Jhumpa Lahiri's Hell-Heaven

Changes: Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Hell-Heaven”
When families immigrate to America, they bring with them all their traditions, adults who immigrate usually stay true to their roots. However when young children are involved, the adults must accept that their children will become Americanized. But, there is more to the story “Hell- Heaven” than that which Jhumpa Lahiri illustrates. “Hell-Heaven,” is a story about a Bengali family who have immigrated to America, the story is told from the perspective of Usha, the only child of Aparna and Shyamal. Through Usha’s point of view we gain insight into all the character’s struggles and how they change throughout the story and the difference beginning to end is immaculate.
Pranab Chakraborty, also a Bengali

After their first dinner together, “he showed up for dinner almost every night, occupying the fourth chair at our square Formica kitchen table, and becoming a part of our family in practice as well as in name” (623). Pranab always left some part of himself, “...soon it was there he went between classes and on his days off, always leaving behind some vestige of himself: a nearly finished pack of cigarettes, a newspaper, a piece of mail he had not bothered to open, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper, a piece of mail he had not bothered to open, a sweater he had taken off and forgotten in the course of his stay” (623). This ‘vestige’ can also be looked at metaphorically, since he teaches Usha many things she doesn’t know because she came to America at such a young age and he gives Aparna something to look forward to: “Pranab Kaku’s visits were what my mother looked forward to all day, that she planned, days in advance, the snacks she would serve him with such nonchalance” (624). Pranab doesn’t just leave materialistic objects every now and then, he leaves his ideas and teachings for Usha to ponder and he brings a sense of purpose to Aparna; something she is lacking in her marriage with

In the little time Pranab was in America his appearance changes, Usha’s mom commented that he looked American. “ He had a striking face, with a high forehead and a thick mustache, and overgrown , untamed hair that my mother said made him look like the American hippies who were everywhere in those days” (623). As the story progresses even further, Pranab kaku meets a student at Radcliffe named Deborah, an American. “She began to accompany him to our house...for awhile Pranab Kaku still showed up once a week for dinner on his own” (627). Pranab and Deborah get married, he disobeys his parents and their culture. Aparna resents Deborah,”it was universally agreed that she had stripped Pranab Kaku not only of his independence. She was the enemy, he was her prey, and their example was invoked as a warning, and as vindication, that mixed marriages were a doomed enterprise” (631). Aparna is heartbroken and we later find out that she attempted suicide. Deborah and Pranab also have two children, Usha realizes how different her life is compared to other children. “their two identical little girls who barely looked Bengali and spoke only English and were being raised so different from me...they were not taken to Calcutta every summer, they did not have parents who were clinging to another way of life and exhorting their children to do the same. Because of Deborah, they