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15-06-2022
New: The Significance of Writing: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Hybrid Identity in Unaccustomed Earth
By Sietse Hagen
‘In spite of the ocean that now separated her from her parents, she felt closer to them’ (Lahiri 144). In her book Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri examines the confrontation between second- and first-generation migrants. This clash of cultures between parent and child raises an issue of identity for the children as it is they who are in between the culture at home and the culture of the society in which they grow up. Just like most of her characters, Lahiri is a second-generation Bengali immigrant that grew up in America. As her characters are so similar to herself, this book becomes a way to reconcile with her hybrid identity and come to terms with the difference between her and her parents. It is through trauma theory and the themes of distancing and memory that Lahiri seeks an answer to her question of identity. By briefly examining the characters of the book in general and the characters of Hema and Kaushik in more detail, this essay will aim to reveal how writing this book is an act of redemption for Lahiri, and, how by writing this book, she can come to terms with her differences with her parents and the foreignness this creates in herself.
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