“Not all light is good. There is negative light, that can cast bad shadows.”
- Anthony Liccione
Krishna
Kumar Selvaraj
Professor
J. Mignano-Brady
EGL
102
April
24, 2014
Misconceptions
and Misinterpretations
The Yellow Wallpaper by
Charlotte Perkins is about a woman who undergoes a nervous depression. It
symbolizes the way women were viewed in the 19th century. The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
reflects the concepts of postmodernism by allowing the readers to see how each
character has their own perspective about the same situation. Although the
stories are written in different time periods, they have one common theme. The
theme is Misconception and Misinterpretation, which is due to both verbal and
behavioral actions. The movie The Dark Knight
Rises by Christopher Nolan is also an example that has many false
interpretations. Misconceptions and misinterpretations are the root of all
tragedies and disappointments in human life.
In
the Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is
the victim of the 19th century’s suppression and mistreatment of
women as inferior. She was suffering from temporary nervous depression.
Her husband was under the misconception that she needs to rest as told by the
doctor under the name of rest cure. He says, “My brother is also a physician,
and also of high standing, and he says the same thing” (Perkins-Gillman 648).
The author is aware of the misconception, but cannot compromise her husband
because he was not ready to listen. He forced her to sleep in the isolated room
with the ugly yellow wallpaper because he was under the misconception that it
would help her to recover from her problems. The ugly yellow wallpaper made her
worse. The author began to get delusional by seeing a woman behind the
wallpaper creeping around. She requested her husband to take her out of the
room, but he refused to do that. He said. ”you are gaining flesh and color,
your appetite is better. I feel really much easier about you” (Perkins-Gillman
652). He misinterpreted the situation believing that she is getting better but
the actual fact is she was losing her mind day by day and getting even worse.
In addition to The Yellow Wallpaper,
Interpreter of maladies also contains
many misconceptions and false interpretations throughout the story.
In
the story Interpreter of Maladies, the
characters Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi both have entirely different views about
each other. Misconception and Misinterpretations happen on a regular basis in
the story. When Mrs. Das asked Mr. Kapasi’s address for sending him copies of
the photos, he started to fantasize. Mr. Kapasi thought, “She would write to
him asking about his days interpreting at the doctor’s office and those
incidents would make her laugh and by this way their friendship would grow, and
flourish” (Lahiri 20). He started dreaming about their relationship in future
by misinterpreting the whole situation. In the first scene when Mr. Kapasi saw
Mr. Das he assumed that he was born in India and asked him, "you left
India as a child?" (Lahiri 14). Mr. Das replied, "Oh, Mina and I were
both born in America" (Lahiri 14). By seeing their appearance’s Mr. kapasi
thought they were born in India. This was the misconception by Mr. Kapasi.
Throughout the story Nr. Kapasi is obsessed with Mrs. Das and their future
relationship. At the end, Mrs. Das told him about her past affair thinking that
Mr. Kapasi could help him as he was an interpreter. At that point Mr. Kapasi
realized that he didn't really mean anything to her. She sees Mr. Kapasi as a normal
interpreter, who could solve her problems by suggesting some remedies.
Misconception
and Misinterpretations are found in many movies. The recent movie with this
theme is The Dark Knight Rises. The
most controversial element of the movie is the scene where Batman carries the
bomb out to sea seconds before it explodes making it nearly impossible for him
to have survived the incident. Moments later, they show Alfred, Bruce's butler,
sitting down in a café. There he sees Bruce Wayne, alive and well, seated next
to Selina Kyle. There was a misconception that it was Alfred's wishful thinking.
But later, the movie specifically points out the autopilot feature of the Bat
and emphasizes that Bruce fixed it. The fact that Kyle is with Bruce
further shows that this is not a
dream or hallucination because Alfred doesn’t know Selina (Garcia, 2013). They also show John
Blake entering the Bat cave at the end. Fans misinterpreted the situation
thinking that he is going to be the new Batman as Wayne retires. However, the
director of the movie says that the ending is not meant to open the door for John
to play the new Batman. For him, The Dark
Knight rises is specifically and definitely the end of the Batman
story and the open ended nature of the film is simply a very important thematic
idea that he wanted to get into the movie (McMillan, 2012).
The
short stories Interpreter of Maladies
and The Yellow Wallpaper shows how
people misconceive and misinterpret the situations based on their own
perceptions. The characters in the two stories have entirely different views
about each other and about themselves. This leads to false interpretations,
which makes them guilty or a victim of that. The movie The Dark Knight Rises is an example of how an intended meaning in
the climax can be taken to mean the complete opposite which ultimately lead to
disappointment because it is not what the director tried to convey to the
audience. Everyone in the world forms misconceptions and misinterprets things
incorrectly on a regular basis.
Works Cited
Gilman, C. P. (1892). The Yellow Wallpaper.
The New England Magazine.
Lahiri, J. (1999). Interpreter of Maladies.
Houghton Mifflin.
Garcia, J. (2013). Misconceptions About The Dark
Knight Rises. Retrieved from whatculture:
http://whatculture.com/film/6-common-misconceptions-dark-knight-rises.php/3
McMillan, G. (2012, July 28). What Comes After The
Dark Knight Rises? Retrieved from comicbookresources:
http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2012/07/28/what-comes-after-the-dark-knight-rises/
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