Interpreter Of Maladies

Being involved in two different religions is not that of a difficulty but having to adjust to two totally different cultures is a struggle. In Interpreter of Maladies,Lahiri presents various short stories depicting the division among characters who are mostly immigrants with different types of cultures. In most of Lahiri's stories, she shows how an immigrant life is as he/she enters a whole new world with everything new . “Mrs.Sen’s” is one of the short stories in which a fully Indian cultured woman is mostly refusing to accept and be part of the new American culture and is suffering through homesickness. She uses simple objects and certain types of food such as fish and a traditional knife, recurring memories from India to remind her of
Both stories shows distance and isolation from their home country and culture that make it difficult for the characters to adjust for a new life. By introducing the theme of characters losing their cultural identity , Lahiri suggests how one struggles to obtain a new identity. By having characters depict the theme of cultural identity several times throughout her stories, Lahiri establishes that loss of cultural identity symbolize the struggle for new identity. Lilia’s parents held different views of how Lilia’s education in United States is affecting her. As the family discussed the Eastern-Pakistan war, Lilia’s unawareness about it made her father suspiciously asked her, “What exactly do they teach you at school,Do you study history?” (Lahiri 26). As a parent, Lilia’s father had concerns on the fact that Lilia is not learning anything about their own country or the world. It bothers him how instead they only focus on American history and do not even let the students know about what currently is taking place in the world. Lilia’s mother had a different view as Lilia described how she knew that Lilia “was assured a safe life,easy life,a fine education,every opportunity...would never
Having the usage of the phrase, that she had an assurance of a“safe,easy life”interpretes how Lilia’s mother is focusing on how American culture has given and impacted their lives so much more to what Indian culture has. The quote is showing a comparison between the two cultures on how having a life in India would affect Lilia physically and mentally including how she will consume limited food and witness violence of disturbance on the streets. India is popularly also known as the country where pressure of education and power outage from nowhere is high from which Lilia has been protected from. Lilia’s mother is proud of the fact that Lilia is “different” rather having and trying to become a “new” person while having past experiences in another culture to struggle along with a new one like they did. Mrs.Sen reveals how America does not give her the peace and happiness that she desires. Mrs.Sen describes to Elliot about when her neighborhood in India had any type of celebration, just the matter of minutes, the place gets loud and filled with crowds of women helping,gossiping and talking. After a bit of silence, in a complaining tone, she says how Mr.Sen has brought her in a place like this in which she“cannot sometimes sleep in so much