What victorian practice does mukharji find amusing in a visit to europe?

One of the Victorian practices that Mukharji found amusing when visiting Europe was the disapproval Europeans expressed for polygamous marriages.  This was something common in many cultures, and English people who knew little about other regions assumed all Indians had many wives. Mukharji joked about this, often lying to people and telling them he had 250 wives back home, to the shock and surprise of his English hosts.

as for symbolic actions, the narrator's tearing down the wallpaper in an attempt to find the "woman" in the wallpaper represents her struggle to retain or regain her sanity.   the wallpaper has been part of her confinement and by her tearing it down, she is freeing herself from that confinement.

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