Culture Clashes With a Culture Research Paper

"Fish becomes the leitmotif in the story. Mrs. Sen's existence as also her survival in an alien land revolves around and depends upon this food item. When she gets it she is happy, and when it is absent from her kitchen for a long time, she sulks like a child. For Mrs. Sen fish becomes her home, her state, her neighborhood, her friend and her family. Fish gives her a sense of proximity to her people. The arrival of a tasty halibut gives her pleasure as nothing else does" (Choubey 2001). But when Mrs. Sen is rebuked for the smell of her prized fish, even this source of connection with home, however, tenuous, becomes perverted.

Some of the characters of the Interpreter of Maladies learn to negotiate their new identities and cultural terrains and bridge the cultural gaps that exist between themselves and their fellow Indians, as well as with Americans. One cannot assume a common culture, simply because one's ancestors share a common point of origin, these stories counsel. But with hard work and effort, communication is possible between cultures, married couples, and generations.

Works Cited

Choubey, Asha. "Food as Metaphor in Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies."

The Literature and Culture of the Indian Subcontinent on the Postcolonial Web. Last modified 2001. [8 Dec 2007.]

http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/post/india/literature/lahiri/choubey1.html

Lahiri, Jhumpa Interpreter of Maladies and other stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,