Analysis Of The Book Unaccustomed Earth By Jhumpa...

In the short story collection, Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, immigrants and memories have a very particular relationship because their memories surrounding a large part of their identities are derivative of diaspora. Somehow they are able to have this double consciousnesses, the memories and thoughts as immigrants, and the memories and thoughts as Americans. The time spent in their native country or in their host country cannot be replaced, even if the experiences immigrants encounter are negative. Even if the immigrant misses what they have lost migrating to another country, what is lost cannot come back. There is a constant battle between how much and how little memories do the Indian-American characters in the book have of being either Indian or American to be â€Å"Indian-American.† In Year’s End, whether or not memories are â€Å"too excessive† or â€Å"not enough† is a question that is explicitly asked. Kaushik criticizes his father for gettin g rid of too much evidence of his mother’s life, but after finding her pictures, too little. While his mother was alive, people criticized his father for giving her too much, but after learning that she is dying from cancer, there seems to never be enough that he can do for her. Kaushik tries his best to be â€Å"okay† with his mother’s death, and that his father’s remarriage didn’t spite him. But his true feelings come out after he finds his step-sisters opening up his mother’s album of photos that he tried to lock out of sight, out of