Communication Barriers in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies The parents of Nilanjana Sudheshna Lahiri, a Bengali couple who immigrated to the United Kingdom from India, welcomed her into the world on July 11, 1967, in London. While Lahiri was attending university her nickname, ‘Jhumpa’, became commonly used by her professors, and she decided to keep this name for future publications. Jhumpa Lahiri first attended Barnard College in New York, where she focussed on English literature. Additionally, Lahiri joined Boston University, where she earned an astonishing three literary master’s degrees, and a doctorate in Renaissance studies. It was in 1999 that Jhumpa Lahiri published her debut, Interpreter of Maladies, which won her many prizes including the Pulitzer Prize in the year 2000. Therefore, the reporter Vibhuti Patel stated that; “Jhumpa Lahiri is being compared to old masters of the short story for the elegance of her plots and the clarity of her prose” (Newsweek). This acquaintance with Jhumpa Lahiri’s work has proven most valuable, since Interpreter of Maladies is a wonderful short story novel. One can’t help being sucked into the world of the diverse characters, and their day-to-day life experiences which they come across. Jhumpa Lahiri has stated, in a Newsweek interview, that; “The characters I’m drawn to all face some barrier of communication. I like to write about people who think in a way they can’t fully express” (Patel). This essay builds on the