Interpretation is relative to each person. (Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder)

            It is said on the philosophic reflections and even the scientific statements that humans are the only being with the ability to judge.This specific characteristic of human, allows them to interpret the world around them. Those interpretations go from a small scale like judging taste and color to a larger scale like depicting the good and the bad. From this, we have seen society ensemble a series of values tagged as good called moral. However, has each of those values the same level of truthiness and importance for each single person?  Many literary works of the post
modernism era especially “The Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri and “A&P” by John Updike show situation where people have justified their depraved action. It appears that values cannot be generalized; it depends on each person interpretation. Values will always be relative as long as humans have the ability to judge.

Interpretation is a natural aspect of human being; it is specific to the human spirit. Our five senses allow us to capture and perceive the outside world, while our intellectual capacity and reasoning power interpret them. How is the reasoning power work? We don’t really know, it is linked to the human spirit, it’s almost inexplicable.We interpret and judge thing without even notice.Everyone is doing so in a regular basis; it is in our subconscious.

            The human spirit or the consciousness present in each individual allows human to gather some similar opinion and thought about life in general. Further, as member of society who shares similar interest, some arguments are accepted as valid and moral by the average person. Moral principles and prides are also interpretation made by the human spirit.
 However, People will interpret those values differently. For some, those values are irrational and not so significant. We can see in “A&P” by John Updike there was nothing wrong on the girls’ perspective to walk in the store dressed with bikinis. They were confident on themselves, it was their normal habit. But In Lengel’s point of view this act was outrageous and disrespectful. Who had reason who was wrong no one can really tell, or at least everyone could interpret it as one sees it

Even though values are personal, people’s behavior and belief are influenced by the outside environment. Moral principles vary depending on the time and place. This time barrier has separated Lengel’s to the girls’. Lengel was an old man who grew up in a different society with different principle. The girls and Sammy in the other hand grew up in a post modernism society where values are more liberal Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter Of Maladies” is a crucial work of the post modernism era that emphasizes on interpretation. In this play we have seen characters behaving differently according to their culture. Mr. Kapasi with an Eastern culture found it inadmissible that Mrs. Das could have cheated on her husband, like it was the most outrageous thing he has heard of.  After Mrs. Das told Mr. Kapasi that Bobby was not Raj son “he felt a prickle on his skin”. “Are you surprise?” asked Mrs. Das. “It’s not the type of thing one assumes” respond Mr. Kapasi (Interpreter, 62). Yet Mrs. Das has found excuses for her act, claiming that she wasn’t feeling any interest for her husband anymore. The western culture of Mrs. Das does not sympathize with cheating neither, however westerners are more open minded in what concern moral values.

          Withhold someone to have and manifest his own perception of thing is the same a restrain his natural right. No one should be force to accept someone else ideas or opinion. We have seen many conflicts around the world concerning religion, sexual orientation and even abortion.Peoples have been battling since centuries for the respect of their right. Jean Paul Sartre, French philosopher of the 20^th centuries shared this idea of freedom of thinking. On his major philosophic work, “L’Etre Et Le Néant” (Being and Nothingness) he explain that man is condemned to be free. He goes further to explain that being free simply means to determine by your own what you desire.

Man is condemned to have their own interpretation on any aspect of life. This is where anyone is free from the outside word. It should be clear that someone’s natural right is it right to interpret life since human is a being of judgment. Interpretation makes people act and live differently. However, human as a social being, share their judgment to society and have their judgment influenced by society. This influence happens naturally because of the consciousness in human or often by oppression of the society. At the end, value is relative to each person’s interpretation.

Works cited

Both, Alison . "JOHN UPDIKE A&P." The norton introduction to literature. New York: W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, 2011. 409-414.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of maladies : stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

Hartmann, Klaus . Sartre's ontology : a study of "Being and Nothingness" in the light of Hegel's Logic. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1966. Print.