Gandhian Fasting and Cultural Indigestion in Jeffrey Eugenides’ “Air Mail”

“Air Mail” is one of the ten stories included in Jeffrey Eugenides’ latest collection of stories, Fresh Complaint. Drawing on one of the characters in his third novel, The Marriage Plot, as well as on his own experiences in India working as a volunteer alongside Mother Theresa, “Air Mail” tells the story of young (and idealistic) Mitchell Grammaticus, who leaves the West in order to explore India, Bangkok, and a tropical island in the Gulf of Siam, where he finally succumbs to dysentery (as well as to thoughts regarding the futility of existence). Ripe in irony and biting sarcasm, coupled with a surprising tenderness and empathy, which are the landmarks of Eugenides’ writing, the story is a tongue-in-cheek debate on the East-West cultural conflict, as well as on the numerous (false) conceptions Westerners harbor regarding foreign cultures, paradigms and ideologies.