Diasporic Mediation in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland

Abstract

In The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri reflects upon the ways in which the Indian immigrants try to cope with their hybrid and diasporic experiences in the USA. Such coopting becomes intense as the immigrants try to forge their cultural identity. In this regard this thesis argues that the immigrants such as Gauri and Subhash are often compelled to experience the sense of displacement and avoid the clash of cultures. However the sense of pleasure derived from the relative autonomy of their live in the hybrid cultural situation helps them to mediate between the native and metropolitan cultures. The sense of cultural identity constructed through such mediation is not a fixed possession but a momentary experience, a strategy for survival in the alien land.