Sexy

“Sexy” is a short story by Jhumpa Lahiri. “Sexy” was originally published in the print issue of The New Yorker from December 28, 1998/January 4, 1999. The story also appears in Lahiri’s 1999 short story collection Interpreter of Maladies, which won the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction in 2000, when Lahiri was 33. The two published versions of the story have slight variations.

This guide refers to the version published in the 1999 Interpreter of Maladies.

Jhumpa Lahiri is of Indian (Bengali) descent. She was born in London, UK, and grew up in the United States in Rhode Island. As a child, she traveled regularly to India with her parents to make extended family visits. In her writing, Lahiri draws inspiration from her international upbringing. Her short story “Sexy” features the themes of Identity: Difference and Engagement, Perceptions of Infidelity, and Fantasy, Wealth, and Aspiration.

“Sexy” is told from a third-person limited omniscient point of view, focusing on the experiences of Miranda, the story’s protagonist. The narrative begins with a conversation between Miranda and her colleague, Laxmi. Miranda and Laxmi have cubicles next to one another. Miranda is a white American with an insular Midwestern background. She is 22 years old, just out of college, and has recently moved to Boston from Michigan. Laxmi is of Indian descent, married, and a bit older than Miranda.

Laxmi tells Miranda about her cousin in Montreal whose husband has left her. While flying from Delhi to Montreal, he met and fell in love with another woman. The cousin’s husband did not return to his family. He is now in England with the new woman he met. Laxmi’s cousin is devastated and her son is missing school for the time being. Laxmi assumes this will be fine as she considers him “something of a genius” (84).

Miranda has been having an affair with a married man name Dev. Dev is of Indian descent; he is Bengali, like Laxmi’s cousin’s husband, and he has shown Miranda a map of Bengal from a copy he has of The Economist. Miranda is keeping the affair a secret from everyone, including Laxmi.

Miranda remembers how she first met Dev at Filene’s Department Store. Dev is wealthy, he works in investment banking, and he lives in the suburbs. When Miranda and Dev began their affair, Dev’s wife was away visiting India for a few weeks. In his wife’s absence, Dev saw a lot of Miranda and was attentive. He stayed in Miranda’s apartment every night and returned to his home in the early hours, in time for his wife’s morning calls from India. Dev told Miranda that he admires her for moving to Boston and away from everything familiar in her life, and Miranda felt that Dev empathized with the lonely moments she sometimes experiences. Miranda finds herself wishing that she could put up a picture of her and Dev in her work cubicle like one that Laxmi has of herself and her husband at the Taj Mahal. Dev is very different from the college boys Miranda dated before.

Dev and Miranda went out together often while his wife was away: to Davis Square, to the Museum of Fine Arts, to the movies, and to Symphony Hall. After a concert at Symphony Hall, Dev took Miranda to the Christian Science Center to visit the Mapparium, a stained-glass globe that people can walk inside of. They look around in the space, find countries on the giant globe, and whisper to each other, their voices amplified by the acoustics of the place. Dev tells Miranda that she is sexy.

Laxmi and Miranda go out for lunch at an Indian restaurant that recently opened near to where they work. Laxmi tells Miranda that Laxmi’s cousin’s husband has been unfaithful before. Laxmi’s cousin is willing to take her husband back if he returns in order to keep her family together for the sake of her son. Laxmi says that she would have a different reaction if she were in a similar position: “Not me. If my husband so much as looked at another woman I’d change the locks” (91-92).

Dev’s wife returns from India. Miranda and Dev continue their affair, but only on Sundays. When going to see Miranda, Dev tells his wife he is going to Boston to jog along the Charles River. Miranda goes on a shopping trip to Filene’s Basement to buy clothes she believes a mistress might wear, including a silver cocktail dress. When buying these clothes, she thinks about Dev calling her sexy. In between Sundays, Miranda misses Dev and spends a lot of time thinking about him and preparing for his visits.

Miranda remembers her childhood: the only Indians she has known in her life except Dev and Laxmi were a family who lived next door when she was growing up. They were called the Dixits. She recalls how the Dixits were marked out as different in the neighborhood, looked down on by the adults and jeered at by the children. She remembers how she felt afraid and confused by the Dixits and their house when she was invited to a birthday party and treated with hospitality. She feels shame about this now. When she makes love to Dev she imagines exotic images of India. Miranda seeks out Indian experiences in Boston. She eats at an Indian restaurant, works on learning the Bengali alphabet, and visits an Indian grocery store. She thinks about Dev’s wife who, he says, looks like a famous actress in Bombay, and she feels sure that the wife is very beautiful.

Laxmi’s cousin is asked for a divorce by her husband. In response, Laxmi invites the cousin and her young son to visit for the weekend. Laxmi and her cousin drop the little boy at Miranda’s apartment on Saturday morning so that Miranda can watch him while Laxmi and her cousin have a spa day. Both the boy and his mother appear exhausted. The seven-year-old boy is called Rohin.

Miranda quizzes Rohin on the capitals of countries at his request. Rohin reveals that he knows that his mother is sad and that his father left because he fell in love with another woman. He follows Miranda around and stands so close sometimes that he gets in the way. After a while, Rohin gets bored and wanders into Miranda’s bedroom, finding the silver cocktail dress. She has never worn it because she and Dev don’t go out together now, and she knows they never will. Rohin insists that Miranda put on the dress, also saying that she can change in front of him because his mother does. Miranda reluctantly agrees to put on the dress but changes in private. When Rohin sees the dress he calls Miranda “sexy,” which she finds unsettling. She asks him what he thinks that means and he says it’s “loving someone you don’t know” (107), and it is what happened between his father and the woman on the plane. Rohin goes to sleep and Miranda imagines arguments between his parents. She also imagines Dev’s wife. She cries a little over the situation and resolves to end things with Dev.

The next day, Sunday, Dev is on his way, but Miranda asks him not to come over. On the following Sundays, circumstances prevent Dev and Miranda from meeting. Gradually, the affair ends. Miranda walks into the city to visit the places that they went to together. The Mapparium is closed, however, so she sits on a bench by herself and gazes at the sky.