Cultural Identity and Diaspora Experience in the Works of Jhumpa Lahiri: A Critical Study

Abstract

The paper is a critical reflection on how cultural identity and experience of diaspora in the works of Jhumpa Lahiri, one of the most influential contemporary writers of Indian-American literature is depicted. The main theme that Lahiri addresses in his fiction is the life of immigrants of India in the United States and its psychological, cultural and emotional complications resulting in migration. In a close analysis of key works like Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake and Unaccustomed Earth, this paper will examine the theme of displacement, alienation, generation conflict, hybridity and search of belonging. The paper has argued that Lahiri describes cultural identity as not a fixed construct in that it is a dynamic and changing process, which is influenced by memory, migration and cross-cultural experiences. Through the emphasis on the tense relationship between the traditional and the modern values of the West, the works by Lahiri help to see the internal struggle of the diasporic subjects who can be located between two worlds. After all, this paper shows that the stories by Lahiri provide an in-depth account of how hybrid identities develop and how the issues of selfness are being constantly negotiated in the context of the diasporic state.