27th Annual Student Research Conference
DNA and Destination: Diaspora and Identity in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland
Corbin A. Kottmann
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
In each of her works, Jhumpa lahiri has always been preoccupied with themes like loneliness and alienation, culture and tradition, fidelity, debasement of human values, and with analyzing the vagaries of fortune and the core of human relationships (Shukla). Lahiri's latest novel, The Lowland, is no different in its continuation of this tradition. The Lowland shows us the diasporic journey of an Indian family coming to America. This essay will explore these individual's struggle with their altering identities and ideologies, and their eventual hybridization through the application of Post-Colonial terms. One of the major influences on their colonization is the varied setting of the novel. In fact, Maureen Corrigan states in her essay on the novel that geography is destiny in terms of The Lowland (Corrigan). Both Calcutta and Rhode Island serve to shape the lives and psyches of our characters.
Keywords: Diaspora, PostColonialism, Lahiri
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 308-3
Location: VH 1320
Time: 1:30