Sunday, August 17, 2014

Lahiri's Inspiration for Unaccustomed Earth

I think Jhumpa Lahiri found inspiration for Unaccustomed Earth from both a quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne and her own life.  The beginning of the novel features a saying from Hawthorne's "The Custom-House" that reads "Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil.   My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth." Hawthorne is saying that people are supposed to move, to leave their homes and families, and start over in a new place.  I think this saying was especially meaningful to Lahiri, for she was born in London, the daughter of Bengali immigrants, and moved to the United States at a very young age.
In the eight stories that make up Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri focuses on Bengali-Americans who, like herself, have dealt with the transition of moving to new places.  For example, Sudha from "Only Goodness" was born in London and, "transporting no evidence of their years in London," moved to Massachusetts when she was four (Lahiri 135).  Just like Sang from "Nobody's Business," Lahiri went to college in New York City and graduate school in Boston.
Lahiri draws from her own life in more ways than just geographically in Unaccustomed Earth.  Many of the stories focus on mixed Bengali-American families like Amit and Megan in "A Choice of Accommodations," Ruma and Adam in "Unaccustomed Earth," and Sudha and Roger in "Only Goodness," which may have been inspired by Lahiri's own marriage to a non-Bengali man.  Lahiri also chooses to writer under the nickname, Jhumpa, just like Sang goes by a nickname.  Lahiri found inspiration from the saying by Nathaniel Hawthorne in writing the eight stories that mimic her own life and culture in Unaccustomed Earth.

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