Pirzada Came To Dine

Culture strongly affects one's viewpoint on others, and on the world too. I truly believe my claim is correct, simply because I can support it with a variety of sources. The sources come from three different texts, two from Interpreter of Maladies, a great book that contains many short stories, written by Jhumpa Lahiri. The other from from the world-renowned, Springboard . The three stories, “When Mr.Pirzada Came to Dine”, “This Blessed House”, and “Two Kinds”, contain many great examples that that most definitely support the claim.

The first piece of evidence can be located in the short story, “When Mr.Pirzada Came to Dine”, and it mainly has to do with acquaintances. The story is about a ten year-old girl named Lilia. She’s the narrator,

The story consists of two main characters, Sanjeev and Twinkle. There’s Sanjeev, an annoyed, irritated, overall close-minded person. Then there’s Twinkle, a curious, amused, overall out-going person. They don’t share too many characteristics but ironically, they’re married. It all starts when Twinkle finds a little statue of Jesus. The statue is cool and all, but the problem is that Sanjeev and Twinkle aren’t Christian. Twinkle continues to find these Christian figurines around the house and she starts to get curious as to what the story is behind them. Then there’s Sanjeev, who really can’t stand them, and it’s noticeable when he says, “We should call the Realtor. Tell him there’s all this nonsense left behind. Tell him to take it away” (Lahiri, Page. 138). Twinkle lets the figurines get the best of her and as a result the strong bond within the relationship starts to deteriorate. Besides that, this is a great example of how culture affects one’s views because the exposure of a new culture definitely changed her viewpoint, simply because it broadened her perspective on the different cultures around the world, as opposed to her one Hindu