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Hannah Chu

Mr. Schott

AP English Literature

1 June 2015

Soothsayer Jhumpa Lahiri: Oracles of Interracial Divorce

Sometimes I think there’s an author rulebook somewhere with rules that all

authors abide by. “Rule forty: Don’t write about mundane things unless it’s a biography

of a famous person, i.e. Kim Kardashian; Rule three fifty-five: Don’t write about cancer

or any devastating disease unless it’s the overarching storyline.” Of course, this rulebook

doesn’t exist but if it did, Jhumpa Lahiri breaks all the rules. In her short stories, she

represents interracial relationships with raw emotion. Lahiri destroys families, rips lovers

apart, and murders her characters in order to represent the difficulty and fragility of

interracial relationships. However, some people find her melancholic writing to be boring

and overrated.

In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri compiles eight short stories that deal with family,

separation, heartbreak, and love. The plots of all these stories contain motifs such as

academic expectations and language barriers which all connect to the cultural differences

of Bengali-American immigrants. However, all the experiences end in broken

relationships due to cultural differences. The most refreshing part of the compilation of

stories is that there is no overwhelming drama or fantastical, unbelievable storyline in any

of the stories. As Kachka states in his author review in his New York Magazine article,

Lahiri’s stories “never quite crosses over into the sentimental.” They’re simply tales of

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imperfection and shattered relationships which is so real that it seems as if you’re reading

the autobiography of a character.

In the short story homonymous with the book, Unaccustomed Earth, an

omniscient narrator tells the story of the two main characters, Ruma and her nameless

father in third person. The narrator switches between the viewpoint of Ruma and her

father with every couple of paragraphs. Although it seems to focus on the gradual

recovery of a relationship between a daughter and father, there is an underlying story of a

daughter who feels abandoned by her father and a father who feels abandoned by his

daughter. This abandonment started with the death of Ruma’s mother however, her death

is also what eventually brings the pair back into each other’s life again.

Ruma’s father is constantly compared to her mother, but Ruma slowly starts to

appreciate her father more. As she awaits her second child, her father’s presence eases the

tensions between her and her son as well as between her and her White husband. The

deterioration of her relationship with her husband brings her closer to her father,

signaling that relationships between two different cultures are difficult and tend to shatter

in the end. The mended father-daughter relationship proves to Ruma that “a utopia…

could be anywhere or nowhere” (Schillinger) because her father will always a familiar

comfort no matter where she ends up.

In the following short story, Hell-Heaven, a similar ending reinforces the idea of

the inevitable failure of an interracial relationship. The growing love of a married

Bengali-American mother is told through the eyes of her daughter who is determined to

become “more American” (Lahiri 73). Pranab, the man the mother falls in love with is

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her age but he falls in love with a White woman, Deborah. Deborah is the epitome of an

American. She has barbecues, lives in a “white” neighborhood, and has blonde hair with

blue eyes. However, after being with Pranab, she attempts to learn Bengali and be part of

the family.

The more Deborah tries to blend in, the more the mother feels threatened. She

tells her friends that “she [Deborah] will leave him” (72). This prediction reveals her true

intentions and her disappointment in Pranab. The daughter remained oblivious to her

mother’s feelings toward Pranab in her youth however, she reflects on her ignorance

claiming Pranab was the only one to bring her “pure happiness” (67). After twenty-four

years of marriage, the mother’s prediction comes true, but it’s Pranab who leaves

Deborah for another Bengali woman.

The long period of time between the marriage and divorce of Pranab and Deborah

shows the gradual but unavoidable problems of unions between two different cultures.

Although it’s never explicitly stated, it’s obvious that the reason Pranab strayed was

because of the culture. Pranab craved his home country’s food, traditions, and beliefs.

Pranab wanted to be with someone who shared the same culture just as the mother

wanted. Did she fall in love with Pranab because of his heart or because she needed

someone similar to her to care for her? Regardless of the reason, the moral of this story is

that we all crave those who share the same beliefs and traditions no matter how long it

takes us to realize it.

Following Hell-Heaven, A Choice of Accommodations emphasizes the issue not

only of cultural disparity but also of class disparity. Amit grew up as a wealthy, boarding

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school, Bengali-American. He’s married to a White, lower-middle class woman, Megan.

They have kids who they finally escape from on a three day trip to Amit’s former love’s

wedding. During this trip, Amit explores the residual feelings he has for Pam, his former

love, and is confused as to whether he is really compatible with Megan. Although there is

no explicit cultural dissonance, Amit clearly feels resentment toward his own children

who “appear fully American” and have only “vaguely Indian names” (Lahiri 94). This

resentment reflects his yearning for his culture, something he realizes in the end he’ll

probably never obtain. This story concludes with Amit and Megan resorting to sex to feel

something for each other again, essentially stripping Amit of his culture in order for him

to feel a moment of happiness.

In Nobody’s Business, we see something a little bit different. Sang, a Bengali-

American woman is being pursued by many men. One of them is her White housemate,

Paul. She rejects all her suitors because she’s hiding her lover, Farouk, from her family.

Although Farouk is also Bengali-Egyptian, Sang feels the need to hide his identity

because he hasn’t proposed to her yet. Sang disappears days at a time and the story, told

from Paul’s point of view by a third-person narrator, revolves around Paul’s slight

obsession with Sang’s suitors. He picks up the phone for her, watches her as she just

hangs out in the house, and listens to things going on in her room.

Once Farouk’s ploy of dating multiple women simultaneously is exposed, Sang

goes mad. Paul watches as she becomes a woman who resembles a slave who has

Stockholm syndrome and eventually knocks out Farouk for her sake. However, Sang

blames herself for all the pain she didn’t deserve. Paul is abandoned by his housemate

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and feels a sense of emptiness. No matter what Paul did to show Sang his love for her,

she would never choose him because she needed someone who shared the same culture.

Paul must accept that they would never work out as a couple because he will never be

what she wants - Bengali.

All these stories of heartbreak and divorce are obviously depressing, but Lahiri

incorporates a nostalgic voice which almost forces readers to accept the tragic

conclusions. While I have thoroughly enjoyed every story told in Unaccustomed Earth,

there are many critics of not only this book, but Lahiri as an author.

Freelance writer, Anya Yurchyshyn claims Lahiri is “overrated, boring.” She

believes that although Lahiri’s stories, “ are beautifully written, they are ultimately

unremarkable.” While I agree that her stories are generally “unremarkable” (Yurchyshyn)

it’s the unremarkable-ness that makes her stories so enticing and relatable. Who wants to

read about an immigrant who comes to the States, strikes gold, becomes a billionaire, and

lives a lavish life? Although that may seem like an interesting storyline, it’s completely

unimaginable. It’s a dream of ours but it’s not probably going to happen. The raw stories

that Lahiri writes just tell it like it is. It’s hard being an immigrant. It’s hard falling in love

with someone from a different culture. It’s hard to make life work out when you start out

with nothing. Although the depressing stories may not encourage people and promote

optimism, they certainly comfort those who have shared those feelings of loneliness and

pain.

Yurchyshyn also compares Lahiri’s writings to Junot Diaz’s stories of Latin-

Americans. “Diaz's fiction comes at you like a storm surge, requiring preparation and

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interaction. His narratives are provided in fragments, out of chronological order, and in

both English and Spanish” (Yurchyshyn), but does that mean Díaz’s writing is that much

better than Lahiri’s? While both authors are at the forefronts of immigrant literature, I

don’t believe they can be grouped into the same category. Having read Díaz’s This is

How You Lose Her, I believe the two authors take completely different approaches to

sharing an immigrant’s experience in the States. Díaz uses vulgar language, violence, and

language to absorb readers into his character’s lives while Lahiri uses heart-wrenching,

loss and love to absorb readers into her character’s lives.

Comparing Díaz to Lahiri is also a bit sexist. Díaz as a male writes much more

explicitly, easily writing with blunt descriptions of sex, drugs, and women. Lahiri as a

woman tends to use much more emotive and sensitive words to describe sensual and out

of body experiences. Yurchyshyn’s decision to prefer Díaz over Lahiri says something

about her unwillingness to accept her fellow female writer’s decision to be less explicit.

This makes her opinion a bit unreliable. Neither author is necessarily better than the

other. It’s in the hands of the reader, whether he or she likes the blatant nature of Diaz’s

works or the painful emotion of Lahiri’s works. Yurchyshyn obviously prefers her stories

to be blunt and explicit and written by a man.

Unfortunately short story author, Rohin Guha takes a similar point of view as

Yurchyshyn. He wrote an open letter to Lahiri explaining his transition from enjoying her

works to feeling disdain for it. Similarly to me, Guha wanted to defend Lahiri because

“he couldn't bring himself to believe that what he'd read as restraint was just laziness.”

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He switched his position because he thought that Yurchyshyn was right. After Interpreter

of Maladies, Lahiri became lazy with coming up with provocative plots.

I read Interpreter of Maladies after I finished Unaccustomed Earth. I felt that

Interpreter of Maladies was actually quite boring compared to Unaccustomed Earth.

Maladies focused too much on the individual character’s story. I appreciate Lahiri’s

simple writing about everyday occurrences but I expect there to be some consistency and

flow from story to story in a book. Earth did that perfectly by focusing on the interracial

aspect of relationships and families while Maladies was jumping from topic to topic with

no fluidity. Guha is easily swayed by one article, completely changing his opinion of

Lahiri after one article.

Lahiri beautifully portrays the difficulties of interracial relationships in the

twenty-first century. Being in an interracial relationship myself, I understand the

struggles her characters go through, knowing that no matter what you do, you can’t

change your history. Perhaps it’s because I have such a personal connection to her and her

characters, being a first-generation immigrant myself with parents who weren’t born here,

her stories are a must-read for anyone. The evocative emotions she provokes and

engaging plots will be sure to make any reader’s eyes well up from a flood of bitter and

heart-wrenching emotions.

!!!!

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Works Cited

Díaz, Junot. This Is How You Lose Her. New York City: Riverhead Books, 2012. Print.

Guha, Rohin. “An Open letter to Jhumpa Lahiri from a Young Writer.” Capital NY. 10

Jan. 2011. Web. 2 June 2015.

Kachka, Boris.”The Confident Artist.” NY Magazine. 31 Mar. 2008. Web. 2 June 2015.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth. New York City: Vintage Books, 2008. Print

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpretor of Maladies. New York City: Mariner Books, 1999. Print

Schillinger, Liesl. “American Children.” The New York Times. 6 Apr. 2008. Web. 2 June

2015.

Yurchyshyn, Anya. “Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Jhumpa Lahiri Is Overrated, Boring.”

Esquire. Hearst Communcations, Inc. 24 June 2008. Web. 2 June 2015.