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Jhumpa Lahiri's Cultural Conflict

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The Cultural Conflict: An Analysis of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies Manoj Kumar (Research Scholar, Department of English and Modern European Languages, University of Allahabad) Email- m4nojkk@gmail.com Abstract The present paper tries to analyze cultural and social theme that we face in the fiction of Jhumpa Lahiri, one of the most dazzling authors of diaspora. The topic of culture is always a matter of interest especially when it has to do with an alien setting. Lahiri’s characters represent different social walks of life and always find themselves caught in two different worlds, one that they have left behind and other in which they try to adjust and thus face a cultural conflict. This cross cultural conflict is always present is most of her stories. The immigrants especially in America easily become accustomed to the tradition and culture and find it suitable to settle there but the craving for their …show more content…

She was born in India (Bengal) and in her childhood moved to America. She almost led her whole life in America but inspite of that she could not detach herself from her native roots. Most of the time, we find her talking about India, Indians especially Bengalies; setting, surroundings, tradition, and customs of India. It seems that her body is living in America but her mind and soul roam in India. In her first dazzling debut short story collection Interpreter of Maladies, she has presented this cross cultural differences in all her stories. Her characters struggle hard to adjust themselves in new places, foreign countries and at the same time face the identity crisis. Her stories seem to be semi-autobiographical as she herself could not properly adjust in America. We find a striking similarity between the life of Jhumpa Lahiri and the lives of several others characters of her

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