Penn State Deluge - Vol. 2 No. 1 - Spring 2004

Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, her debut collection of short stories, has met with critical success. In addition to rave reviews in publications such as The New York Times and The New Yorker, this work has also won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, The New Yorker Debut of the Year Award, and the O. Henry Award for Best American Short Stories.

In Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri examines a multitude of relationships, each story chronicling the mundane and extraordinary events in the lives of her characters. These characters are lovers, neighbors, family, and friends; they are also first-generation Indian-Americans, Indian immigrants, and natives of India, whose lives, whether in their homeland or elsewhere, clearly reflect their cultural duality. Some of Lahiri's characters face marital strife and infidelity; others find love and hope in their relationships; still others long for family, love, and their homeland. On some level, however, all of these characters understand and respond to the feelings of exile, displacement, marginality, and loss. Lahiri is well equipped to write about such topics. Born in London to Bengali parents, Lahiri moved to Rhode Island when she was a teenager. Her ties to India, England, and the United States provide her with three "homes" and, paradoxically, also leave her with a sense of "homelessness." At a press conference, Lahiri explains, "No country is my motherland. I always find myself in exile in whichever country I travel to. That's why I was tempted to write something about those living their lives in exile" (Jawaid).

In her effort to chronicle her journey through cultural awareness, Lahiri crafts several of her stories around food. While the narratives and struggles of her characters span a wide range of issues, food preparation is the backdrop against which her stories unfold—the kitchen is a frequent setting—and food helps facilitate the reader's understanding of the host of emotions that her characters experience.

On a basic level, the use of food allows Lahiri to gently ease her reader into the lives and minds of her characters. In examining the subtle changes that accompany a person's life experiences, food seems an appropriate metaphor to record the small yet significant epiphanies of Lahiri's characters. Furthermore, the rituals of food and food preparation provide a steady pace that moves the stories along while offering analysis into the characters' development amidst changing patterns of daily life. Clarifying these rituals and revealing the complexities of her characters allows Lahiri to explore the overarching theme of dual cultural identity, which recurs throughout the stories. Her characters, whether consciously or unconsciously, struggle with their conflicting Indian and American identities. Lahiri poses the question of whether or not these two identities can coexist, whether one can participate fully in American society while maintaining a part of his/her Indian heritage. Lahiri suggests that retaining both cultures is not only a possibility but a necessity. Indeed, the characters with the healthiest relationships strike a balance between the two cultures while her unhappiest characters attach themselves too firmly to one or the other.

Food is an important aspect of her tales; however, the degree to which food aids in the discussion of the theme of identity varies from story to story. In six of the stories, "A Temporary Matter," "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," "Interpreter of Maladies," "Mrs. Sen's," "This Blessed House," and "The Third and Final Continent," food plays a major role in examining characters and their interpersonal relationships. "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" and "A Real Durwan," on the other hand, use food in a less direct way. Finally, "Sexy" is the one story in which food is not an essential element in resolving conflicting cultural loyalties. A brief description of each story is provided in the appendix for readers who have not read Interpreter of Maladies.

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[ Contents | Absract | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | Works Cited | Appendix ]

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