The Middleman, and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee
"The Middleman, and Other Stories" by Bharati Mukherjee is a collection that explores the complex interplay between Western and Third World cultures amid the realities of globalization, technology, and immigration. Through a series of narratives, Mukherjee delves into the lives of characters caught in cultural dislocation, such as Alfred Judah, a stateless Jew navigating Central America, and an American woman entwined with an Afghan lover, both confronting their identities within shifting landscapes. Stories like "A Wife's Story" highlight the humorous yet poignant contrasts between perceptions of consumerism and cultural identity when an Indian husband visits his Americanized wife in New York City.
The collection also addresses darker themes, such as the exploitation of immigrants in "Danny's Girls" and the trauma experienced by families in "The Management of Grief," which reflects on the 1985 Air India bombing. Mukherjee's own experiences as an immigrant inform her narratives, shedding light on the psychological challenges faced by individuals as they reconcile their pasts with their new realities. Overall, her stories present a rich tapestry of human experiences, illuminating the alienation and struggles that arise when diverse cultures collide and evolve.
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The Middleman, and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee
First published: 1988
The Work
The Middleman, and Other Stories deals with the clash between Western and Third World cultures as technology and overpopulation join diverse peoples in tragicomic relationships. “A Wife’s Story” is a good example of Bharati Mukherjee’s storytelling technique. It is told in the present tense, begins abruptly, and has an interest, characteristic of literary minimalism, in brand names and consumerism. The narrator sees her Indian husband through American eyes when he visits her in New York City, where she is attending college. He is captivated by the meretricious glamour and abundance of consumer goods. The narrator realizes how Americanized she has become and how comically provincial her husband appears.
Alfred Judah in “The Middleman” is a man without a country, a Jew living in Central America and hoping to make his way to the United States. Some think he is an Arab and others think he is an Indian; he is despised by everyone. In “Orbiting,” an American woman is living with an Afghan lover who is another man without a country, unable to obtain legal entry into any of the developed countries being flooded with immigrants.
In “Buried Lives,” an Indian who is prospering in Sri Lanka abandons his responsibilities for a new life in America. After leading a terrifying underground existence, he finds himself engaged to be married in Germany. “Danny’s Girls” is about immigrants who come to the United States for a better life and who become prostitutes. “Jasmine” has a similar theme.
“The Management of Grief,” dealing with the 1985 bombing of an Air India jetliner, focuses on a specific incident but reveals a macrocosm. Through the eyes of one bereaved woman, the reader glimpses the diaspora that has scattered Indians across five continents, creating alienation and countless minor tragedies.
Mukherjee’s experience as an upper-caste woman losing her tradition-bound, privileged identity was the turning point in her life. As an immigrant she was sometimes mistaken for a prostitute, a shoplifter, or a domestic servant. Her stories reflect her sympathy for the psychological traumas suffered by the Third World immigrants who have lost their old identities and who are trying to create new ones. Mukherjee is an Old World intellectual who has adopted New World values. The blending of old and new is another striking characteristic of her fiction. She dramatizes the cataclysmic changes taking place in human consciousness as cultures collide.
Bibliography
Mukherjee, Bharati. “Immigrant Writing: Give Us Your Maximalists!” The New York Times Book Review, August 28, 1988, 28-29. Mukherjee herself speaks out regarding the declining influence of American literature because it does not speak for the immigrant per se.
Mukherjee, Bharati. “An Interview with Bharati Mukherjee.” Interview by Alison B. Carb. Massachusetts Review 29 (Winter, 1988-1989): 645-654. Examines the main thematic concerns of Mukherjee’s fiction in general. Includes some discussion of The Middleman.
Mukherjee, Bharati. “An Interview with Bharati Mukherjee.” Interview by Michael Connell et al. The Iowa Review 20, no. 3 (Fall, 1990): 7-32. An interesting, detailed two-day interview with Mukherjee that explores the genesis and comparison of her major works and her major theme of life as a radical evolutionary process.
Rustomji-Kerns, Roshni. “Expatriates, Immigrants, and Literature: Three South Asian Women Writers.” Massachusetts Review 29 (Winter, 1988-1989): 655-665. Compares and contrasts Mukherjee’s emphases and themes with those of two other immigrant writers: Santha Rama Rau and Kamala Markandaya. Discusses Mukherjee’s early novels.
Sant-Wade, Arvindra, and Karen Marguerite Radell. “Refashioning the Self: Immigrant Women in Bharati Mukherjee’s New World.” Studies in Short Fiction 29, no. 1 (Winter, 1992): 11-17. Investigates themes of the female immigrant in three stories from The Middleman collection.