An Investigation of Trauma, Identity and Displacement in the Short Stories of Jhumpa Lahiri

Abstract

This paper investigates the interwoven themes of trauma, identity and displacement in Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story collections Interpreter of Maladies (1999) and Unaccustomed Earth (2008). Lahiri’s narratives portray immigrant lives not merely as cultural transitions but as complex psychological landscapes marked by loss, longing and fractured belonging. Through close readings of key stories including “Mrs. Sen’s,” “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” “Interpreter of Maladies,” “Hell-Heaven,” “A Temporary Matter,” and “Only Goodness” the analysis reveals how geographical migration, cultural estrangement and existential alienation act as catalysts for identity fragmentation and unresolved trauma. The study foregrounds how Lahiri’s characters navigate hybrid selves, intergenerational grief and the silent burdens of exile, while simultaneously highlighting the universality of displacement as a human condition. Lahiri’s prose, with its quiet intensity, refuses resolution; instead, it renders the immigrant experience as an ongoing negotiation between memory and adaptation, belonging and otherness. In doing so, Lahiri underscores the psychological costs of migration while illuminating the resilience of individuals caught between worlds.