Journal 7

The two stories that were assigned for this week both had the use of cameras, and photography in general tied into them.  One story used photography to help unite their family, while the other had photography in it, but the family is in a lot more turmoil then it seems.  While both stories have the obvious similarities of photography is used to take pictures and both take pictures, there are also many contrasts. The similarities of photography between the two stories are essentially the fact that they are capturing moments on trips to lands they have never been (except for the dad in "A Pair of Tickets.")  People tend to take a lot of pictures on vacations and this is the case in both of these stories.  Another similarity could be the comparison of the two landscapes that are being photographed because India and China are located in the same continent.

The contrasts of the stories are very evident, in  "A Pair of Tickets," the main character uses the camera to capture very important moments in the history of her family.  Two examples that stand out to me are the pictures she takes of her father and Aiyi and at the end of the story when the sisters are all standing together and the father takes a snapshot of them.  Also, the Polaroid that June May sent the sisters of their mother.  In this story photography symbolizes the coming together of a family and how the pictures are the only things they have to remember one another.  It will probably be one of the only times they will ever see one another again and it is important to capture those moments.

In "Interpreter of Maladies," literally the polar opposite happens and the family is more chaotic and dysfunctional with a very deep dark secret.  Mr. Das has a camera with him throughout the duration of the story taking pictures of the various tourist attractions and landmarks they see, but to me it is the lack of one specific picture that tells the story of how dysfunctional their family is.  At the end of the story when Mrs. Das tells Mr. Kapasi her deep dark secret about how one of their children is illegitimate.  They were trying to take a family photo, but instead this child is attacked by a monkey and they decide to not take it.  This speaks to me in the sense that this family is so messed up on the inside that they aren't supposed to take a picture together to make them even look happy.  In my opinion, photography can capture great moments, but can also not show the whole story.