The Story Of Hell-Heaven By Jhumpa Lahiri

In the United States, tens of thousands of inmates are held in long-term solitary confinement. However, the impact on them from this solitary confinement hurts their health both emotionally and physically. Hellhole by Atul Gawande analyzes the importance of social support that we need in our lives, and how being isolated from social interaction slowly destroys one’s psychological being and their ability to interact with others. Prior to reading this, I already had knowledge of the study mentioned that was conducted by Harry Harlow where he attempted to raise baby monkeys without the presence of their mother. This ended up proving fatal to the psychological development of the monkeys as their mental health was severely damaged. The reference

On a talk show, Mattie discusses the controversy topic of deportation of immigrants. She tells a story about pair of immigrants who were discovered deadkilled after deportation. "Then the TV showed both Mattie and the interview man talking without sound, and another man's voice told us that the immigration and naturalization service had returned to illegal aliens, a woman and her son, to her native El Salvador last week, and that Mattie claimed that had been taken into custody when they stepped off the plane in san Salvador and later were found dead in a ditch" (Kingsolver 105-106). This shows how America doesn’t care about what happens to illegal immigrants after they’ve been deported. This is another example of how immigrants suffer due to the ignorance of Americans. Lou Ann has invited several people, including Estevan to a dinner party. During the party, Estevan tells a ‘Wild Indian Story’, “If you go visit hell… people sit, like us. Only they are dying of starvation…you can go visit heaven...you see a room like the first one… but these people are all happy and fat" (Kingsolver 107-108). The story is supposed to be a metaphor to represent how immigrants suffer in the same system as Whites who benefit in the system. Due to this, a lot of privileged Americans do not see how the immigrants are suffering. Taylor was walking through a room that used to hold a family on immigrants.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake” examines an immigrant bengali family that has moved from India to America, and tries to hold their bengali culture while trying to accept American lifestyles. Ashima and Gogol each struggle with their cultural identity throughout Lahiri’s novel. The pressure of western society and the crisis of losing one’s culture and identity is demonstrated through the characterization and Gogol and Ashima’s relationships while living in America.

She explains her thesis by stating “Others who write stories of migration often talk of arrival at a new place as a loss of communal memory and the erosion of an original culture. I want to talk of arrival as a gain,” (360). The key points of the text include Mukherjee describing her transition between Calcutta and the United States, and what it means to be and American and how culture influences that aspect. The information in the text is significant; the people of America are a part of a melting pot, sometimes it is hard for them to find the distinction between American culture and their own. The information in Mukherjee’s story is clear and specific, unbiased, and is relevant to the purpose of the story. I believe Mukherjee has achieved her purpose of informing her audience about cultural differences; she presents certain strengths and weaknesses within the text.

“After 36 years as a legal immigrant in this country, she clings passionately to her Indian citizenship and hopes to go home to India when she retires.” This shows the diversity they have in their hearts for two conflicting cultures, and how she accepts both into her life. They were also given bigger opportunities. So they decided to blend those two varying cultures together. All this shows how another culture (American) affects their life how they choose to live.

Love, generations, cultures, and family are the main theme to talk about in shorts stories, and in the story of “Hell-Heaven” by Jhumpa Lahiri, that is not the exception. However, it is an unusual and very enjoyable story where readers can identify themselves with it because the main characters are common people who have the same problems as many of us. If I have to summarize the story in one sentence, I can say that it describes the experiences of people who come from other cultures to the USA, and it is nuanced with an impossible love to make it more interesting and real. Also, the author divided the different parts of it with four important events which mark the transition

To start off, Jess’s dreams are more important than here culture, because they are who she is as a person. Jess does not simply want to be the traditional Indian girl that her parents want her to be, she wants more. Instead, Jess makes a bold decision that traditional Indian girls wouldn’t do, she chose to

This book depicts the national and cultural status of the immigrant mother, who is able to preserve the traditions of her Indian heritage that connect her to her homeland. Ensuring a successful future for her American-born children is coordinated with the privilege of being an American citizen. Ashima yearns for her homeland and her family that she left behind when

Through her tasteful selection of contemporary Indian influenced prose pieces, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the unique journey of Indian families established in America. Focusing on the intergenerational aspect of traditional households, Lahiri conveys the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies a person who is branded as a foreigner. In America, there exists a common misconception that immigrants who arrive in this country fully assimilate or seek to assimilate as time progresses. The category I chose was "The Dot of true Happiness." The dot which signifies the bindi, a traditional red mark worn by Indian people, is the source of true happiness among these immigrants.

who wants to get away from her own mother, and a Bengali man who is

The immigrant experience affects families in a unique manner wherein ethnicity, and therefore, identity becomes something continuously negotiated. Jhumpa Lahiri’s contemporary novel, “The Namesake,” beautifully illustrates the complexities of generational culture clashes and the process of self-individualization over the course of this experience. Lahiri challenges the often-one-dimensional approach to ethnic identity by allowing readers an intimate and omnipresent look into the internal struggles of the Gangulis, a first-and-second-generation Bengali family, following their relocation to America. The novel incorporates a heavy presence of reading, and the abundant representation of books and documents throughout it are vital to its

Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth is comprised of eight short stories about different Indian families’ struggles in America, many of them going through the immigrant experience. The conflicts are with friends and family, and also with themselves, as each of them attempt to find their own identity along with fitting in with the rest of society. One of the causes of these struggles that because the families in the stories are mixed in terms of generation. Many of the adults in the stories were first generation immigrants from India, while many of the children were raised in the United States, which is the second generation. This led to blending of culture and at the same time, clashes between the immigrant mentality of living and the American mentality of living. In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri demonstrates to the reader the important influence of environment, specifically culture and how it impacts parental teachings, on the personality and development of an individuals’ identity, and how the actions and development of characters can affect one’s family and friends; the impact of environment and culture is shown especially by the characters and stories “Hell-Heaven” and “Hema and Kaushik”.

The story starts with Naila Amira who was an American woman, and she is just like the other adult in her age. She likes to cook new dishes and go shopping. The most different things are her race, which is Pakistan. Her parents moved to America because of her; they wanted she to have more opportunities here in America. And indeed, she did find her a great spot during the day and also at night.

A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.

Hell-Heaven is a story that explores simple human emotions such as loneliness, love, jealosy and also describes how people change drastically over time. Pranab Chakraborty is a student of MIT, Boston. On streets of Boston he sees a traditional Bengali mother Abarna and her daughter Usha, a little girl. And he follow both of them and at finally befriending with them. Aparna, herself homesick and lonely, can empathize with Pranb and she is happy to feed him. After that he is a regular visiter of Usha,s house. Overtime,Aparna looks forward eagerly for the visiting of Pranab and she develops the a unique kind of love towards him. Abarna’s love on Pranab, turns towards into jealosy when Pranab brings home an American woman, Deborah, whom he eventually marries. Always Abarna keeps blaming and criticizing Deborah.After twenty-three years Deborah and Pranab finally divorce. The reasons behind the divorce revealed. This story is also recounts the unique mother and daughter relationship that develops between Aparna and Usha.