Analysis Of 'A Real Durwan' By Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri uses Interpreter of Maladies to explore challenges in American society. In one out of the nine short stories call “A Real Durwan,” she places Boori Ma, a sixty-four years old Bengali woman who was deported to Calcutta, in an apartment building where no one owned much worth stealing. Despite Boori Ma’s make believe yet persuasive tales of her previous wealth, the residents of the building did not call her out and instead appreciates her as a superb entertainer and for her services that resembles those of a real durwan. When the basin, the first sign of wealth, were introduced into the community, the residents starts to changes their environment and their belief of Boori. The basin serves as a symbol to demonstrates the residents’

The resident panicked when they found out the basin were stolen and immediately jump to the conclusion that it was Boori: “In their haste the residents practically carried Boori Ma up the stairs to the roof, where they planted her on one side of the clothesline and started screaming at her from the other” (81). The stolen basin brought out a different side of the residents as they “practically carried” and “screamed” at a 64-year-old woman. This heavily contrasts to the beginning where they were thankful of Boori which illustrates the resentment being build up. The residents’ attachment to the basin (wealth) over Boori cause them to blame her in a “haste” which shows their quick acceptance that it is Boori. Finally, Mr. Chatterjee, who the resident deliberately sought out for advice, end the arguments and said, “Boori Ma’s mouth is full of ashes. But that is nothing new. What new is the face of this building. What a building like this needs is a real durwan” (83). In the beginning, Mr.Chatterjee uses the same line that Boori’s mouth is “full of ashes” but this time he dismiss it as “nothing new.” Alternatively, he points out the “new” face of this building and needing a “real durwan” which displays the residents pushing out their original views of Boori and Boori’s

On each payday, the narrator of “Edison, New Jersey” evaluates how far he is from reaching his goals of buying a pool table: “You have to buy sticks and balls and chalk and a store keeper and triangles and French tops if you’re a fancy shooter” (128). The repetition of “and” illustrates an impossible large amount of materials that are need in order to play pool. This creates an impression that it is impossible for the narrator to be wealthy when he can’t obtain the objects that represent wealth which hinted at the possibility of jealousy arising of those who can afford it. As a result, when the buyers of pool tables have done something the narrator does not like, he would create troubles like “cram bubble bath drops” into his pocket and “throw fist-sized wads of toilet paper into the toilet” (123). This displays how when the narrator could not get the pool table he want because he is not wealthy enough, he act out against those who can. The troubles creates are evidence of him drawing a line between himself and the rich, isolating himself in order to takes revenge on what he can’t accomplish. Similarly, the residents in “A Real Durwan” isolates themselves from the community as the concept of money led to greediness. However, the residents isolates themselves in the process of proving that they can be wealthy like Dalahs while the