The Interpreter Of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri

The Change Imagine being a true cultured foreigner, who comes to live in a new country.You do not know anyone in this country and have left all your luxeries back home. You think your culture can help you blend in, but it makes you stand out even more. You see people doing things you never thought you had to do. You are being treated like an outsider, when all your life you thought everything was perfect. You slowly drift away from home, culture, and the person you were before coming to the new land. In the novel, The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Lahiri mentions loneliness throughout her three works: A Real Durwan, Mrs. Sen’s, and When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine. Lahiri presents isolation through a little girl who doesn’t know

It was a misunderstanding, but the people did not want to believe an outsider. Boori Ma’s skeleton keys were stolen from her in the market. When the keys were stolen, Boori Ma tried to convince the people that the keys being stolen was not her fault, but no one believed her. In the short story it states “ Then they tossed out Boori Ma. All were eager to begin their search for a real Durwan,” (pg. 82). She stayed there and sweeped their stairs. She talks about her stories and no one says anything about being a liar to her until now. She protected their society for a while, but her neighbors did not think twice when they kicked her out. She was the Durwan for the time being. Boori Ma faces a social loneliness because she was never “part of the society.” Boori Ma was seen as an outsider because of the mistake she committed. Boori Ma felt like she was apart of the society when she cleaned the stairs and talked to Dalals. She was alone at the time of her despair, and that was her isolation. The people isolated her from a place she called home. Since Boori Ma was from a different place people believe her culture was her person. Her culture made her an outsider to her neighbors like how Lilia’s lack of knowledge made her an

Sen’s” when Mrs. Sen has trouble adjusting in America. Mrs. Sen’s family thinks everything is easy in the U.S.A. but Mrs. Sen. would do anything to go home. An example of this is “ They think I press buttons and the house is clean. They think I live in a palace,” (pg ?) Mrs. Sen’s family doesn't understand the internal struggle of Mrs. Sen. They think the U.S. is a luxury when in reality the luxury is back home. Mrs. Sen. was not willing to drive, or take the plastic off the furniture. She thinks that they will go back to India and be home. Mrs. Sen gradually starts to drift away from herself. She stopped driving and taking out her curved blade. Mrs. Sen did not want to move on with her life. Mrs. Sen’s culture is making her feel lonely because no one seems to understand her except Eliot. She feels isolated from the world and her husband. Mr. Sen, because of his job, is able to adjust to the new land. Mrs. Sen’s may have isolated herself completely when the crash happened. Her way of life is something she never thought would change which is why she talks about her stories all the time of weddings and family that are in Calcutta. She talks about the stories with Elliot because she misses her home. Mrs. Sen is an outsider to the real world she's living in, and she doesn't feel like she