The Third and Final Continent by Lahiri - Essay Example

The Third and Final Continent Why Lahiri charted out experiences of Indians at the end of the book Interpreter of Maladies. Interpreter of Maladies is a group of nine stories that deal with themes such as cultural differences, love, family, immigrant experience and identity. Most characters involved are Indian-Americans and Indians whose tales clearly explains the Indians Diasporas. The stories elaborate on the difficulties and experience that Indians underwent. In the story, The Third and Final Continent, the narrator mainly narrates the first weeks of his life experiences in America, around 1969. He was mainly describing how he was struggling in order to balance his new life in a new country as well as balancing his newly found job. As he explained, he lived in a spare room an old woman called Mrs. Croft, who was 103 years old. He lived in the old woman’s spare room while waiting for her wife’s green card. He familiarized himself to his new life style, appreciating Cambridge and his new start. However, the coming of his wife made him become a little indifferent. They became strangers at the beginning and later interacted with the native freely. For instance, when the speaker took his wife to meet the old woman, Mrs. Croft, moment of familiarity and understanding between them covered their divide. The speaker therefore, speaks about his present life as he proceeds or wonder at the passage his life has covered. The Third and Final Continent, being the last story of the Interpreter of maladies, leaves the audience or readers with a positive perception of experience faced by immigrants in America. The speaker remembers his school life experience in London, where roomed with the other emigrant Bengalis with a melancholic tone. The most encouraging thing that gave the narrator some hope in his new home is the kindness and acceptance of Mrs. Croft. As he explained, his wife tried to adapt with the Americans practices, customs and foods due to his adherence. She does whatever she can in order to please his husband, for example, she bought him some sweaters though they were not fitting him well. Narrator explains that it took them time in order to fit in the American community. They first had to undergo various challenges that made them stronger and encouraged them to continue living rather than going back to India. Due to the fact that he was determined to prosper, he decided to adhere with the American way of life and customs while learning little by little till they adapted. He even encouraged his wife who wiped her family after moving about five miles away from their ancestral land. The narrator managed to put up with the American way of life and decided to live there since he gave birth to son who was put up in America and attended the Harvard. His life fully depended in America since he knew that he was not the only foreigner to seek a new life in a foreign land. According to these elaborations about the Indians experiences in America, the author’s main aim of expressing these experiences at the end of the book was with various reasons. The author wanted his audience to understand clearly that even though immigration was subjected to oppression, other individuals managed to overcome the differences and later lived peacefully in the foreign land till their deaths. Additionally, Lahiri elaborate on the topic of immigration by describing its effects and how people relate towards it. This is explained in the last story where the narrator and his family managed to put up with the ways of the whites and later lived with them throughout their lives peacefully. Additionally, he managed to make various achievements in America without many problems and later compared his success to that of Neil Armstrong. Furthermore, the author also made the story at the end of the story in order to deliver a message about life’s unpredictability. She wanted to explain that life is very special and extraordinary and that it carries sorrow and love. Considering the themes in the book, the theme of assimilation and immigrant experience has several forms in the book, Interpreter of Maladies. For instance, in the story, The Third and Final Continent, the narrator feels that the shift to a new life is rather challenging but very smooth. He looks ahead to the best opportunities that can be afforded by the country. Relating to the story of When Mr. Pirzada Comes to Dinner, the situation is different when it comes to Lilia. Lilia’s parents did profit from their move to America because it opened their ways to wealth. However, the situation did not favor Lilia, due to the cultural differences. This theme mainly deals with how characters are affected by identity, whether descended from immigrants or displaced. The characters also express their longing for their ancestral lands, fear of being odd and not accepted and the fear of losing their cultures. Another theme tackled is the theme of love and marriage which are brought out to be more complicated in the book. In these stories, marriage is portrayed as an occasion of happiness, silence, mysteries and secrets. The relationship between Twinkle and Sanjeev crystallizes the distinct attributes and attitudes of marriage in the book. Even though the two were born in America and had unarranged marriage, Twinkle and Sanjeev relate as total stranger to one another. In spite of the romantic feelings that emerge within couples, the couples in the stories told in the Interpreter of Maladies remain individuals, who hold on their own desires and secrets. For example, Sanjeev doubted the love he had for his wife due to misunderstanding they had but he kept it a secret. In the story, The Third and Final Continent, the narrator proves that distance between spouses can be closed by a common or shared experience. Marriage therefore, is not a firm institution but can be referred to as a fluid invention. The other common themes described in the stories include; communication, religion and tradition, parent to child relationship, nature and environment and partition. The author explains that communication covers most of her stories as well as its absence. The theme of religion and tradition illustrates that the maintenance of the old customs and traditions while adapting to new ones is part of the process of assimilation for migrants. According to the narration of the last story in his book, Lahiri provides a positive message about immigration. He tried to persuade his audience that despite of the fact that immigration is subjected to oppression, one can make his life comfortable by understanding and respecting others cultures. He also illustrated that even though it is very tough to adopt in a foreign environment, life can be so smooth depending on how one views things in relation to what he wants to achieve. As illustrated in The Third and Final Continent, the narrator explained how he managed to succeed smoothly despite of the challenges. Work cited Jhumpa Lahiri. Interpreter of Maladies. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. Print. Read More