Publication

Abstract : Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earthm mainly focuses on the lives of the first and second generation Indian immigrants who have settled in America. The characters of these stories face the challenges of belonging to two different cultures and strive to maintain ties to both cultures. The second generation Indian immigrants find themselves caught between the culture and traditional values of their immigrant parents and the mainstream culture of the American society they live in. In most of these stories home and family has a crucial role in the formation and the development of Indian American identity. Migrant families maintain their ethnicity through preservation of the native language, religions and cultural traditions.Family, being a visible social institution, its choice and representation allows the immigrants to embrace or reject one of their confusing identities, either Indian or American. This paper analyses the role of home and family as crucial elements in shaping the identities of the first and second generation Indian Americans in the selected text