Research of the Short Story Unaccustomed Earth - Essay Sample

The story "Unaccustomed Earth" is a description of an immigrant family. After the Ruma's mother died, her father decides to travel in various place and also visit her daughter, Ruma in Seattle. Ruma is so caring, and thus, she feels that her father needs her support. As such, she thinks that she should quit her job and accompany the Bengali family. However, the father is depressed by Ruma's decision. He requests her to keep and maintain her position in a job because he has already adapted staying alone. Conversely, Ruma realizes that the father is dating someone after seeing the postcard which was taken by Akash ((Wutz,14). Tension and confusion are great traits which affect how the family interacts. This issue arises when the father raises the argument about Ruma's decision. He is worried if Runa is making the right decision. From the story, the author creates a question, what are challenges that immigrants face as they try to cope with various social activities in the world? Hence, the paper examines the challenges that immigrants faces and the family relationship among immigrates.

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For a long time, immigrants were associated with massive challenges which affected their social life. Most of them try to move in various place as they look for a better place to settle. In the story, Ruma's father moves in various places as he tries to fight the psychological torture that had occurred after the death of the mother. The author says, "after her mother's death, Ruma's father retired from the pharmaceutical company where he had worked for many decades and began travelling in Europe, a continent he'd never seen" (Lahiri, 1). Ruma is also deeply affected by her father's affairs, and this influences her to quit the job so that he can cater to the family. Ruma believes that living alone is so stressful and would stimulate emotional torture. The father tries to assure Ruma that he is fine because he has already adapted living alone. Additionally, the issue of financial burden is another critical issue that causes both social and emotional stress among immigrants. Cultural and social believes control how people move in various areas, especially in the search for money (Wutz, 17). In this case, Ruma's father is so worried about Ruma living a legal job which was a source of her income. Ruma is so much confused when she decides to move together with her father without informing her husband, Adam. Adam had gone for a business trip living Ruma and the son in Seattle, "Adam would be a way that week, on another business trip. He worked for a hedge fund and since the move had yet to spend two consecutive weeks at home" (Lahiri, 5). It is cultural wrong for a lady to make such a decision without informing the husband. Culturally, the husband is seen as the head of the father, and hence, he has the power to make all powerful decisions. Finally, the father is so psychologically affected when he realizes that Ruma wants to go with him. He has been dating secretly. Therefore, moving with the daughter would impose challenges in the new relationship.

The family relationship is another critical issue that affects immigrants. A family is illustrated by blood-related people and other factors such as marriage which brings groups together. Due to distance separation, most of them lack enough time to spend with their relatives. After the death of Ruma's month, the father feels there is a need to unite with other members of the family. As such, he is forced to travel to meet her daughter. Additionally, Ruma thinks that it is wise to move with the father and offer him some assistance (Wutz, 20). However, she is confused because she had not revealed the idea to Adam. She did not know what could be his perception when he hears about the idea. The story brings the theory of family clear as a unit which is integrated by love, loyalty, and compassionate. The author says, "After her mother's death it was Ruma who assumed the duty of speaking to her father every evening, asking how his day had gone. The calls were less frequent now, normally once a week on..." (Lahiri, 4). This illustrated how Ruma loved her father, and she was ready to help him to overcome the stress. The death of the mother emotionally tortures both Ruma and her father. Her death was not expected "She had died on the operating table, of heart failure; anaesthesia for routine gallstone surgery had triggered anaphylactic shock", and thus, she left a large gap in the family (Lahiri, 5). They love for the mother increased the psychological torture among characters. For instance, the author says, "There were times Ruma felt closer to her mother in death than she had in life, an intimacy born simply of thinking of her so often, of missing her" (Lahiri, 27)

Works Cited

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth. New York. 2008.

Wutz, Michael. The Archaeology of the Colonial Unearthing Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. 2015.