Debarati Bandyopadhyay

Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction by Debarati Bandyopadhyay is an academic article that focuses on analyzing Jhumpa Lahiri’s writing. In this article the author argues that in Lahiri’s work there is a variety of movement between continents and cultures in which Indians seek in order to establish their identities on alien shores. (Bandyopadhyay, p. 97, 2009) In order to support her argument Bandyopadhyay uses stories from both of Lahiri’s books: The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies.  What Bandyopadhyay is suggesting by analyzing Lahiri’s work is that it is necessary for one to adapt to multiculturalism, in which the individual can be at a “transitional point between two hemispheres-East and West- and two segments of the world hierarchy- Third and First-“(Bandyopadhyay, p. 98, 2009) Bandyopadhyay points out that, until there is a perfect balance between both cultures one may suffer from feelings of being alone or a lack of a sense of belonging. This is evident in Interpreter of Maladies in the short story When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine. In this story Mr. Pirzada continues to have a strong tie with his homeland and does not adapt to life in the U.S. This in return makes him feel like if he does not belong and yearns to return to his own country. The author also points out that in The Namesake, Gogol being born in the U.S. and feeling as American as one can be ends up cherishing his homeland, but not until he has lost everything: “Now that one peripatetic Gogol Ganguli loses the only fixed point, his `home` containing his roots, he is able to understand the value of the `homeland.` (Bandyopadhyay, p. 107, 2009) At it is seen even if you are a U.S. citizen or born outside the U.S. as long as you are from a different background, culture, set of beliefs etc. you can never feel at ease with yourself by leaving your old culture behind and embracing your new culture, and vise verse. In conclusion I must have to say that I agree with the author’s suggestion of embracing multiculturalism, because it leaves you in between both cultures in which you can go to and from one another.