Now it was I who laughed. I did so quietly, and Mrs. Croft did not hear
me. But Mala had heard, and, for the first time, we looked at each other and
smiled. (195–96)Lahiri continues the convergent narration with special emphasis on the
character narrator’s interpretations and evaluations. More specifically, the
character narrator’s reliable interpreting and evaluating is rooted in his empa-
thetic response to Mala, one based less on his having previously undergone
the scrutiny of Mrs. Croft than on his experience of adjusting to his second
continent. It is an ethically admirable imaginative leap—and one that con-
verts the opening section of the story, in which the character narrator briefly
summarizes his time in London, from interesting backstory to events with
ongoing relevance.^4 In addition, Lahiri invites her audience to make the link
between Mala’s travel and that of the astronauts: “far from home, not knowing
where she was going or what she would find.” Finally, the character narrator’s
empathetic drawing on his past to interpret Mala’s present situation leads him
to project a future in which each cares for the other.
As noted above, Mrs. Croft serves as the catalyst for the connection
between the married couple. Her imperiousness evokes the character narra-
tor’s sympathy for Mala, and her clear approbation evokes the shared smile.
But Lahiri builds another, subtler progression into the narration. After the
character narrator thinks about his future with Mala, he comments, “I wanted
somehow to explain all this to Mrs. Croft,” a sign of how much he wants to
continue to connect with her across their differences.^5 Yet after Mrs. Croft
passes judgment on Mala, he laughs just loudly enough for Mala but not Mrs.
Croft to hear, a signal from Lahiri that his main desire to connect now appro-
priately gets transferred to his wife.
THE PROBABLE IMPLAUSIBILITY; OR THE CROSSOVER
LOGIC OF MALA’S LAUGHTER
My analysis so far has passed over the most radical feature of this scene, which
I highlight here:
- A full-scale rhetorical analysis would have much more to say about the role of the sec-
ond continent in the narrative progression. - Lahiri’s communication about the character narrator’s relation to his mother, who
became mentally unbalanced after her husband died, is worthy of more commentary. Suffice
it to say that Mrs. Croft becomes a quasi-mother figure to him (at one point he has to remind
himself that “I was not her son” [189]), and that his mother’s response to her husband’s death
adds another layer to the character narrator’s thoughts about how Mala’s death would affect him
and how his would affect her. See Caesar’s good discussion of this issue.
226 • CHAPTER 1 1