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Universal Themes:
Isolation- "'Here in this place where Mr. Sen has brought me, I cannot sometimes
sleep in so much silence...' 'Eliot, if I began to scream right now at the top of my lungs, would someone come?... At home
that is all you have to do... But just raise your voice a bit, or express grief or joy of any kind, and one whole neighborhood
and half another has come to share the news. To help with arrangements'"(116).
Mrs. Sen constantly struggles with her new life and new identity in as an Indian-American immigrant.
Her traditional culture collides with her new, adopted American culture. She laments the loss of friends and family
and feels useless in her new role as an American housewife. Because of her displacement she doesn't know who she
is and worries that she has been left entirely alone. Her feelings of isolation and lonliness are issues that many immigrants
struggle with.
Displacement- "'Whenever there is a wedding in the family,' she told Eliot one day,
'or a large celebration of any kind, my mother would just send word in the evening for all the neighborhood women to bring
blades just like this one, and then they sit in an enormous circle on the roof of our building, laughing gossiping and slicing
fifty kilos of vegetables through the night'"(115).
Lahiri's descriptions of Mrs. Sen on the floor in the livingroom, cutting up food with a traditional
curved knife illustrates the feelings of displacement and culture shock. Mrs. Sen feels as out of place as she must
look; on the carpet with newspapers, bowls and a huge knife, in a tiny, confining college apartment. She feels that "everything
is there," in India, her identity, her culture, and her past(113).
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"Still there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten,
each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond
my imagination."
Cultural Themes:
Cultural Conflicts- "'Mr. Pirzada is no longer considered Indian,' my father announced...'Not
since Partition. Our country was divided. 1947...' 'Hindus here, Muslims there. Dacca no longer belongs to us.' He told me
that during Partition Hindus and Muslims had set fire to each other's homes. For many, the idea of eating in the other's company
was still unthinkable... It made no sense to me"(25).
History is extremely important in order to understand a particular culture's religious and political
ideologies. Without exploring the historical events that have shaped India, their particular culture can not be fully appreciated. Mr.
Pirzada and Lilia's family speak the same language, observe the same social practices and enjoy the same food. In India they
would be forced to become enemies. However, in America they can break through the cultural boundaries and make an extraordinary
personal connection.
Culture Clash- '"The policeman said you were lucky. Very lucky to come out without
a scratch'"(134).
Through Eliot, we see American culture reflected in his descriptions of Mrs. Sen. He wonders why Mr.
and Mrs. Sen don't smile in their photograph at the beach, it's so un-American, as is the purchasing of entire fish with
their heads still on. When her husband forces her to drive home, we witness not only a traffic accident, but the collision
of two worlds- India and America. Mrs. Sen is forced to act like an American (to drive) and when she finally gives up her
resistance and concedes to her husbands demands (Indian culture) she enters and new and frightening world of fast cars and
traffic lights (American culture).
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