Aunty Ifeoma

Aunty Ifeoma is clearly a character foil to Papa. In the first section we read, Papa is shown as being strictly catholic, violent, rich and very controlling of his children. He makes each family member schedules that they must follow which allot specific times for studying, family time, and even chores like laundry and cooking, and lashes out to his children and wife when they do not meet his expectations - even beating his wife into a miscarriage when she felt too nauseous to want to go visit a clergy. His interpretation of Catholicism/Christianity and own self hatred seems to be the driving force for his actions - he justifies his actions with scripture, and denies much of his Nigerian heritage, shown by how he disowned his own father for not being christian, how he refuses and looks down on those who speak Igbo, and how his accent and demeanor change to seem more British when in contact with white people. Aunty Ifeoma, on the other hand, is a polar opposite. Despite living in what Kambili notes as run down conditions (lack of constantly running water, no gas stove, lids do not fit pots, etc), her family is happy, and she lets her children have a lot of freedom, especially compared to the Achikes. Aunty Ifeoma and her children are also aware of colonialism and it's impact (in the first chapter, Kambili notes that her Aunt called her father a product of colonialism, and Amaka listens to musicians that are socially concious), and while her family is Christian as well, it is not with the strictness and fevor that Papa's Catholicism has - their meal grace is much shorter, and she does not shun her father like Papa does. Aunty Ifeoma's inclusion in this book as Papa's foil helps highlight how abusive and crazy Papa is, as well as displaying a more "average" image of a Nigerian family - no compound home with strict schedules and abuse, but a typical family, lifestyle, and diet.

Unaccustomed Earth

My question is "Why did Ruma mail the letter?"

I thought of this question because I expected her reaction to finding out her fathers relationship to be a lot more severe. A majority of this story focuses on her father's attempt to hide it from Ruma, and with how anxious Ruma had been throughout the story about her father's visit and potentially living their made me expect a much more angry/upset outburst rather than Ruma choosing to mail the card.

Part Two: Hema and Kaushik

Part One of Unaccustomed Earth contains 5 unrelated stories of family and relationships- this shifts in Part Two, which consists of three connected stories of Hema and Kaushik, whose mothers met coincidentally one day at the park. The first two stories are written in the first person, and use "You" liberally to describe one another- although disconcerting at first, it helped immerse me in the story. These three stories together had the most emotional impact on me out of all of the others in Unaccustomed Earth- when I finished, I had to sit and absorb what had happened for a few minutes. Hema's story deals with growing up and her crush on Kaushik, which interestingly foreshadows their later relationship in Rome. Kaushik, in the second story, is revealed to be the "You" mentioned in the last story, and his story focuses on dealing with the grief and healing process following his mothers passing, and dealing with his new step family- helping and hindering his healing process simultaneously. The third story is from Hema's point of view, and discusses a relationship she had with an older man, her time in Rome, her impending marriage to a man she does not love her short relationship with Kaushik, and eventually her marriage. The very intimate tellings of  Hema's meeting of Kaushik and Kaushik's story of running away from his step family draw the reader into the story, and the third weaves in all the loose ends- the setting of Rome comes after all of Hema's discussion of it with Kaushik's parents in the first story. Kaushik's runaway foreshadows his vagabond journalist lifestyle. Hema's seemingly pointless crush as a young girl actually comes into fruition. When I started the first story, Once in a Lifetime, I was thoroughly confused, but the knowledge of the family and the characters continues to build, which turns into a crystal clear image when finished. The tragedy that is the story, combined with the use of first person and a direct object "you", and likable, although sometimes frustrating characters, make Part Two definitively my favorite section of the book- and, the reason I'd recommend this novel to others to read.

Bengali vs. American Culture in Unaccustomed Earth

Unaccustomed Earth is the second novel I've read by Jhumpa Lahiri (The first one being The Namesake, which I also enjoyed) - both focus heavily on the experiences of Bengali immigrants/expatriates. As an American whose family has a history in this country hundreds of years back, I tend to think of America's culture in raising kids, marriages, and dress as the default- and since I have not traveled much outside of America and Europe, I'm not exposed to many noticeable differences in cultures and mannerisms. Unaccustomed Earth, besides carrying eight insightful, beautiful stories, also does a wonderful job of portraying Lahiri's perception of her family's culture- A large trend I noticed is that all of the parent's in the stories were married through an arranged marriage, which is not common if at all practiced in the states. In Once in A Lifetime, Hema's mother's practice of having Hema sleep in a cot in her mother's room up until 5th grade- while reminiscing on how she shared a bed with her parents until she married shows another cultural difference, assuming how plainly she stated this implied the normalcy of it in Calcutta. Dress is another difference portrayed in the book: Most often the mothers of the main characters in the stories moved to America after being married, however, retained their traditional dress, wearing Saris, bindis, and using vermillion powder in their hair- a practice I learned through research shows a woman's married status. Aside from a ring, there is no obvious way to tell if an American woman is married, and the cultural difference is shown in this projection of marriage status. There are several more differences portrayed in the book, and this only describes a few- after all, a whole culture cannot be summed up in a single paragraph.

Point of View in Nobody's Business from Unaccustomed Earth

Nobody's Business is one of my favorite short stories in Unaccustomed Earth, and it initially stuck out to me because it is the only the story that is from the point of view of a non-bengali character. The story, overall, focuses primarily on Sang and her relationship with her boyfriend, Farouk (and his infidelity), though it also follows Paul's study process and eventual acquisition of his PhD. Because of the story being in 3rd person- limited only to Paul and his thoughts - the reader sees Sang in vivid detail- Paul often focuses on her appearance and her actions- due in part to his infatuation with her, this infatuation also makes Sang undoubtably the focus of the story. If the story of her relationship was narrated by herself, the reader would perceive a whole new side to the story- Paul would most likely be portrayed as a kind of creepy guy who she knew had a crush on her, and, later in the story, a very creepy guy who was willing to lie to get her to break up with Farouk- although ending up realizing he had good intentions form the start. The reader would also see more of the interior of Sang and Farouk's relationship- how the initial fights started, the extent of their intimacy, and the first confrontation Sang had with Farouk about  Deirdre. The reader also would not know exactly how Sang looked and how disconnected Sang became with other people after Farouk returned- Paul notes that Sang was "oblivious of Heather's disapproving expression" when Heather discovered that Sang was doing Farouks laundry for him- after already being shown to be basically Farouks personal assistant by proofreading articles, going grocery shopping for him, painting his rooms, and checking prices for home improvement goods when he thought about renovation. Sang became so wrapped up in her relationship she would not have noted how she became extremely devoted to helping Farouk - something that Paul immediately noticed. Because of this, I think Lahiri made a very interesting (and the right) choice of narration/perspective- although Paul has a muddled view of their relationship due to his jealousy, I think that his perspective paints a much more honest view of their unbalanced relationship when Sang would have been to love struck to note it.  

Overview of How to Read Literature like a Professor

How to Read Literature like a Professor is a book I went into that I was not expecting to like. Maybe it's because I'm lazy, or not used to it, but I've always really disliked the over-analyzing (in my point of view) that I've come to associate with college-level readings- some of the things I've heard in the past seem like lofty reaches. Can't we just let the blue dress just be blue- does it really have to symbolize the sadness or depression a character is feeling? However, After the first few chapters, I was surprised to find myself enjoying the book. The slightly sassy way Foster writes this book keeps the material interesting and easy to read- many of the important take aways in this book are in bold - for example, in the first chapter, "The real reason for a quest is always self knowledge" is bolded; this condensed guideline comes after a detailed description, which goes from broad to specifics, making the material easy to comprehend. Foster's use of self-asked questions (from the point of view of the reader) adds a nice, personal flow to the book, even if I wasn't thinking of the question in my head in the first place. In fact, this novel gives the context to several things I've heard talked about- deal with the devil, how The Bible and Shakespeare are often deeply entwined with a lot of literature, and detailed discussions of symbolism. Foster even imposes the question I had been thinking of while reading this book: "Does he [The author] mean it?" - which he answers truthfully, with uncertainty, but explains that none of the assumptions and connects come without evidence - research based or not. Overall, the book is fast paced and fun to read, and actually convinced me to understand and respect some of the hardcore analyzing I scoffed at in the past.

Family and Relationships in Unaccustomed Earth

In a lot of literature I've read, a picture of a family is usually really polarized- shown as either unrealistically perfect and happy where there seems to be no discourse or fighting (which should come when a group of people lives in close quarters for so long) or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, family is portrayed as extremely dysfunctional - loveless marriages, abuse, and constant yelling matches. Realistically, family is something in-between- I know from experience that my family gets along well generally, a lot of loving banter, shared dinners, and discussions and debates however, the generally happy environment can be punctured by conflicts- small or large. Small fights- like over how I need to clean my room or do more chores, to larger fights over budgets or beliefs. I really enjoy Unaccustomed Earth for this reason- each short story is a snippet of what I see as typical ups and downs in family life. No over-idealization or demonization. An example of this sticks out in the story A Choice of Accommodations - A part of the story shows Amit reflecting on the time when one of his daughters almost choked on a piece of fruit, which shows both sides of parenthood- a deep rooted anxiety for one's child's safety, and a hardcore devotion to one's child. Amit also thinks about how his wife would leave him and blame him for his daughter's death in that case- destroying their marriage. I love this portrayal because as happy and beautiful having a child can be- anxiety over their safety and success and their effect on the marriage/relationships are two large negatives either over exaggerated or ignored. Although I only used one part of a story for an example, all of Unaccustomed Earth features stories of family and relationships that is often bittersweet - a realistic balance between the good and bad in family and relationships.