Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of thematically linked short stories dealing with brief relationships between people. Familial, platonic, and romantic relationships make up the bulk of the collection's subject matter. Globalization, materialism, and the role of India in the emerging global culture are also prominent themes. The collection's nine stories feature a largely Indian cast of characters, focusing heavily on immigration from India to the Western world and on the lives of Indian immigrants abroad.
The Namesake is the story of an immigrant Bengali couple and their son Nikhil, whose pet name of Gogol becomes his legal name due to a language barrier-related misunderstanding after his birth. The novel follows Gogol through his life as he struggles with his Indian identity and with his often unsteady relationship with his parents. His name and its uncertainty has a strong influence on the course of his life and informs a great deal of his personality and fate.
Concerning the Principles of Morals is a philosophical treatise by David Hume that identifies the impetus for moral judgment and the criteria employed in such judgment. Contrary to many ethicists of his time and central to his thesis, Hume asserts that morals derive from sentiments rather than reason. Employing an empirical approach, Hume devises a theory of sympathy, rejecting Hobbes' belief in psychological egoism. Hume argues that moral judgment ultimately concerns people's character rather than actions and goes on to reject ascetic Christian values he deems useless to society.