Diasporic Hybridity and Liminality in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland

Abstract

Diasporic experiences of Indian characters have drawn a considerable attention of social thinkers, political leaders, literary scholars and critics. The experiences of immigrants have been explored by postmodern researchers and writers in an effort to understand the reasons behind their hopelessness, the breakdown of their families, and how they ultimately internalise the ideals of the host culture at the urging of the native culture. Greek word for dispersal is where the word “diaspora” originates. It speaks of the scattering and displacing of individuals from their place of origin. The authors of diaspora have tried to underpin the hidden underlying reasons of leaving one’s country and compensating for their periferal status in the adopted culture. While juxtaposing the past and present experiences, the diaspora writers critically analyise the nature of exile, homelessness, nostalgia, memory of native land, hybridity, liminality, marginality, culture shock and identity crisis. In this research article, Jhumpa Lahiri's representation of immigrants’ struggles with identity, self-formation, and cultural differences in her book The Lowland will be critically assessed. It attempts to throw light on the social and political insecurities, human rights and cultural challenges brought forth by their liminal status. Facing liminality the characters are hovering in a perpetual mental dilemma between Indian lifestyle and American advanced culture. The major themes of the novel are location, relocation, dislocation, displacement and alienation which are solely caused by characters’ personal choices and actions.