Bahmanpour Summary

         This journal views the difficult transition of adapting to two cultures that Indians and Indian-American’s face in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. Specifically, the author looks to explore the transformation and creation of new cultural ideas of females in the short stories “This Blessed House”, “The Treatment of Bibi Heldar”, Mrs. Sen”, and “Sexy”. He evaluates the success or failure of cultural assimilation of the woman in the stories by viewing their responds to new cultural traditions and utilizing research from Bhaba, Spivak and other scholars.

            Bahmanpour first introduces key phrases that represent the different identities presented by female characters. The first is that of “hybrid” identity, described as appropriating both cultures. The second is “liminal” identity, being amid both identities not crossing the border to one or the other. A third term defined to describe Lahiri’s female characters is “mimicry”, a feeling of unease by an individual when they appropriate a new culture. Bahanpour then goes on to assess the transformation of new cultural ideas, beginning with Mrs.Sen. He states that in “Mrs. Sens” the female characters attempts to escape anytime she is faced with the process of adaption to American culture. Mrs. Sen avoids doing certain things and retells stories to feel at home. Ultimately, she ends up driving meaning there is hope in her to develop her liminal identity. The second story viewed is “This Blessed House”. Bahmanpour concludes that Twinkle is a successful second-generation Indian, she has adapted more than her male counterpart Sanjeev. She displays a hybridity identity, as she accepts aspects of American culture such as the Christian figures without a feeling of guilt. The author then evaluates Bibi Halder’s cultural transition in “The treatment of Bibi Haldar”. Bibi has to appropriate aspects of femininity typical of Indian woman, becoming a wife, a mother, and being beautiful. She is faced with mimicry, as she fails to appropriate the Indian gender roles, however she evolves into a hybridity identity by birthing a son, yet not being a wife. The last story viewed is “Sexy”. In contrast to the previous stories, this one deals with Miranda an American attempting to appropriate Indian traditions. Although she studies the culture and attempts to replicate the actions, Dev her Indian lover, doesn’t allow her to do so, and her attempt fails.

            Bahmanpour posits that each woman in the different stories deal with the transformation of cultural identities in different ways. However, he concludes identities are always in a process of transformation and “becoming”; Lahiri’s role is only to give an individual voice to portray each woman’s struggle. The journal exemplifies another form in which a literary analysis can be executed. 

This Blessed House

          Lahiri presents a newly formed Indian marriage through the short story “This Blessed Home”. The characters of Sanjeev and Twinkle present the difficulties of developing a multicultural identity as an Indian immigrant in the United States. Through their arranged marriage, Lahiri depicts the implausible task of maintaining Indian religious, and gender role traditions in America, due to the juxtaposing nature of both cultures.        

The Christian relics in the couple’s household serve as catalysts for their transition towards American based traditions and routines. After each new article that Twinkle finds, she becomes liberated from Indian standards. As she finds these items she convinces Sanjeev to keep them, causing the stereotypical authority of a husband over his wife in Indian culture to vanish. Soon, Sanjeev can’t even tell her to clean, and lets her do as she pleases. Twinkle goes out to get pedicures and at one point refuses to cook Indian food. The author states, “Indian food, she complained, was a bother; she detested chopping garlic, and peeling ginger, and could not operate a blender…” (Lahiri, 144). This action is the embodiment of the loss in cultural ties to India the couple faced. Although Sanjeev always tried to keep the traditionalist and regimented actions of an Indian culture, Twinkle veered away from them through her liberal view. In Lahiri’s stories, immigrant Indian families in America, maintain their ties to Indian culture by consuming typical dishes of their homeland. However, in “This Blessed House” the fact that Twinkle refuses to cook Indian meals and adorns the house with Christian figures, an action of the upmost disrespect to the Hindu religion. The aforementioned acts show the couple has lost all connections with their heritage and will fully appropriate American values.

Works Cited

Lahiri, Jhumpa. "This Blessed House." Interpreter of Maladies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. 136-157. Print.

Bandyopadhyay Summary

      Bandyopadhyay assesses the difficulty of safeguarding the Indian Culture when facing contradicting norms, in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, and The Namesake. Specifically the journal looks at the short stories: “A Temporary Matter”, “This Blessed House”, “A Real Durwan”, “Interpreter of Maladies”, and “Sexy”, to complete the aforementioned task. The article also utilizes research on Lahiri’s short stories to carry out the analysis.

            The first question that characters face when dealing with paradoxical traditions is if to adhere to their own beliefs, or those of the nation they reside in, Bandyopadhyay reasons. This can be seen in The Namesake where Ashima and her children Gogol and Sonali chose to react differently to the American lifestyle and culture. Edward Said notes that such reaction to different cultures is brought about by “multiculturalism”. He argues that Lahiri’s characters are torn between their homeland Indian heritage and that of the USA, which leads both heritages to coexist in their life. Mishra argues that coexistence occurs as characters desire for their homeland, which leads to search for information on it, as is the case in “When MR. Pirzada Came to Dine” where Mr.Pizarda watches the news to hear about his homeland. Together with Lilia’s parents, they yearn to be in their homeland, however they also have to embrace US celebrations for Lilia, such as Halloween, hence both cultures coexist. Bandyopadhyay also argues that Lahiri’s texts portray the differences in life style from the third world and the first world. For example, in “A Real Durwan” Boorima is suffering from hunger, while Shoba buys an extreme amount of food.  Additionally her works also portray the developing nature of the Indian female and male, in comparison to the second generation Indian female and male. Their roles start to develop into things the other would have never done. For example, the male cooks and the woman, Shoba, is able to drive in one story, however in another the female, Ashima, is ignorant of how to many activities which she are new to her such as depositing a check at the bank. Furthermore, the author highlights that Lahiri’s work presents the difficulty and identity crisis, a second generation Indian develops in American society that belittles their Indian heritage, such as Gogol.

            The author concludes that Lahiri’s protagonists characterize a yearning for their homeland. Despite their involvement with the American culture, the characters portray a sense of duty and responsibility inherent of Indian values. Ultimately they will appropriate their Indian homeland and standards, yet will occupy a space between multiple cultures. 

“When Mr. Pirzarda Came to Dine” Analysis

         Throughout this story Lahiri presents a fictional family who depicts the real world implications of living in a new society without letting their cultural values and traditions fade. Such motif highlights the characters self-identity crisis. Lilia’s family and Mr. Pirzada attempt to safeguard their identity by resorting to obtaining information of their native countries, and eating traditional dishes.

            The family’s struggle with the preservation of their cultural identity is mainly portrayed through Lilia and the education she receives. For example the author notes, “ ‘Is this book a part of your report, Lilia?’ ‘No, Mrs, Kenyon.’ ‘Then I see no reason to consult it,’ she said, replacing it in the slim gap on the shelf, ‘Do you?’ “(Lahiri, 33). In the new culture they reside in, the Pakistani-Indian conflict was of no relevance. The teachers focused on indoctrinating the students with the history of America, nothing else was important. When the history of their ethnic background isn’t taught to an individual they will forget it. For this reason, Lilia has to research her country’s information by herself, and her parents have to watch the news to be close to home. The family also protects their cultural identity by engaging in a special form of eating and dining. For example when the author writes, “After the television was shut off, and the dishes washed and dried, they joked and told stories, and dipped biscuits in their tea” (Lahiri,34). To the protagonists, eating is a form of connecting with their heritage, forgetting about their problems and the cruelty of being away from home. To Lilia’s family and Mr. Pirzada dining was reminiscent of their home country, as they ate traditional foods, and engaged in activities with people of a similar background. As seen through the actions of her characters, Lahiri’s literature is thematically influence by the struggle of maintaining one’s culture upon adversity. 

Lahiri, Jhumpa. "When MR. Pirzada Came To Dine." Interpreter of Maladies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. 23-42. Print.