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Notes miscarriages, and the disconnection between first and second generation United States immigrants.
Lahiri later wrote, “When I first started writing I was not conscious that my subject was the
Indian-American experience. What drew me to my craft was the desire to force the two worlds
I occupied to mingle on the page as I was not brave enough, or mature enough, to allow in
life.” The collection was praised by American critics, but received mixed reviews in India,
where reviewers were alternately enthusiastic and upset Lahiri had “not paint[ed] Indians in
a more positive light.”Interpreter of Maladies sold 600,000 copies and received the 2000 Pulitzer
Prize for Fiction (only the seventh time a story collection had won the award)

11.1 Literary Focus

Lahiri’s writing is characterized by her “plain” language and her characters, often Indian
immigrants to America who must navigate between the cultural values of their homeland and
their adopted home. Lahiri’s fiction is autobiographical and frequently draws upon her own
experiences as well as those of her parents, friends, acquaintances, and others in the Bengali
communities with which she is familiar. Lahiri examines her characters’ struggles, anxieties,
and biases to chronicle the nuances and details of immigrant psychology and behavior.

11.2 Literary Analysis

Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Third and Final Continent,” is a moving tale of an Indian immigrant.
This young man’s ambitious character led him to travel abroad. His struggle took him to
attend many great learning institutions. His journeys led him to and elderly woman that made
quite an impact on him. Her presence in his life was very significant.

This story took place in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1969. The city had two major universities
that attracted many foreigners. Boston provided an opportunity to those looking for and
education and a better way of life. Many viewed Boston as an international city. It became a
home for the young man from India.
The narrator tells this story in the Third person unlimited omniscient. It seems as though she
is telling the story through her own personal experiences. The reader can almost feel her
struggle. The young man keeping with old Indian traditions had an arranged marriage. He
seemed very casual and not the least bit interested in taking a wife or the commitment that
came with marriage. This is an evident man vs. man relationship.
For the average Indian-American there is a personal disconnect when it comes to the idea of
home. For where is home? It cannot be America, for as Indians we don’t always feel accepted;
there will always be something about us that makes us different, that sets us apart from the
peers we grew up with. And it won’t be India for as Americans we have not lived authentically
Indian lives. Always juggling apple pies and samosas, we straddle and mix two different
cultures, effectively diluting both of them, never having a strong presence in either. The
Americans look at you differently because you have brown skin, different customs. The Indians
wonder about your outward appearance, an incongruous amalgam of brown skin and an
American accent. So where do we belong? Are we always doomed to live in the uncertainty
of hyphenated ethnicities?
Our immigrant parents hope not and strive to give us a home to call our own, two homes
even, whether America or India cares to accept us or not. Yes, as they drag us through the
bustling streets of Thrissur or New Delhi from one auntie’s house to the next, as they point
out the cows and temples along the way, carefully trying to teach us the proper way to speak
in their native language, our parents are making every effort to connect us to our heritage
because they know this feeling of estrangement all too well. As immigrants, they are fully

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