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Summary Of How To Read Literature Like A Professor By Jhumpa Lahiri

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The Pakistan Partition, in 1947, generated a great divide within cultures and families. In “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” Jhumpa Lahiri transcribes a short story about a man isolated from his family by depicting the aspects of symbolism, intrinsic first person point of view, and the theme of loneliness created by simple word choice structure. Jhumpa Lahiri incorporates her style, in this short story, with symbolism to synthesize two feelings of the main character, Lilia. In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster states, “Oh, sure, there are some symbols that work straightforwardly: a white flag means, I give up, don’t shoot” (98). With this piece of information, it is best to say that Lahiri is using the candy as a symbol …show more content…

“The atmosphere the author creates through specific details and word choice in fiction” is the definition Abby Werlock conveys. At first, in the short story, the mood starts of as being neutral. The mood shifts from it being calm to sympathetic, or sad, when Mr. Pirzada discovers that “. . . India would have to go to war against Pakistan” (Lahiri 465). The feeling gets even more fearful once Lilia comes home to see Mr. Pirzada crying having found out that “. . . India and Pakistan were drawing closer and closer to war” (Lahiri 467). The last mood that was sequentially generated was the feeling of relief when Mr. Pirzada flies back to Dacca to find that all of his family “. . . were well, having survived the events of the past year at an estate belonging to his wife’s grandparents in the mountains of Shillong” (Lahiri 469). Once Mr. Pirzada was reunited with his family, there was a sense of comfort.
Furthermore, the author uses elaborate details in this short story to make the segments about tradition more descriptive. According to Pfeiffer, “the author infuses her works with vivid and distinctive features of Indian culture . . . .” An example of the culture is when Lilia’s mother brought out a plate of “. . . mincemeat kebabs with coriander chutney” (Lahiri 458). Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Indian identity is certainly not marginal in her work . . .”

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