his wife drives Shukumar deeper into himself. He feels as though he cannot speak to his wife, that there is a gap between them. The pain and longing of losing a child consumes Shoba. To her, everything reminds her of what she lost, so she avoids everything by staying out. As Shukumar and Shoba move in opposite directions they need someone to bring them back together and redirect them towards each other.
The narrator in "The Third and Final Continent" has accepted an arranged marriage to a girl in India. His wedding is an event to him, no more personal than to any other average attendee. When his wife joins him in America they are strangers to each other and no reason to care.
I think that there needs to be an interpreter of maladies with all of the couples in the book. The interpreter would ease the communication between the estranged partners like the tour guide in "interpreter of maladies," or the old woman in the last story. That old woman so instrumental that the couple's marriage would've ended up like the couple in the first story had they not went to speak with her.
