Assimilation as a Two-Way Transaction: Home and Abroad in Mukherjee, Tan and Thapa

Abstract

This research explores the assimilation problems in the life of Asian immigrants living in America represented in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine, Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club and Manjushree Thapa’s Seasons of Fligh. Jasminenarrates the assimilation problem of an illegal Indian immigrant in America where as The JoyLuck Clubportrays the generation gap, cultural conflict and miscommunication between Chinese born mothers and their American born daughters. Thapa’s narrative depicts identity crisis of a Nepali immigrant living in America due to the assimilation problems. The attempt of these characters in the subsequent novel is followed closely in the theoretical light on the issue of dividedness of the characters while living in the alien land and diasporic experiences forwarded by theorist like Vijaya Mishra, R. Radha krishna and Stuart Hall.The diasporic characters attempting to assimilate in America face as plitself identity and dividedness due to the failure of assimilation. They can neither completely forget the past nor can they accept socio-cultural values and assumptions of American society. As a result they suffer from hybridity, alienation and frustration. Hence, this research underscores the immigrants’attempts of assimilation as a two way transaction: leaving them in between the past and present.