The “Interpreter of Maladies” is a book composed by an Indian American writer Jhumpa Lahiri in 1999 that consists of 9 separate stories. Those nine stories have no relationship with each other except that characteristics in those stories are all African Americans like Lahiri. Lahiri immigrated to the US with her parents when she was just three and grew up in Rhode Island. Therefore, she was able to bring her personal experiences and knowledge about Indian Americans. In those stories, Lahiri vividly described topics that many immigrants would suffer-cultural conflict, marriage issues, and trouble in finding their own identity.
To understand the condition of Indian Americans, we must refer to the historical context. In the 1600s, British people developed India into their colony to benefit their people. The period of colonization finally ended when the English finally left India in 1947. After they left, India separated into two independent nations. One was Hindu majority India, while another was Muslim majority Pakistan. Then those two nations started the war that lasted for decades. That caused the largest migration in Asia in recent human history, millions of Muslims migrated from India to Pakistan and millions. During the period of partition, violence was prevalent that around 2 million people died in the period, while some seventy-five thousand women were raped, and many of them were then disfigured or dismembered. Some British reporters and soldiers who had witnessed the Nazi death camp states that the Partition’s brutalities were worse: “pregnant women had their breasts cut off and babies hacked out of their bellies; infants were found literally roasted on spits.”. Contrary to the condition in India, the US was the country that went through the fastest growth in the world. Therefore, the US spontaneously became the destination of many Indian immigrants.
As “others” in the white society, those Indian immigrants were “both included and excluded from the society” using Ms. Uhm’s words. On one hand, their lives are highly intersected with native people, they may work together, take the class together, or may share the same apartment. Sometimes, they even could behave like fully involved in the society and have various relationships with native people like Mr. Dev in the story of “Sexy”. On the other hand, they may always like outsiders to native people. Language barriers, cultural differences, and homesickness were all issues they need to solve to get involved in society. Between the interval of two cultures, they may feel confused about their identity. In addition, they may also have relatives who still live in India, making them worry about their relatives and never feel settled in the US. In the story of “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”, we could always hear him talking about his daughter and other relatives in Pakistan where the war between Pakistan and India was still going on. This made him tortured because he was safe in the US whereas his family could be in danger. With so many immigrants, Mr. Pirzada may not be a single example who is in the same condition. However, facing the choice of a different life, they are not allowed to hesitate. Many of them have to live a life in the US with those heavy loads.
Work cited:
- Lahiri, J (1999), “Interpreter of maladies”
- “Partition of India”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India
- Dalrymple W (2015), The New Yorker, “The Great Divide- The Violent Legacy of Indian Partition”, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple
- Siomone de Beauvior, “From the Second Sex”
Amazing work on your context presentation! I really enjoyed how you provided us with the historical context behind Lahiri’s work. Like you mentioned, the book portrayed several elements of intersectionality. Even though both groups can incorporate and exchange different cultural elements, each will always be an “other” to their respective group due to factors like language barriers and cultural norms in my opinion. I’ve seen this play out through my own experiences. Though I’ve spent my whole life in America, I also identify as Bangladeshi as I practice specific customs and it’s where my parents originated from. Though when I visit Bangladesh, I feel like an outsider because of my adaptations to American culture.
I really enjoyed your context presentation, it was very well thought-out and provided a lot of detail. This has definitely helped me prepare and understand the material before reading the short stories. The horrors of the Partition of India is very eye-opening and understandable why people would want to flee their old lives and want to make a new one.