Question

Throughout the story, how does Lahiri develop and relate her American and Bengali-Indian backgrounds? How does Lahiri’s complex background influence the central themes and conflicts within the story? Identify examples that reflect Lahiri’s diverse background.

Answer 1

Answer:

Lahiri develops and relates her American background through Hema as she tries to emulate American culture. Lahiri’s Bengali-Indian background is depicted through Hema’s mother’s attempts to keep Hema in touch with her heritage. Despite living in the United States, Hema’s mother still follows her Bengali customs. Hema depicts Lahiri’s complex background as she tries to resist her mother’s coercing her into following her Bengali heritage:

My mother considered the idea of a child sleeping alone a cruel American practice, and therefore did not encourage it, even when we had the space. She told me that she had slept in the same bed as her parents until the day she was married and that this was perfectly normal. But I knew that it was not normal, not what my friends at school did, and that they would ridicule me if they knew. The summer before I started middle school I insisted on sleeping alone.

The narrator’s desire to blend in with the other children acts as the central theme of the story. Hema feels like she can only truly blend in with Americans if she forsakes her Bengali heritage.

One winter I had to wear your coat, which I hated so much that it caused me to hate you as a result. It was blue-black with an orange lining and a scratchy grayish-brown trim around the hood. I never got used to having to hook the zipper on the right side, to looking so different from the other girls in my class with their puffy pink and purple jackets. When I asked my parents if I could have a new coat they said no. A coat was a coat, they said. I wanted desperately to get rid of it. I wanted it to be lost.

Lahiri possesses a diverse background. Despite her American, Bengali, and British heritage, only her Bengali and American heritage are evident in “Once in a Lifetime.” For example, her American background is evident in Hema’s choice of television programs:

Then one day I came home from school and found your parents awake, their ankles crossed on top of the coffee table, filling up the sofa where I normally sat to watch "The Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Island."

An example of her Indian heritage is seen in her descriptions of her parents’ lifestyle (such as her having to sleep in her parents’ room) and in the description of the two mothers:

Your mother was perched on a swing, gently swaying back and forth as you soared above her, when she noticed a young Bengali woman in a sari wearing vermillion in her hair.

Explanation:

-Plato

Answer 2

Answer:

Lahiri develops and relates her American background through Hema as she tries to imitate or copy American culture.

Explanation:

Lahiri develops and relates her American background through Hema as she tries to imitate or copy American culture. She shows her Indian culture through hema's mother. As an Indian, Hema's mother keeps her up dated with the culture of her ancestors and where she came from. Even though Hema lives in the united states her mother still follows begali culture like most immigrant parents do. Am sure that lahiri shows her complicated background through hema's resistance of her mother instiling the bengali culture onto her. "My mother considered the idea of a child sleeping alone, a cruel American practice, and therefore did not encourage it, even when we had the space". She related to me that she had slept in the same bed as her parents until the day she was married and that this was perfectly normal. But I knew that it was not normal, not what my friends at school did, and that they would ridicule me if they knew. The summer before I started middle school I insisted on sleeping alone, but she objected at first.