“Female Subjects and Negotiating Identities in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies”

    In “Female Subjects and Negotiating Identities in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies” by Bahareh Bahmanpour, the author talks about several stories from the book Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Bahmanpour focuses on the female protagonists of the stories rather than the males. The author seeks to find out why Lahiri projects woman in her writing the way she does. Bahmanpour shows the differences between each character and the similarities as well. Bahmanpour separates each story and then talks about it and why it’s significant and how each woman is portrayed in each of the stories. This is helpful because it gives a deeper sense of what Lahiri is trying to say about Indian woman. The readers can get a better sense of the purpose of each story.

"This Blessed House"

    The short story “This Blessed House” by Jhumpa Lahiri is about a newly married couple. They are settling into their new home when Twinkle, the wife, starts finding different Christian objects of worship. Sanjeev, the husband, finds himself to hate these artifacts because “[they’re] not Christian,” (137).
     I find Twinkle to be a very interesting character. At the beginning of the story, she seems to be very obedient, in some sort. She just goes along with whatever Sanjeev says and doesn’t put up much of a fight. Then, when Sanjeev tells her that he’s going to throw the Virgin Mary they found in the yard away, Twinkle finally stands up to him and wins. I think this is significant because Sanjeev realizes that Twinkle will stand up for something she believes in and that he can’t just control her.
    I also found Twinkle very interesting because of her fondness of these Christian objects. She curious about them but she’s also grown a bit attached to the collection of them. To me, it kind of seems as though she doesn’t really care much about her own religion. When Sanjeev points out to her that they are not Christian, she replies to him, “We’re good little Hindus,” (137). This sarcastic comment, to me, showed that Twinkle may not really take her religion serious. I just found it fascinating because Hindus are usually very devout and all about their religion and culture.

Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction

In Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction by Debarati Bandyopadhyay, the author talks about different works of Jhumpa Lahiri and how cultural borders are a main theme in her writing. Bandyopadhyay explains that Lahiri refers to the differences between India and America and their cultures, of course. In the beginning, Bandyopadhyay gives a brief history of Lahiri’s achievements and then she continues by giving a short description of what she’s going to address. In this case, Bandyopadhyay talks about “culture as a homogenization of the good…”(97). Bandyopadhyay also mentions different works of Lahiri’s and how they all seem to follow the same theme. Then, Bandyopadhyay describes all the different situations of cultural borders that Lahiri’s characters face throughout her work. I think this article will help me understand Lahiri’s book more because I now know what the purpose was for the book and what the author is trying to say. Bandyopadhyay states that “[Lahiri] occupies [a] privileged space in-between two countries, two continents, two cultures, and this multiplicity of perspectives…” (108) which shows that Lahiri uses what she knows most and it works for her writing.


Bandyopadhyay, Debarati. “Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction.” Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies 7.1 (2009): 98-108. Web.

Lahiri, When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine

I found “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” by Jhumpa Lahiri to be an interesting story. It’s about a little girl, Lilia, and her parents who invite Mr. Pirzada over for dinner every night. Lilia and her family are Indian and even though Mr. Pirzada is from a different place then them, Lilia doesn’t quite understand how he is different from them, as her father says he is. Lilia is the most interesting character to me. She’s an American and she just doesn’t understand how physical borders can affect someone. Every night when Mr. Pirzada goes over to Lilia’s house, he and her father watch the news and her father makes Lilia watch it with them. She isn’t aware of all the bad going on in the world until then. While Lilia is learning about the American Revolution and celebrating Halloween, Pakistan is about to go to war. In America, the bad in the world is seemed to be hidden from the children. When Lilia and her friend are in the library working on a report, she decides to look up a book about Pakistan and when her teacher finds her reading this, she seems quite upset, like she didn’t want Lilia knowing things about a whole different world. These two borders and cultures prove to be more different than Lilia could ever know.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1999. Print.

Nineteen Thirty Seven

In Nineteen Thirty Seven by Edwidge Danticat tells a story about a mother and a daughter going through a rough time. The mother, Manman, is in prison because she is suspected of being some kind of witch and criminal (Danticat 39). The daughter, Josephine, goes to visit her mother about once a week and tells about their past. Throughout the story, Josephine takes her mother the Madonna, a little statue that means a lot to the both of them. I found the Madonna to be very interesting because it seems to play a big role of both of these characters lives. Josephine takes the Madonna to her mother everytime she visits her and every time, Manman holds it close to her chest for the entire time Josephine is there. Another reason it seemed important was because when the lady visits Josephine to tell her of her mothers death, one of the questions that is asked to the woman is about the Madonna which indicates that the woman who visited the river along with Manman and Josephine know about it as well. To me, I think the Madonna symbolizes hope and safety to Manman. When Manman knows that she is dying, the last visit that Josephine makes to the prison, she tells her daughter to keep the Madonna “when [she is] completely gone” because she believes that “maybe [Josephine] will have someone to take [her] place” (Danticat 43). Manman is depending on the Madonna to watch over Josephine when she’s gone and to keep her safe as well. I found it very interesting that it would be and item of religious worth. I think even though the Haitian woman were treated poorly, they still found a way to believe in something other than reality, something good. 

Danticat, Edwidge. Krik? Krak!. NY: Vintage Books, 1995. 31-49. Print.

Landscape, Memory and Survival in the Fiction

    In “Landscape, Memory and Survival in the Fiction of Edwidge Danticat,” Elvira Pulitano talks about an assortment of writings by Edwidge Danticat and what each writing represents. Pulitano explains that most of Danticat’s writing is about the trials and horrendous experiences on the islands. Danticat also focuses a lot on her home, Haiti, in her writing as well. Danticat talks about all the horrible things that Haitians have had to endure throughout the years. Pulitano uses many different stories by Danticat and other Haitian authors to explain the ideas of borders and how they affect the people who live on them. I think by reading this journal, I will better understand Danticat’s Krik? Krak! because now I have a better understanding of Danticat and the ideas that encompass her writings. Pulitano references on story from Krik? Krak! in particular, Nineteen Thirty-Seven. It talks about the events that happen in the story and how these events affect the protagonist and her view of “history”. By reading this, I will be able to fully comprehend what the author was trying to say in Nineteen Thirty- Seven and the message she was trying to convey. Throughout the article, readers gain a better understanding of Danticat and why she writes about what she does.


Pulitano, Elvira. “Landscape, Memory and Survival in the Fiction of Edwidge Danticat.” Anthurium:  A Caribbean Studies Journal 6.2 (2008): 1-20. Web.

"Toughest Indian In the World"

“The Toughest Indian in the World” by Sherman Alexie, the author uses metaphors such as salmon and the “toughest indian in the world” (29). Alexie uses the salmon when the narrator is talking about his dad. He says that his “father never taught [him] about hope” (21). I think what the narrator’s father was trying to say was that they can’t show hope because that makes them vulnerable if they are let down.  It’s better to be tough and strong than emotionally weak. That’s where the “toughest indian in the world” comes in because even though the author uses the phrase to describe the actual fighters, I think the narrator could very well be “the toughest indian in the world” because he was taught to not be emotionally fragile. He was always taught that he had to be tougher than the white men in the white world he lives in. He learned, from his father, “to be silent in the presence of white people” because they wanted them just to go away (22). I think the whole story has to do with the fact that the Indians live in a white world where they have to assimilate to white customs. The whole point of the story is that the narrator feels lost in the white world. At the end, when he “[traveled] upriver toward the place where [he] was born…”, he’s finding his way back to his culture (34).

Alexie, Sherman. The Toughest Indian in the World. First Edition. New York: Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 2000. 21-34. Print.