Reading Jhumpa Lahiri in the Light of Planetarity

• Main Authors: Wan-ru Tseng, 曾琬茹
• Other Authors: Susan Jung Su
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/y9evve

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 97 === This thesis aims to analyze the Indian American writer Jhumpa Lahiri’s works, The Namesake and Unaccustomed Earth, so as to explore how the second-generation immigrants’ identity transforms from the root identity to the relation identity. Based on Édouard Glissant’s concept, I argue that the relation identity emphasizes how one builds his/her identity on the relationship with others. Apart from that, I also incorporate Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s concept of “planetarity,” which Spivak regards as an alternative to globalization, into Glissant’s identity theories. Criticizing capitalism and commodification brought by globalization, Spivak calls on “planetarity” to alert her reader to the danger of different local cultures being subsumed under globalization. In addition, viewing people as the same species inhabiting on earth, she invites us to reconsider the intimate relationship among human beings. This thesis is composed of four chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the main ideas of the thesis, which includes Jhumpa Lahiri’s background, her major works, and the basic concepts of “planetarity.” Chapter two examines Spivak’s “planetarity” which serves as a theoretical base for my discussions of both Asian American literature and the diasporic identity. Regarding planetarity as a literary trope, Spivak wishes to propose this humanitarian project in the hope that it may combine area studies with studies of comparative literature. In doing so, she anticipates a new vision in the future when comparative literature can transcend national boundaries and embrace difference, which inspires me to read Asian American literature planetarily. In this similar light, I argue that the second-generation immigrants have developed a special type of diaspora identity which is relational with its emphasis on multiple relationships with others. Also, in the course of relation identity formation, the emotion of love plays a critical role in binding people together. Chapter three intends to analyze Lahiri’s The Namesake and the “Hema and Kaushik” trilogy collected in Unaccustomed Earth on the basis of the theories elucidated in the second chapter. By using names and photography as metaphors, Lahiri dramatizes the transformation of the characters’ mentality and their identity formations. Characters, relationship, and love hence serve as the very essential elements for identity formation. The fourth (final) chapter concludes my arguments by reviewing the main points discussed previously. It attempts not only to re-evaluate the feasibility of Spivak’s utopian project but also to exhibit more possibilities of productive dialogues that “planetarity” might open up to the question of diaspora identity.