Home and Homelessness in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Mrs. Sen’s”

Abstract

The continuous process of movement in the diasporic context results in a feeling of homelessness for immigrants. In this paper, I will focus on the impact of displacement and the significance of the Western urban locations in the lives of South Asian diasporic women and the ways geographical locations affect the identity of the female protagonist, as represented in Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story, “Mrs. Sen’s”. The struggle between home country and the host nation is a common theme of every diasporic literary work, which results in alienation, loss of belonging, rootlessness and trauma, in the lives of the female immigrants. My paper will further probe into the ways culinary art, for instance, cooking and serving food, and vehicles, such as buses and cars, have a significant impact on the reconstruction of female identity and the ways female characters gain agency within the narrative structure.