LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 25:8 August 2025
ISSN 1930-2940

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An Investigative Study of the Afflictions of Immigrant Women in Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies

K. Parthiban and
Dr. A.Ajmal Khaan

Abstract

This research article focuses on the portrayal of the state of mind of immigrant women in Jhumpa Lahiri's first literary work Interpreter of Maladies. Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of short stories which show the talent of Lahiri. She has beautifully handled her characters to express her ideas in an attractive manner. Lahiri's focus is mostly on the role of women in society and their mental and physical sufferings for their betterment. Her stories are mainly around women, and she has given much importance to women characters. Her selections of such a woman character are remarkable. .

Keywords:immigrant, culture, women, delineation, estrangement

Introduction

One of India's most prominent story tellers is Jhumpa Lahiri. Her contributions to English literature are appreciated by all. Lahiri's first literary work is Interpreter of Maladies, a collection of short stories which show the talent of Lahiri. Her stories are mainly around women and her characters add much beauty to her stories that makes them eccentric. The women characters in her stories are both ordinary and extraordinary, very simple and complex, and strong and weak - they represent every aspect of life. Lahiri writes primarily about Indian immigrant women and their sufferings in assimilating themselves into the American culture. Few of her stories show that no matter in which country they live, the sufferings and struggles of all women are same. These sufferings and struggles are illustrated by Lahiri in her stories.

Lahiri's Characters

She wrote about three categories of women in her stories. They are, Indian immigrant women in the United States of America, women struggling for a better life in India and women struggling within themselves. As the United States of America is a medley of all the cultures, all the immigrants are forced to adopt themselves into these cultures as soon as possible. But people from various countries find it very difficult to assimilate themselves with an alien culture. They cannot get rid of their natural way of life. This is really a very big problem for immigrant women. They are struggling between their own culture and the culture one is expected to fit into. Jhumpa Lahiri has portrayed all these sufferings and struggles very clearly in her collection of stories.

Lahiri's story A Temporary Matter is about the Indian immigrant husband and wife Shukumar and Shoba. The entire story revolves around the loss of their child. Shoba is psychologically affected by her child's death. Shoba's mental instability is very clearly represented by Lahiri. Shoba's problem is her inability to control her anger and frustration of losing her child. So, she leaves her husband and decides to live a lonely life. Thus, she as she loses both control over herself and her surroundings, she also gains a different kind of control in deciding how she will live her life.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

K. Parthiban
Ph.D. English Full-Time Scholar
PG and Research Department of English,
Jamal Mohamed College (A), (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University)
Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu India
kalai.parthi3@gmail.com
&
Dr. A.Ajmal Khaan
Associate Professor of English
PG and Research Department of English,
Jamal Mohamed College (A), (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University)
Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu India
1967ajmal@gmail.com
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