Abstract This article analyses the use of food as a metaphor and how it is connected to the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies”. Williams points out the general importance of food in literature and on the basis of “A Temporary Matter”, “Mrs. Sen’s” and “A Blessed House” she goes more detailed into the topic. It is portrayed that the food reflects the character’s personality and relationships. Williams makes the conclusion that Lahiri gives the reader an insight into the life of the immigrants, so non-immigrant readers can understand them more easily.

Summary In the text to be summarized Laura Williams analyses three short stories of the novel “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri concerning food and subjectivity. In the introduction Williams quotes different authors to evince the importance of food in literature, especially in Asian American literature, mirrors relationships and touches upon the main issues of the immigrant main characters like assimilation and identity. After the introduction the text is divided into different segments, each for every story and one for the conclusion. The first segment deals with the story “A Temporary Matter” in which the married couple, Shoba and Shukumar, both second generation immigrants, have to face the end of their broken marriage. In A Temporary Matter the food metaphor is frequently used, mainly because it reflects their marriage, particularly how Shoba prepared a variety of extraordinary foods and stocked everything neatly when their marriage was still working and how Shukumar took that for granted. Williams interprets that because Shukumar uses up their stocks, he is completely dependent on Shoba, cannot live without her and is always taking, but not giving on a physical but also an emotional level, too. William goes on with the short story “Mrs. Sen’s” which addresses the issues of the immigrant woman Mrs. Sen, who came to America because of the profession of her husband and thus cannot feel home in America and has a lack of identity. Food also plays an important role in this story since all the ingredients she uses for her dishes are enumerated multiple times, but almost never the dishes. By preparing dishes she creates herself an identity and can connect with other people like Elliot or the man who sells her fish, thus she does not feel as lonely as she would without the food preparation. In “The Blessed House” Williams addresses the story of a freshly married Indian immigrant couple, who is very diverse. Sanjeev is very well structured and holds onto the Indian traditions, while Twinkle is open for new things and creative in what she does. William states that the way both cook (Sanjeev’s dishes always taste the same, Twinkles dishes are aromatic and surprising) can be reflected on their characters, how they deal with their new life, and their marriage.

Analysis part 2 Lahiri uses different techniques to evoke the reader’s empathy for the immigrants. A very striking one is the use of imagery. In A Temporary Matter for example everything is described very detailed and the reader feels like he is a part of the story. A good example for this is the passage where Shukumar thinks about the day he left his wife Shoba before her stillbirth and he describes the taxi cab very detailed and how he had a last sight at his pregnant wife. The situation appears very vividly. Additionally, the short story is told from the first-person perspective, so the reader gets caught up in Shukumar’s thoughts and feelings what makes it easier for the reader to understand his behaviour regarding the struggles has to face. His subjective point of view evokes the reader to understand Shukumar better generally. In contrast to that the short story Mrs. Sen’s is told from Elliots point of view, thus it is written in a more objective and neutral way. Even though Elliot is 11 years old he seems to be mature and sees things how they are. By this, Mrs. Sen is portrayed as a warm-hearted and maternal figure, so the reader sympathizes for her automatically. This is an important aspect because Mrs. Sen is not very well integrated into the American society, which is a negative thing for many people. Because Elliot likes Mrs. Sen (and he even feels more home at Mrs. Sen’s than at his own home) non-immigrants can rely on his point of view better than on an immigrant’s point of view, if they have any aversion. Another very noticeable technique of Lahiri is her use of metaphors and symbols. In Mrs. Sen’s for example, she cannot get used to driving her car and so she cannot get a driver’s license. This means that she is not free in America, the land of freedom, and cannot integrate into American society. Her constant use of the Indian knife stands for her need to talk to her Indian friends and to have company like she used to have while preparing food. In A Temporary Matter Shoba and Shukumar always eat Indian food even though it seems like they are living a normal western lifestyle besides that. Their food choices show their need to feeling connected to their Indian roots. The use of imagery combined with the metaphors make the two short stories very vivid and easy to understand. Furthermore, Lahiri employs a simplistic writing style and does not use an artificial way of writing.

Analysis part 1 Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian-American author, who addresses the difficulties of being a (second generation) migrant in her popular short stories. So do her two short stories “A Temporary Matter” and “Mrs. Sen’s”, which are the subject of this analysis. Lahiri approaches different topics for A Temporary Matter is about Shoba and Shukumar, who experience the problems of second generation migrants, whereas Mrs. Sen is a migrant, who struggles with assimilating to the American lifestyle. Shoba and especially Shukumar do not feel connected with India, nevertheless they mostly eat Indian dishes and feel the need to reconnect with India (Shukumar begins to study eastern cultures after the death of his father). They look like typical Indians, know the Indian culture, but they are members of the western/American society, which leads them into an inner conflict and a feeling of disconnection. Lahiri portrays the identity conflict second generation migrants like Shoba and Shukumar are conflicted with. Mrs. Sen however did not grow up in America and has major problems dealing with the culture clash. Her story is more about homesickness and nostalgia. Mrs. Sen wants to keep the Indian traditions in her life what leads her into the situation where she cannot adapt the American lifestyle because she clings too much onto her old life in India. Both stories deal with themes like the end of a marriage or/and the death of a loved one. Overall, a sad atmosphere and hardships characterize the two short stories. Lahiri’s stories are non-fictional and could happen just like this in real life, thus this realistic aspect has an even more depressing effect on the reader, because one can easily imagine being in the character’s skin. It could be Lahiri’s intention to show readers, who are not immigrants and have no migratory background how hard it can be to live in two worlds simultaneously and to have a feeling of cultural displacement. For non-immigrants it can be hard to understand the problems that immigrants face and by reading Lahiri’s short stories people who are not faced with those situation can show the immigrants understanding. This could also counter xenophobia and racism. For the immigrants, on the other hand, the stories can give them comfort and show them that they are not alone with their problems.

Creative rewrite "A Temporary Matter" third part third part: Sure, it wasn’t very healthy for me to immerse myself in all this work to be occupied 24/7, but at least I didn’t live on someone else’s expense. I mean he is the man and he didn’t behave like that ever since at all. Ugh, I sound like my mother. To be honest, I don’t know if it was his fault that it ended like this. I know that I’m not perfect and that I made mistakes too… but what he did is not excusable. I did not want to know the truth and I wish I could just forget what he told me. I think he already started to hate me when he heard that our son is dead. Maybe he blames me for the death of our child. And maybe he wanted me to go too. We both knew that we weren’t happy and a marriage shouldn’t be like that. I’m aware that it’s not always easy, but for half a year we were practically strangers. I did the right thing. Shukumar is such a coward and he lived his cosy life on my cost, he would have never ended it. I did the right thing for both of us. I cannot keep on living my life like this. Everything will be different from now on.

Creative rewrite "A Temporary Matter" second part second part: And I know that is wrong to let him kiss me and that we ended up having sex that one night, but I thought maybe something would change after this. I was so stupid to really think this. Of course nothing changed. Anyways, I physically could not make myself say these words on the first night. But he instead did not hesitate a single moment to tell me the last thing on earth that I wanted to know. How could he held our dead son in his arms in the first place without letting me know the whole time? I mean he wasn’t even there when I got into the hospital… What kind of husband does that? I remember that he told me that his stupid conference is soo important and sure, I said that he should go, but is it really that hard to understand that sometimes yes means no? I didn’t want to sound like one of those wives who stand in the way of their husband’s career, but of course I wanted him to be at home. He should have been there when it happened. Even that is unforgiveable, but he never spoke to me about that. He never apologized. All this time I felt like he did not understand me at all. But how should he? He did not carry a piece of himself for nine months within him. I never expected him to understand, but it did not seem like he genuinely cared about me after it happened. He did not make an effort to talk to me about it, ask me how I feel or comfort me like he did before everything changed. I really would have needed that. I know that it was hard for him to deal with the grief, I don’t want to sound like a bitch, but it wasn’t the same for him as it was for me. Our son died inside of me, not him. A piece of me died when he died. But instead of being there for me Shukumar couldn’t wait to move into his room. I know that it was his way to escape from being near to me, but how could he be in the room that my son should have slept in all the time? No wonder he became this depressed and didn’t do anything all day.

Creative rewrite "A Temporary Matter" This is the first part of my creative rewrite of the short story "A Temporary Matter" for my English class. It would be great if someone could proof-read it. :) Thank you! Dear Diary, it’s been three days since I’ve told Shukumar about the apartment. I’ve been living at my parent’s home these past days cause I can’t stand the thought of being near to him now. Although it feels weird to be back here and sleep in my old room. It’s hard to hold their gazes for I know how much they despise my decision. I guess I’ll never forget dad’s look “It’s a disgrace that don’t want to live with your husband anymore for practically no reason!” I haven’t told anyone what Shukumar told me. I just can’t say it out loud to my parents and I think it would not make any difference to Dad. I didn’t expect him to react any different. Dad, at least, will never accept that it’s a different time now and that he is not in India anymore. For them, I’m a disgrace. I’m a disgrace for marrying Shukumar in the first place, for being the breadwinner and for leaving him. It would have been easier to just stay at Gillian’s house for a few days, but I was too afraid and ashamed to ask her. Maybe she would have understood my situation… or maybe she’s still angry with me for breaking off contact with her. Perhaps I should send her a letter and explain everything to her in detail. Anyways, at the beginning of the next week I can move into the apartment. Besides that, I have to focus on the good things now, I mean at least I don’t have to see him. It would just hurt too much. I still can’t believe how he could have been so heartless. Before telling him about the apartment I imagined what he would say over and over again, but this didn’t cross my mind. Even if I had known that he knew the gender of our child. This is not the Shukumar I married. He used to be so loving and sensitive. I know that pain changes people. I mean, I changed too, but the Shukumar I used to know would have never done something like that to me. How much does he hate me to do such a thing to me? I mean, I never wanted to hurt him that’s why I played that game in the first place, but he clearly doesn’t care about me anymore. I just hoped that he might figure out that I wanted to tell him, yet he was completely clueless. Even a few months ago Shukumar would have noticed instantly if something was wrong… I really wanted to tell him everything on the first night, but I couldn’t.