Bandyopadhyay: Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri's Fiction

In this article written by Debarati Bandyopadhyay, she analyzes two of Jhumpa Lahiri's novels, The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies, in relation to the cultural borders of India and the United States. One of the reasons for "Negotiating borders, moving across continents and the seven seas" Bandyopadhyay says is for when "an individual is in search for a better life..." (Bandyopadhyay). In this essay, she speaks about how Lahiri's works often combine the ideas of the first world and the third world, East and West, and about how they are united with similar ideas such as "India with her concept of 'unity in' diversity and the USA as the melting pot of cultures and races..." (Bandyopadhyay). In order to show this, she begins to discuss the story "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,"and how people, like Mr. Pirzada and Lilia's parents are willing to assimilate to American ideas like Halloween, but when it comes to situations such as educating children about other cultures, the sentiment is not reciprocated. She then moves on to discuss Lahiri's character Mrs. Sen from Interpreter of Maladies and Ashoke from The Namesake and how relocating themselves from India to the United States are more than physical relocations but they also very emotional and leave behind "permanent fault-lines," meaning that there is a piece left behind in their original home. Bandyopadhyay mentions throughout this article how Lahiri brings different aspects of her cultural connections in this story such as her background as a second generation American born Indian, and how she has a longing for her cultural home in Bengal. The ideas that Bandyopadhyay shares in this are very well shown and is another great example of what I aim to do for my final paper. It is especially helpful to me because it analyzes Interpreter of Maladies, my chosen text for the semester.