An Analysis of Part One of "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri is a collection of short stories that revolve around Indian-American people living in the United States, often the Northeast. The stories are often from the perspective of an Indian-American whose parents have immigrated from India. The stories of Part One can be unified by their focus on familial relationships.

The first story of Unaccustomed Earth focuses on Ruma, a second-generation Indian-American who lives in Seattle with her white husband Adam. Ruma's mother has deceased a number of years before the story takes place, leaving Ruma in a somewhat awkward situation with her dad, as they have never been very close. The familial relationship problem in this story lies in Ruma's struggle to decide whether she should ask her dad to move into her home with her, as he is getting older. However, after he visits, she notices that he is self-sustaining and old age has not burdened him nearly as bad as she thought. She also learns during this visit that he is dating a new woman, which upsets Ruma. 

The second story of Unaccustomed Earth dissects the marriage of Amit, an Indian man, and Megan, a white woman. (It is worth noting that Jhumpa seems to love interracial marriages in her stories). The familial relationship problem in this story is the mutual feeling between Amit and Megan that the quality of their marriage has rapidly degraded. And it is not as if they make a conscious effort to repair their marriage either; both characters seem to express a feeling of indifference towards the subject. The story takes the couple to a wedding, which is a good foil for the lack of love that Amit and Megan feel in their own marriage. This setting creates a strong juxtaposition between the strong love of newly-weds and the lackluster marriage that Megan and Amit have now come to know.

The third story is centered around two Indian-American siblings, Rahul and Sudha. The main issue in the story is Rahul's alcoholism and the harmful effects it has on his family. Rahul's alcoholism takes Rahul from being a proficient student at Cornell to a college-dropout turned laundromat manager in the span of a few years. His alcoholism takes a huge toll on Sudha, as she feels responsible for it due to her supplying him alcohol in his teenage years. The simple act of supplying a younger sibling alcohol as a teen eventually led to the near-death of Sudha's son as Rahul gets drunk and almost allows her son to drown in the bath one evening when he visited. The story ends on this sorrow note and leaves the reader questioning whether Rahul will ever defeat his alcoholism and what the future with his family will hold. 

The fourth story of Unaccustomed Earth brings the reader into the life of Paul and Sang, two housemates. Although not ever romantically involved, Paul seems to have developed a small crush on Sang. This is evident when he is presented with evidence that Sang's boyfriend is cheating on her. At first hesitant to tell her, he eventually tells her and destroys their relationship. Paul accompanies Sang to confront her boyfriend and in a way becomes her "protector". This role gives Paul some satisfaction, knowing that he keeps Sang safe. This story analyzes friendships, infidelity and couples. 

Part One of Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri is a collection of short stories that analyzes relationships amongst Indian-American people. The stories tell their struggles as they face problems pertaining to distant parents, marriage problems, alcoholism and couples. Jhumpa Lahiri does a wonderful job of illustrating the circumstances and the effects that each problem can have on Indian-Americans.