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English - II

Notes of Bibi Haldar’ and ‘A Real Durwan’. Here, Lahiri explores the elements of Indian society that have
not been muted or changed by association with the outside world. Both of the main characters – Bibi
Haldar and Boori Ma – have characteristics and experiences that are peculiar to Indian society, many
of which could not exist elsewhere. These women are both subject to the repressive mores of an
Indian society that appears to render them powerless.
It is useful to link these two stories with the only other story set in India, which portrays an Indian
man who comes into contact with an American family of Indian descent. The title story, ‘An Interpreter
of Maladies’, not only illustrates the main theme uniting the stories, the ‘maladies’ that afflict Lahiri’s
various characters, but also bridges the geographic divide between the subcontinent of India and
continental North America. Mr Kapasi does not understand the tourists in his taxi, who look Indian
despite their foreign mannerisms and behaviour. This immediate confusion points to one of Lahiri’s
major themes –that of disjunction between cultures. Through this story, Lahiri is able to deepen the
connection between her narratives. Another grouping concerns first-generation Indians who are
inevitably alienated from American culture because they have left the land in which they were born
and raised. Mrs Sen, while still quite young, is made to seem old because she cannot adapt to life in
America. She is a completely displaced person who yearns only for India and makes no attempt to
assimilate. In a similar way, Mr Pirzada lives in America but is completely absorbed by what is
happening in the war in his homeland, where his wife and children still reside. The largest grouping
of stories centres on marriage and relationships, particularly the arranged marriages that underpin
Indian society. ‘A Temporary Matter’, ‘Sexy’, ‘This Blessed House’ and ‘The Third and Final Continent’,
while also portraying memorable characters struggling to adapt to American culture, dwell on the
intricacies of marriage and the difficulties that all individuals have in adapting to life as a family.

9.2 Background and Context
Jhumpa Lahiri is of Indian descent; both her parents were born in India. She was born in London but
grew up in Rhode Island, a state on the east coast of the United States. From childhood, she often
accompanied her parents back to India – particularly to Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), the third-
largest city in India, located in the state of West Bengal, close to India’s eastern border with Bangladesh.
Her father worked as a librarian and her mother remained a traditional Indian wife, maintaining the
customs of her youth. Lahiri began writing at age seven, co-writing stories with her best friend in
primary school. She abandoned writing fiction as an adolescent, and lacked the confidence to resume
the pursuit during her university years. While employed as a researcher, she found the stimulus to
resume writing fiction and, after achieving a PhD in Renaissance Studies at Boston University, turned
once again to creative writing. With a string of degrees behind her, she decided that the life of a scholar
was less interesting than that of a fiction writer, and began seriously submitting stories for publication.
After being published in prestigious magazines such as The New Yorker, Lahiri was awarded the highest
literary honour in the United States, the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, in 2000. Since then, she has been
awarded many other prizes, including the O. Henry Award for short stories. In 2003, she wrote the
novel The Namesake, which was made into a movie in 2006. In 2008, a second collection of short stories,
Unaccustomed Earth, was published. Lahiri lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
Structure, Language and Style
Story Genre
The modern short story is often concerned with making an emotional impact. Writers like Lahiri do
not always observe the traditional elements of narrative fiction, such as the inclusion of an introduction,
rising action, a climax, falling action and an ending that ties the work together. Her work often
features subtle endings that are left open to interpretation, such as that of ‘A
Temporary Matter’, which has two possible resolutions (see ‘Different Interpretations’ in section 9.3).
A short story should be able to be read in a single sitting. This gives the piece unity by focusing on
one isolated incident in the life of a character, or on one character’s relationship with another or
others. An atmosphere is created in which the characters live and function and this, in turn, evokes
an emotional response from the reader. The action is an important element of the short story. Something
must happen, no matter how small. There must also be a narrative of some kind. However, this

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