My two lives

Faith woyee

10/7/13

My two lives by Jhumpa Lahiri

“My two lives,”  in this story  Jhumpa Lahiri the author  tells us about her struggle with being Indian-American in the American society focusing on how being part of two cultures was confusing, stressful, and full of pressure from living two lives.  She depicts herself as an Indian-American because she moved with her family from India to the United States when she was very young Being part of the two different cultures for Lahiri was confusing and that she feels that she doesn’t belong any of the cultures.  Whenever she was at home, she   followed the customs of her parents by speaking Bengali and eating rice, she deals with her parents in an Indian way, which was strange compared to the American way that she encountered outside.  She says that she has a special identity in spite of her Indian appearance and American behaviors.

Lahiri was young, and she was having trouble balancing her American life with the Indian life at home.  She explains how her parents had grown up in Calcutta, and they tried to continue practicing the same culture in America.  They lived their daily lives like they were still in India, listening to Indian songs, speaking Bengali, wearing traditional clothes, and eating Indian food with their fingers.  All these factors made her feel like an alien and she was ashamed of that way of life.

As an immigrant she felt that she wasn’t living up to the imposition of being Indian or American and her even tried to hide her home life from her American friends, her name, look, and the fact that she didn’t participate in social events like her friends made her seem less American.  Her parents didn’t engage in any activities outside of their culture, which made it difficult for Lahiri to be able to participate in American activities.

 In my opion I think most of people would easy to lose their way when they are between two different cultures, as any immigrants, my friend older brother also used to face this similarly issue.  When, he was a high school student, he had avoided speaking Spanish changing his hair’s color to blond.  Tried to do what whatever he could to it to make himself seem more American.

We can’t never who we are or change where we are coming from doesn’t matter how hard we try at the end we just have to expect the fact that we are who are and there nothing we can do about it Lahiri claims that it was American society that taught her how to behave like an American while her parents gave her a strong sense of being Indian.  In the end, she concludes that her parents were the most important factor to keep her Indian roots and she has felt less conflicted between her identities rather than before.