humanities i: year's end

Birthdate: 11 July 1967Birthplace: London, EnglandHometown: Kingston, Rhode Island

- a daughter of Bengali Indian immigrants father: worked as a librarian at the University of Rhode Island mother: taught her their Bengali heritage

- had moved from England to the U.S.A.

- had considered herself an American

Educational Attainment

South Kingstown High School

Barnard College - B.A. English Literature

Boston University- M.A. English- M.A. Comparative Literature- M.A. Creative Writing- Ph.D. Renaissance Studies

Worksaddresses sensitive dilemmas in the live of Bengali Indian immigrants, disconnection between the first and second generation of US immigrants

"When I first started writing I was not conscious that my subject was the Indian-American experience. What drew me to my craft was the desire to force the two worlds I occupied to mingle on the page

as I was not brave enough, or mature enough, to allow in life."

Some Notable Works

Interpreter of Maladies (1999) a collection of stories of Indian-American experiences (Pulitzer Prize for fiction and PEN award)

The Namesake (2003)a novel, which later had a film adaptation, about generational gap (first and second generation immigrants)

Unaccustomed Earth (2008)a collection of short stories (Pulitzer Prize) (includes second and third generations)

Some Notable Works

Interpreter of Maladies (1999) a collection of stories of Indian-American experiences (Pulitzer Prize for fiction and PEN award)

The Namesake (2003)a novel, which later had a film adaptation, about generational gap (first and second generation immigrants)

Unaccustomed Earth (2008)a collection of short stories (Pulitzer Prize) (includes second and third generations)

Kaushik- narrator- 21 years old- born in 1965 at Cambridge, Massachusetts- 9 years old: went to Bombay, India- 16 years old: went back to Cambridge, Massachusetts after his mother got sick- 18 years old: his mother died- studied at Swarthmore; lived in a dorm

Kaushik’s Father- 55 years old- had his first job at Cambridge, Massachusetts- first married in 1962 (arranged marriage)- after wife got sick, he would arrive home with flowers, and would go to work late- wrote Bengali poems and read them to his wife but stopped when she died- married Chitra, whom he met for just a few weeks and had only seen twice before their marriage- reason for remarrying: he was tired of coming home to an empty house

Kaushik’s Mother- married in 1962 (arranged marriage) and moved to Massachusetts- would occasionally return to Calcutta to cheer up her parents- was fond of the ocean and swimming and modern architecture- died at the age of 42 because of cancer- her ashes were tossed from a boat off the Gloucester coast- her jewelries were distributed to the poor women in Calcutta who had worked for their extended family as ayahs or cooks or maids

Chitra- 35 years old (20 years younger than her 2nd husband)- lost her spouse to encephalitis two years before a schoolteacher- traditional- had two daughters: Rupa and Piu- didn’t speak English well- asked Kaushik to call her Mamoni

Chitra’s Daughters

Rupa- 10 years old

Piu- 7 years old

Kaushik’s Maternal Grandparents- didn’t believe when their grandchild, Kaushik, and his father told them that their daughter died- they were still hoping that their daughter would come back, boarding a plane once again

Jessica- Kaushik’s girlfriend whom he met at Spanish class

Mrs. Gharibian- middle-aged woman with short brown hair and a soft Southern accent- Kaushik’s mother’s nurse

Zarin- family cook at Bombay

Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

• Their house was a stark structure of concrete and glass that Kaushik’s mother preferred more than the shingled, shuttered homes typical of the towns• Modernist architecture, proximal to the

ocean, somewhat isolated, enormous, “more befitting of an institution than a private home”• Where the new wife of Kaushik’s father and

her children moved

This was where the family of Kaushik moved after his mother got sick. Before moving, they had been living in Bombay, India.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

• Probably in the 1980’s since Kaushik’s

parents married in 1962 and Kaushik is 21 in the story.

• Jimi Hendrix, Paul Strand – icons who were famous during Kaushik’s adolescent year; cassettes were famous in the 1980’s; Family Feud; Dunkin’ Donuts

• Winter

It was set during the Christmas Season

IntroductionPoint of AttackComplication

ClimaxResolution

Characters Environment

Kaushik Father

Kaushik Chitra

Kaushik Stepsisters

THEME

“Not easy. It’s not easy for me.” - Kaushik

“We are bothmoving forward, Kaushik.”

- DaD

ADJUSTMENT

“Things weredifferent now, of course.”

-Kaushik

I don’t ask you to care for her,even to like her. I only ask

that you understandmy decision.

-Dad

“I did not know how to respond…”

The steps are slippery…Why is there no railing?

-Chitra

The knowledge of death seemedpresent in both sisters – it was somethingabout the way they carried themselves,

something that had broken too soon and hadnot mended, marking them in spite of

their lightheartedness.

SILENCE

“It would remain

between the

three of us, that

in their

SILENCE they

continued both

to protect and

to punish me.”

• DESCRIPTIVE• USE OF PLAIN LANGUAGE• AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL

Characters are often Indian immigrants to America who must navigate between the cultural values of their birthplace and their adopted home

Graphic Credits…http://www.simpsoncrazy.com