The Quest for Cultural Identity vs. Assimilation in Jhumpa Lahiri's Short Stories

Under the pressure of assimilation, the South Asian immigrants in the short story collection Interpreter of Maladies (1999) by Jhumpa Lahiri experience both internal conflicts and conflicts within society. This paper examines how their attempts to maintain their own cultural identity slow down the process of their integration into American society, bringing about feelings of loneliness and isolation. The clash of these two cultures is especially significant in their customs and traditions; food and clothes become signs of ongoing assimilation (or resistance to it). Nevertheless, these stories do not only provide a first-generation view of the United States. The importance of cultural heritage is reflected in the way in which parents raise their children-including their emphasis on knowledge of South Asian history and their acknowledgment of the cultural background and roots of Asian Americans. The opinions of the second generation of immigrants on assimilation are to a certain extent influenced by American educational and cultural institutions; this gives rise to conflicts within immigrant homes. This paper also compares relationships within South Asian society and within American society, contrasting the importance of family with individualism. The paper also focuses on loneliness, human relationships, barriers to communication, and isolation-all recurring themes and motifs in Interpreter of Maladies.