Indian-American Identity

819 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of culture on identity

“Like many immigrant offspring I felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new, approved of on either side of the hyphen” (Lahiri, My Two lives). Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer Prize winner, describes herself as Indian-American, where she feels she is neither an Indian nor an American. Lahiri feels alienated by struggling to live two lives by maintaining two distinct cultures. Lahiri’s most of the work is recognized in the USA rather than in India where she is descents from (the guardian.com). Lahiri’s character’s, themes, and imagery in her short stories and novels describes the cultural differences of being Indian American and how Indian’s maintain their identity when moved to a new world. Lahiri’s inability to feel accepted within her home, inability to be fully American, being an Indian-American, and the difference between families with same culture which is reflected in one of her short stories “Once in a Lifetime” through characterization and imagery. Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri, an Indian by descent, was born in London in August 1967, to a Bengali immigrant Indian parents. “Jhumpa” is the nickname easier for the teachers remember his name. The Lahiri family moved from England to Rhode Island when Jhumpa was two years old. Her father was a librarian at Rhode Island University and her mother was a school teacher. At age of seven, Lahiri started to embrace writing about what she saw and felt. While growing up, Lahiri lived two lives: An Indian at home and An American outside of the home. Despite of living most of their life in the western world, Lahiri’s parents called “Calcutta” their home unlike Lahiri who thought Rhode Island as her hometown. Lahiri always felt her family had a different li... ... middle of paper ... ...is an American by virtue but Indian due to her parent’s upbringing. That is the reason why she is referred to being an Indian-American author which she has embraced. Due to the fact Bengali marries within their caste, Lahiri married a Latin American Journalist Alberto Vourvoulias and have two sons, Octivian and Noor. After getting married, Lahiri does not feel the need to be shy about speaking in Bengali or any other language. Currently residing in Rome with her family to feel how immigrants adapt to change and to go experience what her characters and parents do in her short stories. Through writing, Lahiri has discovered the fact she belongs to both the worlds and the generations of Indian-American immigrants will change and bring intense joy. "It has been liberating and brought me some peace to just confront that truth, if not to be able to solve it or answer it.”

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter Of Maladies

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    “We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ones who wanted a better life” said former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Since its establishment, the United States has grown through immigration, lending to a multicultural society. However, immigration and its government policies have become of great public interest due to illegal immigration at the Mexican border and violent events in the Middle East. For this reason it seems sensible to investigate the lives of immigrants so that U.S. citizens may take a stance on this disputed topic. Regardless of their origins, whether they are from Latin America, Asia, or anywhere else, immigrants seem to encounter similar endeavors. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, the author depicts the immigration of Indian citizens to the United States. Noting various matters ranging from motives to the cultural identity crisis, Lahiri exposes the struggles and ramifications of American immigration. The collection elucidates the lives of first and second generation

    Read More

  • The Treatment Of Bibi Haldar Sparknotes

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies traces the lives of Bengali people, mostly immigrants, living their lives with the hardships that they face. In the eighth story, “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”, the wives of a village tell of Bibi Haldar, a young woman put into the most unfortunate of circumstances. The ailment she suffers from, the lack of a loving home, her disgraced ending, and, most of all, the ability to become victorious through these hardships makes Bibi the most sympathetic character in Lahiri’s short story collection.

    Read More

  • Second-Generation Immigration: Finding a Balance between Two Cultures

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lahiri, a second-generation immigrant, endures the difficulty of living in the middle of her hyphenated label “Indian-American”, whereas she will never fully feel Indian nor fully American, her identity is the combination of her attributes, everything in between.

    Read More

  • The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alexie, Sherman. The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2007. Print.

    Read More

  • Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her tasteful selection of contemporary Indian influenced prose pieces, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the unique journey of Indian families established in America. Focusing on the intergenerational aspect of traditional households, Lahiri conveys the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies a person who is branded as a foreigner. In America, there exists a common misconception that immigrants who arrive in this country fully assimilate or seek to assimilate as time progresses. The category I chose was "The Dot of true Happiness." The dot which signifies the bindi, a traditional red mark worn by Indian people, is the source of true happiness among these immigrants.

    Read More

  • Interpreter Of Maladies

    2026 Words  | 5 Pages

    Jhumpa Lahiri is widely recognized as a Bengali-American author whose stories are focused on the Bengali/Indian immigrant experience. With her literary debut, she wins the 1999 O. Henry Award and the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1). “Interpreter of Maladies” is a short fiction story about the modern Indian Americans visiting India, which is considered a foreign country to them. Lahiri compellingly demonstrates that all types of relationships are unique and dependent on the efforts and communication of the individuals, which leads to misunderstanding between, couples and even failed relationships or marriages. The author has utilized the lack of communication

    Read More

  • Gertrude Simmons Bonnin Chapter Summary

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Originally, an American identity to the margins of society signified an opportunity to acquire a better life. In Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, or Zitkala-Sa (Red bird), story, Impressions of an Indian Childhood, she yearned for the land of red apples at a young age. The land of red apples represented a life of happiness, liberty, equality, but most importantly hope. To Zitkala-Sa’s imagination, asserting an American identity was something she favored. However, upon arrival, that was changed and she was stripped of her individuality. While she was stripped of her identity, a “white man’s” education gave Zitkala-Sa an opportunity to be a storyteller, expressing how she comes of age and asserts an American Indian identity.

    Read More

  • Jhumpa Lahiri's Short Story 'A Temporary Matter'

    1647 Words  | 4 Pages

    This fully narrated by the ten years old girl Lilia who belongs to the second generation of immigrants lives with her parents in Boston. This story seems to be an autobiographical; it reminds Lahiri’s own life. Throughout the eyes of Lilia, the reader could understand the experiences of the life of Indians in the host country.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Jhumpa Lahiri And The Next Big Story

    2067 Words  | 5 Pages

    From a young age, writing become a big part of who she is, since it was the only way she could express her feelings without really speaking. Lahiri expresses when she says, “My reading was my mirror, and my material; I saw no other part of myself” (4). She is describing how writing really made her feel like a different person, did not have to worry about the two cultures she had to switch around, follow a certain tradition of which to write, and could write express her thoughts without a problem. Her tools, desk, everything she used to do here writing became a part of who she was because she had never made any other connections with anything else. She is now showing what it meant, “When I became a writer my desk became home; there was no need for another” (Lahiri 6). While Lahiri had trouble identifying her identity, she did not know what was really her home. She struggled to find a place that she could be happy to call “home,” and was able to find that when she started to explore and expand her writing. When Lahiri said “I belonged to my work” (6), she was describing the passion she had found within the work she was achieving. Even though, her parents did not think she could make a living from her writing, which she did by publishing her book back in 1999. The different

    Read More

  • Native American Identity Essay

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    American identity is unique, there is no other country in the world that can claim the same identity that Americans’ possess. An Identity that developed from the early colonization of America through until the middle of the eighteenth century. Since I was born and raised in Canada, it is easy for me to recognize American unique identity that exist even today. To answer the question, how did the process of colonization create an American identity in the middle of the eighteenth century? The answer is in the American unique cultural, religious, and social identity, their military fighting styles, and their commerce or economy.

    Read More

  • My Two Lives by Jhumpa Lahiri

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    In “My Two Lives” Jhumpa Lahiri talks about her hardship growing up in America coming from two different cultures. At home she spoke Bengali with her parents, ate with her hands. According to Jhumpa’s parents she was not American and would never be. This led her to become ashamed of her background. She felt like she did not have to hide her culture anymore. When Jhumpa got married in Calcutta she invited her American friends that never visited India. Jhumpa thought her friends would judge from being part of the Indian culture and isolate her.However her friends were intrigued by her culture and fascinated. She felt like her culture should not be hidden from her friends anymore, and that coming from an Indian-American culture is unique. Jhumpa believes that her upbringing is the reason why she is still involved with her Bengali culture. Jhumpa says“While I am American by virtue of the fact that I was raised in this country, I am Indian thanks to the efforts of two individuals.” Jhumpa means that she is Indian, because she lived most of her life and was raised here. In the story Lahiri explains that her parents shaped her into the person she is. Growing up coming from two different cultures can be difficult, but it can also be beneficial.

    Read More

  • American Identity

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    The identity of one’s nation is what makes that nation unique. American Identity has no set of unique traits because every nation influences America is some way. That is why America is called the “Big Melting Pot”. There were many American writers that tried to make a sense of American Identity. Washington Irving was one of these authors. He wrote stories such as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” and used unusual characters to spread American ideals. He also used his stories to emphasize the idea of American democracy. Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political thinker and historian, also wrote of American Identity when he traveled to America. He published this book as Democracy in America. These authors have given us a sense of what our American identity is. American Identity, according to Washington Irving and Alexis de Tocqueville, is the idea of individualism, materialism, and exceptionalism.

    Read More

  • American Identity

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    American identity has been created by many events throughout the course of history. This country was founded on the clashing and mixing of many different cultures and lifestyles. One of the most important periods of time for this country was during the period of conflict between Americans and Native Americans over land rights. Americans had an idea of manifest destiny and that this land was theirs for the taking. The Americans were going to walk through anyone who opposed them in this quest for land. The treatment of the Indians during this time period was harsh, cruel, and violent to say the least. It is in this treatment that Americans came to view the Indians as a ?racialized other? and where race began to matter. This early thinking is what created our American identity which is based on race.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Two Ways To Belong In America By Bharati Mukherjee

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bharati Mukherjee’s story, “Two Ways to Belong in America”, is about two sisters from India who later came to America in search of different ambitions. Growing up they were very similar in their looks and their beliefs, but they have contrasting views on immigration and citizenship. Both girls had been living in the United States for 35 years and only one sister had her citizenship. Bharati decided not to follow Indian traditional values and she married outside of her culture. She had no desire to continue worshipping her culture from her childhood, so she became a United States citizen. Her ideal life goal was to stay in America and transform her life. Mira, on the other hand, married an Indian student and they both earned labor certifications that was crucial for a green card. She wanted to move back to India after retirement because that is where her heart belonged. The author’s tone fluctuates throughout the story. At the beginning of the story her tone is pitiful but then it becomes sympathizing and understanding. She makes it known that she highly disagrees with her sister’s viewpoints but she is still considerate and explains her sister’s thought process. While comparing the two perspectives, the author uses many

    Read More

  • Asian American Identity

    1632 Words  | 4 Pages

    Yamamoto, who is also a poet, takes a more assertive and personal stance in her

    Read More

More about Indian-American Identity

Open Document