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This is one I worked very hard on and received the highest grade of all the other essays....

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Jhumpa Lahiri and Her Take on Cultural Identity Critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri was born to Bengali immigrant parents in 1967. She is best known for works such as her first book of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, in which she delves into the experience of second-generation Indian Americans. She began writing about complex human experiences as young as seven years old though she did not gain serious recognition for it until much later on in graduate school. As a child, she often traveled back and forth between Calcutta and Rhode Island. In her adult life, she came to realize how both American and Indian culture helped shape her as a person. Lahiri and her family never felt fully integrated into the American life and kept their cultural roots close to heart which is reflected in the deep-rooted, emotional sentiment carefully incorporated in her works. Among these heartfelt tales is a story titled Interpreter of Maladies, the title story in her anthology of short stories. It features a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Das, taking a tour through India with their three children although they appear to be ethnically Indian themselves. They are dressed both with the gear and attitude of foreigners, similar to Lahiri's experience as a secondgeneration Bengali woman travelling between two cultures whilst never fully belonging to one, searching for balance. In Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri explores the intimate depths of cultural identity by illuminating the sense of disconnectedness one can feel from their own roots and their everyday life in a way that captivates the attention of readers from all backgrounds. Although the story is fiction and told from a third person perspective, Lahiri manages to indirectly incorporate her own experiences into the story through symbolism. At one point, Mr. Kapasi, the tour guide, observes Mr. Das, “glanced up from his paperback tour book, which said ‘INDIA’ in yellow letters and looked as if it had been published abroad,” (Lahiri 13). While an Indian man flipping through a tour book about India is a ironic sight, the book itself represents the sentiment of being a foreigner in one’s home country. It is bright yellow like the vibrant aesthetic associated with India’s colorful fashion, yet its essence comes from somewhere else. It is titled ‘INDIA’ but its contents are not written by someone closely associated with India. Much like that, Lahiri wears the physical label—the skin color, the facial features—of a South Asian woman yet her label on the papers say that she is American. This book represents a midpoint where the two cultures clash, where “By imbibing the values, customs and practices of two cultures they [diaspora authors] seek for a new identity, an inclusive identity,” (Sakthi 108). Additionally, the Konark Sun Temple which they were visiting also creates a distinction between Americans and Indian Americans. The temple itself represents cultural heritage and the way each individual character processes it reveals key characteristics of second-generation Indians. The family visits the Konark Sun Temple as tourists although they are of Indian descent themselves. Mrs. Das complains about the long drive and Mr. Das reads from a misinformed guidebook which suggests that they do not feel the sense of respect for their heritage. Mr. Kapasi, on the other hand, never tires of the long drives to the temple because he gets to see the lovers carved in stone, intertwined forever. By making this distinction, ”Lahiri suggests that...unlike the

Americanized Das family, Mr. Kapasi has spent his entire life in India and, it follows, identifies much more closely with Indian culture and heritage,” (Abbas). The barrier that is created between the two cultures parallels the stories of many diaspora people living in America which Lahiri uses to emphasize the connection between environment and identity. Furthermore, Lahiri also uses symbolism to signify the gap in communication between the characters who all view the world through a filter. “Mr. Das sees the reality only through the camera lens. Mrs. Das wears sunglasses and, when in the car, she cannot roll down the window; Mr. Kapasi views reality through the rearview mirror,” (Stefanovici, 107-108). When Mr. Das sees a peasant struggling on the side of the road, his instinct is to stop an take a picture. This suggests that the camera through which he sees the world has made him blind to the reality around him. He finds himself too busy with capturing the beauty of India and worrying about how the pictures will look on Christmas cards rather than enjoying it all in the moment. Likewise, Mrs. Das keeps on her large sunglasses throughout nearly the entirety of the story, only lifting them in the rare moments she spoke. Because she stays silent when her glasses are on, it is implied that she wears them to fence herself away from the rest of the world. Mr. Kapasi views the world through his rearview mirror while driving which exemplifies his regressive viewpoint—how he always focuses on what could have occured differently for him to have a better life rather than focusing on what he can be changing now. By detailing several types of miscommunication so intricately, Lahiri depicts her own experience of being caught between two cultures. She “always saw herself in between zones. Conscious of the place left behind,” (Stefanovici, 108) which led her to articulate in her works the difficulty of communicating and expressing. That is why she advocates for a hybrid culture where cross-cultural boundaries should have a bridge to connect them. By advocating for a hybrid culture, Lahiri aims to create a space for herself where she can have a sense of belonging, a space where she can be still among the restless wandering between multiple cultures. Critical writers of Lahiri’s work such as Stefanovici draw an important parallel between Lahiri and her character, Mrs. Das. Like Lahiri, she seems to be wandering around in search of balance as can be noted from, “Mrs. Das gave an impatient sigh as if she had been traveling her whole life without pause,” (Lahiri 15). Parallels such as those are also drawn between the other members of Das family and the encounters of many second generation Indian Americans. It is as though Lahiri explores identity through these characters and thus, strengthens her argument for a hybrid culture. She essentially toys with the idea of balance, or lack thereof, all throughout this work in order to bring attention to the necessity of a hybrid culture which in turn becomes a central theme to the narrative. The relationship between Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi was a representation this supposed balance between the two cultures. As the flimsy scrap of paper on which he wrote his address blows out and away from Mrs. Das’s purse, goes with it the hope for both Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das to find harmony within all the different, complicated sides of their lives. Even the name “Das” fiddles with the idea of instability because it is among the most common surnames in India, equivalent to Smith or Johnson in America. The concept of an Indian family with one of the most common surnames being so removed from their cultural roots topped off with powerful

diction such as, “The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did,” (Lahiri 13) builds up discomfort for readers. Lahiri teases the notion of finding equilibrium only to pull it away. This, as a result, draws the audience in to the story yet simultaneously makes them uncomfortable for the readers are tempted to root for the characters to find balance, to belong. There are so many stories written, and certainly more to be written, about immigrants searching for comfort in completely foreign lands and about third generation descendants of immigrants exploring their roots for the first time. However, there exists a notable gap between the two, the stories of the second-generation. By writing such compelling narratives about second-generation Indians, Lahiri herself becomes the interpreter of second-generation immigrants. She interprets the tales of people who extend beyond the pages, of those who are neither protagonists nor antagonists but characters who seem to be real people with both flaws and perfections. Lahiri’s works explore identity in a manner that stitches together a new, inbetween bridge where those lost in the sea of seeking inclusion find a lighthouse where they finally fit in. . Valentine, Tamara M. “Jhumpa Lahiri.” Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, 2015. EBSCOhost, proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=ers&AN=93788046&site=eds-live.

Sakthi, A. S., and R. Venkatraman. “A Study of the Immigrant Experience in the Works of Jhumpa Lahiri.” Language In India, no. 9, 2017, p. 106. EBSCOhost, proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.510400833&site=edslive. ȘTEFANOVICI, Smaranda. “Jhumpa Lahiri and Psychological Dislocation in ‘Interpreter of Maladies.’” Studia Universitatis Petru Maior - Philologia, vol. 18, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 103–109. EBSCOhost, proxyremote.galib.uga.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=ufh&AN=110029906&site=eds-live.

Abbas, Fatin. "Interpreter of Maladies Symbols." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 25 Sep 2018. Web. 18 Nov 2018....