 This final chapter of The Interpreter of Maladies is different in its style of narration than the others. Understanding that this collection of stories address the concepts of identity and culture, address the significance in the change of narration for "The Third and Final Continent" as it applies to these topics.
Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "number" given to you in class as your "pen name." Due Wednesday night!
11
9/23/2015 08:06:35 pm
The last chapter of Interpreter of Maladies, The Third and Final Continent presented a different narration approach than the others, changing the overall tone and separating this story from the others. I think that this unfamiliar approach was that the speaker referred to his comfort being in London as opposed to, like the other characters, referring to or reminiscing about Indian. In his separation from referencing directly to India as his hometown, the speaker made this chapter have a more Americanized attitude. Though I am not sure of this being the narration difference expected, I find his issues in Boston to be significantly different to the living arrangements in the previous chapters. As he speaks about India he doesn’t share the same enthusiasm as the others. Often, the others had explored/appreciated the beauties or traditions in a graceful, respected matter while our speaker spoke nonchalantly or briefly about India. The only time that the speaker really speaks of Indian tradition is when he speaks of his mother’s death and ceremonial ritual (Lahiri, 182). I also think that the time period that this chapter is set in creates a different set of values for readers to comprehend. The time period could have set boundaries and provisions causing this chapter’s narration to differ to the previous stories.
7
9/23/2015 08:39:14 pm
At the beginning of the story the narration is very proper and conservative as the narrator is straight from India and still learning the culture here. But it also had an aloof feel to it since he doesn't have much care for his wife when he first comes since he did it pure out of tradition. Though it seemed to relax more and more and become more casual as the narrator adjusted to American life. As he settled more into his life here and when him and Mala finally grow together, they're thriving in this new environment as they discover their own identities and they create their own culture. At the beginning they didn't really have their own identity, and they clutched tightly onto the culture that they grew up with. They lost more and more connection to India, but they made their own life and started to visit their home only once a year or so. Though this mixture of culture and identity seems to be the major influence on him appreciating the simpler things that a lot of people don't think about or take for granted, like visiting places or all of the people we meet on a daily basis.
10
9/23/2015 08:47:39 pm
Lahiri's change in narration in "The Third and Final Continent" is significant when considering the narration of her other stories as it applies to the concepts of identity and culture. In her other short stories, Lahiri mostly writes in the third person narrative, or the first person plural narrative, and more. However, in this particular chapter, she uses the the first person narrative and tells the story through the eyes of an Indian man. Throughout her collection of small stories, she highlights the discrepancies between American, Indian-American, and Indian culture while, at the same time, exploring the theme of love and loss. Through this narration as an Indian man, Lahiri enhances the theme of identity because she is not a man; however, she is Indian and understands what an Indian man goes through. In other words, because of her Indian culture she can successfully write a story through the eyes of another Indian, despite the gender difference. We can also look at this in another way. Lahiri uses this first person narrative in a way that connects herself with Indian culture; instead of writing in the third person, distancing herself from her own culture, she brings herself closer to her Indian culture.
17
9/23/2015 09:40:09 pm
The change in narrative in "The Third and Final Continent", is shown in many different ways. First, the narration is perform by the main character, who is an Indian man who just got married and work in MIT's library. He is narrating the events occurred from when he lived in Indian, then in England, and to now live in America. The structure of the narrative was very important, since it helped us get an actual real insight of the level of difficulty that it is to migrate. A new nation means a new culture, a new way to refer to certain things, and new way of everything really. As an Individual who first moved here, he had to get used to the food, the liberal way of dressing, the language, etc. Compared to the other short stories, we hadn't had a chance to know how the migration affected these people. Several characters mentioned, had to adapt, and due to the model of narration, we had nothing told, other than the inferences we made by building up puzzles with information. The last story seemed to be very straight forward, in a way for the reader to get this feelings and knowledge by simply reading and not having to search for it. I really find this to be done, so that the author can leave a good equal understanding to all of his readers.
12
9/24/2015 08:18:45 pm
When comparing “The Third and Final Continent” to the rest of the stories, there is definitely a change in narration. The author makes the character go through migrating to America and shows the emotion of the Indian man. This time, leaving home is not so much negative, but it has a positive feeling to it unlike the other stories. The other character such as Mrs. Croft give hope for the new country. This is different from the other character in the past stories. It’s almost this feeling of acceptance that circulates through the chapter. Throughout the rest of the stories, there was more of a hostile environment with almost every single main character. By giving the characters the feeling of being accepted, they are more free, and overall more happy. The characters were also able to find their own identities as they settled into their new home. By being in America, they were losing who they were once in India. They got to figure it out for themselves and could make the decision on what they wanted and how they wanted it. By the end of the book, their life is America, not India. They have found a place where they can be free to do and see things as they wish.
14
9/24/2015 08:22:45 pm
In "The Third and Final Continent", the chapter was narrated by the main character, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology employee. The narrator did not ever mention what his name was. Although the theme of American/Indian culture is still present, it gives a different experience being in the point of view of an Indian man. The chapter follows him during his journey to America and the life he develops for himself there. He discusses his new life and how he got accustomed to living in Massachusetts. The concepts of identity and culture are utilized in this chapter when the narrator refers to what he finds normal at home (India) versus what is normal in America. “We sat at a bare table, each of us staring at our plates. We ate with our hands, another thing I had not yet done in America.” (Lahiri 192)Throughout the chapter, the narrator mentioned various things he did not do in America that he did when he was living in India. “’There is no need to cover your head…I don’t mind. It doesn’t matter here.’” (Lahiri 192) In this quote, the narrator was referring to his wife and her sari. In India, she would always need to keep it on but he said that “It doesn’t matter here.” You could assume that “here” means America.
13
9/25/2015 12:12:35 pm
In the chapter, “The Third and Final Continent”, Lahiri changes the style of narration she usually utilized in the earlier chapters of the book. Earlier in the book Lahiri would tell the stories from a third person’s point of view, and would rarely use first person point of views. Also, in this chapter, Lahiri makes the ending a happy one. Usually, her stories end with a loss or a missing for the main character’s home town or culture. In this chapter, Lahiri writes it so that the main character ends up happy and content with his life in America. The main character not only is happy, but is set on the idea of living there for the rest of his life with his family. Readers can see how the mood at the end of the chapter is completely new from how Lahiri usually ends her chapters. For example, in “Mrs. Sen’s”, the main character had missed India and had discussed how America was not as great as everyone in her homeland thought it was. Compare this to in “The Third and Final Continent”, where the characters were glad to have a new life and a fresh start in America. The characters also enjoyed meeting new people and being able to look back at where the husband used to live with the old lady, Mrs. Croft.
3
9/25/2015 11:03:49 pm
In the last chapter of Interpreter of Maladies, The Third and Final Continent, by Lahir, the author presented a different style of narration, than the other chapters before, to help address the concept of identity and culture. The author writes a lot about Indian immigrants who come to a new country in search of a better life or way of living. Usually the immigrants speak about their home in India and miss it, while in this chapter the subject is more thinking about the comfort he feels abroad. In the other short stories before the author uses third person narration (Interpreter of Maladies) and more than one first person narration in one piece (Mrs. Sen’s). While in this chapter the author uses first narration making the story unravels in the eyes of the Indian settler. Lahiri shows the relationship between identity and culture. She wants the readers to see that your identity is not just limited to your culture. The other short stories before were more of miscommunication or losses, while in this last chapter the author gives the type of feeling of acceptance. The subject of the last story, makes his identity, finding freedom and making progress in his life.
1
9/26/2015 10:25:29 am
In the final chapter of Interpreter of Maladies, "The Third and Final Continent", Lahiri writes in the 1st person point of view, which differs from the point of view of the other short stories. The use of first person already makes the story much more personal, as it is told from the perspective of the character versus a narrator. This allows readers to get into the mind of the character. While in other stories, the narrator would mention that the characters were either of Indian descent or lived in India at some point but would never go into detail of how that affected them as people. In this story, the character speaks of how his Indian values/upbringing affected his experiences in America. He describes how different people are in America versus how they are in India, for example when he recalls how his mother could not function after his father died and the speaker's brother needed to work to support her and the family versus how this 103 year old woman in America supported her whole family and continues to live with minimal assistance despite her old age (187). The speaker admires this American way of life (a very elderly woman being so independent) and it appears he gets to a point where he may even like it greater than the Indian way of living. However, when his wife of an arranged marriage travels to America to live with him, it was her Indian traditions that seemed foreign to him at first. Over time, as his son became older, he wanted his son to live a life with an infusion of cultures, Indian and American. The speaker learned to see the greatness in both cultures, the strength of the American way and the humbleness of the Indian way. A person's culture is not necessarily the one of the place where they reside, but of what they can take away from each culture they're exposed to and make their own.
15
9/26/2015 10:03:26 pm
In the last chapter of Lahiri’s book, “The Third and Final Continent”, the narration is very different from that of the other chapters in Lahiri’s book. The narration refers to London as home rather than India. In most of the other stories the characters identify greatly with India and Indian culture. The speakers attitude is more American than most other characters. He is extremely excited about exploring the new country, he even has a USA guide book. He has few bad experiences in America, the YMCA and then the noise outside of his house. But from that noise he is accepted by Mrs. Croft. Her acceptance gives the speaker more hope for his future in the new country. He and his wife were arranged together. The two were never really in love. At Mrs.Croft’s the two truly fall in love. They truly live happily together now. The characters in other stories seem to have more bad experience and have little hope in their future. For instance Shoba and Shukumar. The couple at one point actually loved and cared for each other, but they eventually drift apart. Mr. Pirizada eats dinner every night with Lalia’s family because he can not be with his. Bori Ma lives alone and works very long hours. Not much goes right for the characters in the rest Lahiri’s book. In this last chapter it changes drastically.
5
9/27/2015 01:43:22 pm
The last chapter of Interpreter of Maladies, “The Third and Final Continent”, presented a different approach of narration, shifting the mood and meaning of the overall passage. Lahiri states in her narration “At times I thought of the tiny room on the other side of the wall which belonged to my mother. Now the room was practically empty; the wooden pallet on which she’d once slept was piled with trunks and old bedding. Nearly six years ago, before leaving for London, I had watched her die in that bed…”(Lahiri 182). The beginning of the narrator’s new life abroad is marked by death of his mother. Laying in bed with his new wife, the narrator thinks back at the tragic last days of his mother’s life. This story focuses on the six weeks before Mala arrives in Cambridge but also reaches out to the present day to chart the lives of one man and his family. When the narrators mother was dying, he had to take care of her and, finally, light her funeral pyre. When Mrs. Croft dies, Mala is there to comfort the narrator. This begins a new chapter in his life and marriage, as the intimacy between them grows with shared experience. As readers, we see this shift in narration that takes place compared to the other chapters.
02
9/27/2015 09:31:08 pm
In the last chapter of the interpreter of maladies the author narration has change compared to other stories she has written because in this chapter the characters seem to be very happy at times and satisfied with their lifestyle compared to other stories where couples were unhappy being with each other and was dissatisfied with their lifestyle. This chapter has shown how the main character had the opportunity to live in three different continents before settling in Massachusetts with his family. Being able to meet people throughout his life time that ended up making a big impact in his life. The author written this story differently to show how someone can over come there trouble past and making the best out of their future, instead of an negative outcome it lead to a positive ending for everyone.
4
10/5/2015 11:07:25 pm
The final short story in the novel, “The Third and Final Continent” is very different compared to the other short stories. The story starts off with the narrator who is from Indian learning how to live with the culture in America. The story is told in the first person instead of being in second or third like the other stories are about. The narrator is having a hard time adapting to the new life style whether its good, or speaking, or actual way of living. The narrator in this story has a more positive way of outlook when coming to identity and culture compared to the other stories when all the main characters were suffering from some type of problem or conflict identity wise. The narrator isn’t thinking of the culture change as something bad but something that he can use and grow more of as a person. The narrator is more accepting of the new culture unlike the other stories, when it had a bad look on different cultures and making other cultures seem and feel so foreign. The person in the story seems to be nothing but happy to learn new things and meet new people which takes a very positive tone on the ending of the book.
18
10/15/2015 10:45:28 am
The change in narration in "The Third and Final Continent" shows a better insight on identity and culture than any of the other short stories because it gives a deeper meaning to the culture of the Middle East since its from an "I" perspective. The narrator gives us a first hand experience and allows us to view the world as he does, from every continent he visits we see his cultural background somehow step into place shaping him. No matter whether he's in England or in Boston he still remembers his home and doesn't think of it as something to be ashamed of or forgotten, he makes it a part of him. He also learns to accept the cultures he finds himself in and he tries to become very accustomed to wherever he goes.
19
10/18/2015 09:59:37 pm
This short story The Third And Final Continent by Jhumpa Lahiri there is a great difference between It and the other stories in Interpreter of Maladies. This difference is I'd say it's completely positive outlook throughout the entire story and it's, what can definitely be called, happy ending. In the other chapters it is shown how identity and culture can lead to differences being amplified and struggles due to those identities can even create gaps between people. In most of the stories we see how the gaps cause some great division within the people or within themselves. Instead these gaps are brought together and allow for things to get better. The biggest example of this happening is when he actually moves in with his wife. On a Friday night he tells his wife he is going to take her out and so this led her to dressing up and a Sari thinking it was going to be a special outgoing. The narrator almost regrets his asking her out but decides against it. He wants to try and make things work. So he takes her on a walk around the neighborhood and brings her to Mrs. Croft's house and introduces her to his wife. Mrs. Croft declares her the perfect lady and it is here in this moment that the narrator and mala begin to be happy together. The short story ends with an all and all positive note. The narrator tells his son "if I can survive on three continents, then there is no obstacle he cannot conquer (Lahiri 197). It is a positive message that goes back to the tile and the narrator's own experiences. Comments are closed.
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