This Place Called India Class Analysis

Dear Members of the Portfolio Assessment Committee,

Before this class, I dreaded writing assignments. They always took me a lot of time, and I often had trouble coming up with interesting ideas for my work. Moreover, the writing process I followed was quite rigid: I mostly composed five-paragraph essays in high school. Throughout this course, however, I became more insightful with my expression and development of ideas in my writing. “This Place Called India” has challenged me not only to learn more about India by composing pieces in a variety of genres, but also to become more focused in my writing and more efficient with the writing process. Branching off of the goals mentioned in the syllabus, I used India as a lens through which to improve

It took me a long time to finish it because I had to write multiple iterations of the piece. In high school, I did not conduct multiple revisions of my work. Moreover, writing a serious college-level analytical essay made me realize the importance of structuring my writing and evidence to ensure good flow. To accomplish these goals, I decided to create an outline for my paper, something I had never done in high school. In my outline, I first wrote my topic sentences for each paragraph, and then wrote my transition sentences. After doing this, I placed my evidence in between my topic and transition sentences on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis. This process greatly sped up my writing process, and allowed me to maintain good structure and flow on the paragraph-wide and paper-wide levels. Additionally, I used to view the writing process as a solitary endeavor. For this essay, I ended up getting stuck when I was just working by myself. To move forward, I decided to go to the Writing Center for some advice. After doing so, I decided to change my introduction and thesis to create a more interesting argument. (Note: First Draft is on the Left, Final Draft is on the

For my final draft, however, I redeveloped my introduction to have a more specific focus. Additionally, I made sure that my thesis contained an arguable assertion: Lahiri’s strategic use of objects and sensory experiences highlight her characters’ struggles in Interpreter of Maladies makes it a realistic portrayal of the Indian diasporic experience. I selected suitable evidence from the text to substantiate this claim. When reading “Interpreter of Maladies,” I noticed that Lahiri’s description of the Das family’s attire (“brightly colored clothing,” “caps with translucent visors,” etc.) heightened the divide between the Das family and their Indian culture, given their upbringing in America (Lahiri, 44). In “The Third and Final Continent,” Lahiri describes the Boston city “noise” as having a “suffocating” effect on the Indian immigrant narrator that further exacerbated his feelings of isolation in America (Lahiri,