Tale Of Hyphenated Identities In The Namesake & Interpreter Of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri

Abstract

Jhumpa Lahiri is a well-known and widely read diasporic author who has gained much credibility in her exploration and presentation of diasporic sensibilities through her works. Diasporic sensibilities continue to give us insights into the role of home and belonging as far as identity is concerned. Globally Diaspora has become a hotbed for many debates. Jhumpa Lahiri continues to explore what it means to be an alien in a country you migrate to. She feels an incessant need to locate her roots, to search for a sense of self, a place which she can call her own. It is through her writings that one uncovers and understands newer meanings of home and identity. We also get a glimpse into the life of people who live in such Diasporas. The connection with home is maintained through language, food, clothes, music and artifacts. The idea is to create a ‘home’ away from home. For Lahiri, identity is always in a flux; thus it is better to call it hyphenated identity. This paper intends to establish this based on the study of two major works of Lahiri viz. The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies.