The Representation of Second Generation Migrants in Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth

Abstract

This dissertation examines the feelings and difficulties Bengali diaspora communities experience in the USA based on two short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri of her compilation Unaccustomed earth (2008). People living in these communities struggle to adapt to a new home where they do not fit completely because of their background, sense of loss, isolation and dual identity. Through the analysis of the short stories, what became very clear in the comparison of different generations is that there is a gap between first and second generations. Regarding the double perspective, writers like Rushdie believe that diaspora individuals are capable of looking at the world without limiting it to fixed ideologies, but in the short stories this is not made obvious. What is demonstrated in the dissertation, is that second generations struggle with their duality for various reasons and, most of the times, they do not know how to cope with the situation nor express their thoughts.