Krak ! By Jhumpa Lahiri: A Literary Analysis

The short story cycle is the idea that stories can be independent yet interdependent through common standards and themes. This remains the case in both the novels Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat and Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri as they connect stories such as “A Wall of Fire Rising”, “Children of the Sea”, “Mrs. Sen’s”, and “Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” through accentuation of setting and denial of loss. This idea of connectivity is present through all the stories as the individual characters face their unique challenges. For instance, in Krik? Krak! characters such as the girl and Céalinne in a “Children of the Sea” have to witness horrors imposed on their compatriots when they can do nothing to stop it and grasp onto the only constant

Pirzada Came to Dine” young characters have been placed in combative environments that cause them to refuse to let go of what they have lost. For example, within Children of the Sea the main girl watches abdominal scenes play out right before her eyes, even as she tries to escape to a safe haven. While she travels to her new home she expresses, “on our way to ville rose, we saw a dog licking the two dead faces. one of them was a little boy who was lying on the side of the road with the sun in his dead open eyes” (Danticat 19). Danticat utilizes juxtaposition in this quote to highlight how atrocious the environment is in Haiti. The dogs are licking these faces which is typically seen as a cute way of showing affection. However, in this case, it is paired with the placid stare of a dead child, which is a gruesome image. The instance of a horrific setting being experienced by someone of a young age is present in Interpreter of Maladies as well. While eating dinner with her family Lilia’s father has her watch the new with them. She recounts, “On the screen I saw tanks rolling through dusty streets, and fallen buildings, and forests of unfamiliar trees into which East Pakistani refugees have fled, seeking safety over the Indian border” (Lahiri 31). Lilia watches the unpleasant images before her eyes and discusses how uncomfortable and broken Dacca is. The author's use of imagery in this piece of quotation helps to exemplify

Sen's” are connected in much of the same way as older characters battle cruel settings and yet again cannot let go of the things they clung to for so long. Particularly, the adult citizens of the shantytown from “A Wall of Fire Rising” struggle to deal with the harsh environment with which they are presented. They have a corrupt government controlling a majority of what they do. Danticat informs, “They made bonfires with dried sticks, corn husks, and paper, cursing the authorities under their breath” (Lahiri 60). The people of this town are living in poor conditions that force them to gather together whatever scraps and trash such as “corn husks” and “dried sticks” they can spare in order to be warm. They do not have the courage to stand up to the government as they only deny them “under their breath” showing how cruel and uncomfortable this setting is. Withal, in the short story “Mrs. Sen’s” a similar cruel environment is evident as Mrs. Sen drives home and experiences American nature. The author proposes, “A car beeped its horn then another. She beeped defiantly in response, stopped, then pulled without signaling to the side of the road. ‘No more,’ she says, her forehead resting against the top of the steering wheel. ‘I hate it. I hate driving. I won’t go on’” (Lahiri 131). This instance shows how the new setting Mrs. Sen is part of is uncomfortable to her. As she tries to assimilate into the culture she