Critical Analysis based on theme: Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth

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In Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth, “Only Goodness” is a short story that delves further in the relationships of an American Bengali family dealing with an addiction of a family member, and is expressed through the protagonist Sudha, and her brother Rahul. The conflict of this story is Rahul’s drinking becoming a problem that not only affected him but his family as a whole, and that becomes the struggle between his family and himself. The plot in “Only Goodness” revolves around an American Bengali family that struggles with their son Rahul who is an alcoholic. Rahul and his sister Sudha were their parents’ biggest successes, but he ends up becoming more distant from his family throughout. Later on, the story focuses on his further downfall into alcoholism. He drops out of college, ends up moving back home to live with his parents and works in a Laundromat, while Sudha on the opposite is doing what is expected her of becoming the saving grace of the family. Even when Rahul and his sister Sudha were in different places in their lives, she tries to bring him back to his senses, but she ends up not being able to in turn making their relationship very strained up until the end. The climax in “Only Goodness” occurs when Rahul, who seemingly appeared to have changed, rekindles his relationship with his sister and while he visits her family, he ends babysitting his nephew Neel who ends up passing out leaving Neel unattended in the bathtub. A key setting that this story takes place in is London where Sudha originally was born in, and she currently lives there with her husband Roger, and their baby son Neel. A significant theme that is shown in this short story is the effects that an addiction one member of the family can have on the e...

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