Application Of Relevant Theories Of Literary

Criticism In

The Third & Final Continent

By Jhumpa Lahiri

ZELA ZULFIKAR & NORHIDAYU ROSMAN

About the Story• The Third and Final Continent has a diaspora

theme where its about migration of the narrator from India to England and finally to America. This short story is about a married Indian student arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1969, and rents a room from an eccentric one-hundred and-three-year-old woman, Mrs. Croft. Indirectly, this story shows the differences of the American and Indian cultures.

HISTORICAL THEORY

1. Parallels with Lahiri’s Family History

The story of Third And Final Continent is parallel with Lahiri’s

family history where everyone in the story represents Lahiri’s family.

Lahiri’s family life experiences as a diasporic community was being applied by Lahiri in most of her’s short stories including this story.

LAHIRI’S FAMILY AND

CHARACTERS

PARALLELITY EVIDENCES FROM THE TEXT

THE NARRATORrepresented LAHIRI’S FATHER

1. A Bengali people from India- The narrator and

Lahiri’s father are both Bengalis person

“ I lived in London, in Finsbury Park, in a house

occupied entirely by penniless Bengali

bachelors like my self…” Page 3 Paragraph 1 Line 4-

6

2. Emigrated from India (Calcutta) to England and finally to America (Diaspora community)- The narrator was

emigrated to three continents as well as Lahiri’s father

- They are called as Diaspora Community which means the movement of people from any nation or group away from their own country.

“ I left India in 1964 with certificate…sailed on the

S.S Roma…across the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and

finally to England” Page 3 Paragraph 1 Line 1 - 4

“ I flew first to Calcutta, to attend my wedding, and a week later to Boston, to

begin my new job.” Page 3 Paragraph 3 Line 1 - 2

3. Both of them work as a librarian

“In the morning I reported to my job at the Dewey Library , a beige

fortlike building by Memorial Drive.” Page 4 Paragraph 2 Line 14 - 15

4. Adaptation to alien country - In other countries,

they need to adapt with their culture and ways of life.

- The narrator and Lahiri’s father had adapted the two continent’s culture that they went but never forget about their culture

“ I ate cornflakes and milk in the morning and

night bought some bananas for variety,

slicing them into the bowl with the edge of my

spoon” Page 4 Paragraph 3 Line 1-3

“ I read every article and advertisement so that I would grow familiar with

things…” Page 4 Paragraph 3 Line 6 - 7

NARRATOR’S WIFE (MALA)

and MRS.

CROFT represente

d LAHIRI’S MOTHER

1. Talented as a housewife- Women are expected

to do housework such as cleaning, cooking and many more.

- Mala was resembled to Lahiri’s mother whose talented in those works

“ I was told that she could cook, knit, embroider, sketch

landscapes, and recite poems by Tagore…” (Mala)

Page 7 Paragraph 10 Line 4 - 5

2. Holds on their culture and wants to maintain their culture although live in other countries- Maintaining a culture

is really important for Lahiri’s mother, Mala and Mrs. Croft as culture represents the identity of the community

“She added that it was also improper for a lady of Helen’s

station to reveal her age, and to wear a dress so high above the

ankle” (Mrs. Croft) Page 11 Paragraph 8 Line 3 - 4

“So we drive to Cambridge to visit him, or bring him home for a

weekend, so that he can eat rice with us with his hands and speak in Bengali , things we sometimes

worry he will no longer do after we die.” (Mala) Page 18 Paragraph 2

Line 9 - 11

HELEN AND NARRATOR’S SON representedJHUMPA LAHIRI

1. Desired to be a modern woman rather than “perfect lady”- Helen and Lahiri had the same desire which was to be modern woman, but for Helen her mother did not agree of her to be a modern women as she was holding tight to her culture of 1800’s as well as Lahiri, she was tangled with the Indian culture that was more decent for example in dressing which wear sari ( did not sexy)

“ For your information, Mother, it’s 1969. What

would you do if you actually

left the house one day and

saw a girl in a miniskirt?”

Page 11 Paragraph 9

Line 1 -2

2. Indian – Americans :- Usually, the diaspora community

will face the problems in sense of identity. They were American citizen but being isolated by the community due to skin color difference but they were also not belong to Indian nations as they did not live there. The narrator’s son was being predicted that he will have the problem as well as Lahiri

2. History of first astronauts land on the moon (1969)

“ There is an American flag on the moon!”“It was in the newspaper, of course, article upon article. The

astronauts had landed on the shores of the Sea of Tranquility, I had read, travelling farther than anyone in the history of

civilization. For few hours they explored the moon’s surface…” Page 6 paragraph 9 Line 1 - 5

The period of the story written was during the era of space races between Soviet Union and United states whereby in 1969, United States succeed to place Neil

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. President Nixon then had declared a national holiday for the

achievement of the United States on landing a man on the moon.

GENDER THEORY

1. Men’s power in making decisionThe power of making decision are usually lies on the hands of the father or eldest brother. This is because men are being

assumed as the one who is mature, more rational and have more experiences in

life. In this story, the narrator’s marriage with Mala was being arranged by the narrator’s older brother as he was the leader of the family after their father

died.“ My wife’s name was Mala. The marriage had been arranged by my older brother and his

wife.” Page 7 Paragraph 10

2. Men as someone to depend onWomen are usually depend on men on certain

aspects. In this story, the narrator felt responsible towards his wife, Mala and realized

that he should protects his wife.

“ It was my duty to take care of Mala, to welcome her and protect her “ Page 13 Paragraph 5 Line 11-13

Besides that, Mala also financially depended on the narrator as she was a wife who did not

work. So, the narrator was the one who supported her financial.

“ The next morning before I left for work she asked me for a few dollars. I parted them reluctantly, but I

knew that this, too, was now normal” Page 15 Paragraph 7 Line 14-15

3. Women need Men Women are usually seen as someone who needed to be

protected. They are being assume as a soft-hearted, weak, and easily weep. So, women need men to

protect them. In this story, Mala was seen as a soft-hearted and easily wept person.

“ Each of those night, after applying cold cream and braiding her hair, she turned from me and wept ; she

missed her parents.” Page 8 Paragraph 2 line 1-3 Men also know that as a men they have a huge

responsible towards women. In this story, the narrator also realized that woman needed to be protected and

he will have a huge responsible towards his wife and as a leader of family.

“ My wife’s name was Mala…It was a duty expected of me, as it was expected of every man” Page 7

Paragraph 10 Line 1-3

Until modern industrialized era, women had been restricted in in participating the workforce. Men

controlled the economy and consequently the poor socio-economic status of women had also restricted

their entry into the workforce. Restrictions on women's access to and participation in the workforce include the

wage gap and the glass ceiling, legal and cultural restrictions on access to education and jobs.

4. Discrimination of Women

In this story, the United States announced that they had successfully landed astronauts on the moon and

they were two men. Men on that time had higher chance to be an astronaut. So that there were no

women as an astronaut during that time.“…Presiden Nixon had declared a national holiday:

two American men had landed on the moon.” Page 4 Paragraph 1 Line 2-3

CULTURAL THEORY

• This story implies more than one type of cultures which are the Indian culture and American culture. The narrator who migrated from India to England then to America tried his best to adapted to the new culture that he learnt at those places without forgetting Indian culture itself.

CUISINE

• The first thing that represents Indian culture in this story is the cuisine. The most remarkable cuisine in this story is the ‘egg curry’ which makes the most constant reference to the Indian culture itself. This was stated when he ate that egg curry together with his Bengali friends as he stayed with them.

“We lived three or four to a room, shared a single, icy toilet, and took turns cooking pots of egg curry…” (page 3, paragraph 2)

Besides that, it was also stated when the narrator presents her wife, Mala, food as she reached in England.

“ I had no present for her apart from the egg curry.” (page 14, paragraph 10)

"The house is nice," she said. "Also the egg curry.” (page 15, paragraph 2)

This shows that curry is symbolic to the Indian culture itself.

• Other than that, the original cuisine did not being forgotten even they were staying in England. The smelled of steamed rice brought the Indian’s life into the house. A dish which represents their belonging that Mala cooked for her husband is chicken curry made with fresh garlic and ginger on the stove makes them feel ease to be in somebody’s country.

“When I came home from work there was a potato peeler in the kitchen drawer, and a tablecloth on the table, and chicken curry made with fresh garlic and ginger on the stove.” (page 15, paragraph 6)

TRADITIONS

• In addition, Indians tend to eat foods using their bare hands. As we know, eating with bare hands gives more pleasure like no spoon or fork does. In this story, their son who attends Harvard University also inherited this habit of eating steamed rice with his hands.

“ …which we ate with our hands on a table covered with newspapers.” (page 3, paragraph 2)

“We ate with our hands, another thing I had not yet done in America.” (page 14, paragraph 10)

“ So we drive to Cambridge to visit him, or bring him home for a weekend, so that he can eat rice with us with his hands…” (page 18, paragraph 3)

• Apart from those cuisine, arranged marriage is one of the culture that still existed in Indians society. Normally, it was arranged by the parents of both bride and groom. The groom would not be able to against their parents will regarding arrange marriage. It worries the parents when their daughter did not married by the age of 27 as she might be a spinsterhood. The narrator who was 36 years old was being arranged to marry a woman who was 27 years old named Mala. As it was planned the groom’s brother and wife, he did not against it as it has become his responsibility as a man.

“Every now and then someone in the house moved out, to live with a woman whom his family back in Calcutta had determined he was to wed. In 1969, when I was thirty-six years old, my own marriage was arranged.”

(page 3, paragraph 2)

“The marriage had been arranged by my older brother and his wife. I regarded the proposition with neither objection nor enthusiasm. It was a duty expected of me, as it was expected of every man.”

(page 7, paragraph 10)

“She was twenty-seven, an age when her parents had begun to fear that she would never marry, and so they were willing to ship their only child halfway across the world in order to save her from spinsterhood.”

(page 8, paragraph 1)

• In all marriages, the wives must know how to do all housework. Usually, the Indian women were not working as they were being taught of cooking skills and doing other Indians women should done. Mala was not a working woman. However, she managed to learnt a lot of skills that at least makes her able to do something even though all those could not frame for the fact that she did not have a beauty fair skin like other women had.

“I was told that she could cook, knit, embroider, sketch landscapes, and recite poems by Tagore, but these talents could not make up for the fact that she did not possess a fair complexion, and so a string of men had rejected her to her face.”

(page 7, paragraph 10)

• In marriage session, all women have different ways on how to show the signs that she is married. This culture that being practiced by the Indian women were still being used until nowadays. Usually, we only knew that Indian women would wear sari for their wedding. At the early wedding, they will wear iron bangle on wrist, plus applied vermillion powder to some part of their hair. After a long time, they will have gold bracelets on their arms, put a small red dot painted on the forehead and have red dye being tinted at the edges of the feet. This shows that the women were married. Some of them tend to lift up the end of their sari to their forehead to cover it.

“And yet we were bound together; for six weeks she had worn an iron bangle on her wrist, and applied vermillion powder to the part in her hair, to signify to the world that she was a bride.” (page 13, paragraph 3)

“The free end of her sari did not drag on the floor, but was draped in a sign of bridal modesty over her head… Her thin brown arms were stacked with gold bracelets, a small red circle was painted on her forehead, and the edges of her feet were tinted with a decorative red dye.” (page 14, paragraph 2)

NORMS

• Besides that, Indian society are quite synonym with coconut oil and cricket. Cricket is a game played on grass by two teams of 11 players. Cricket has become a popular sports in Bengal region for men. Meanwhile women are more synonym with coconut oil. They tend to use it when they are going to sleep as it help to moisturize their hair. However, the smell of this coconut oil makes other people avoid of using it. In this story, the narrator watched cricket games as his routine when he came to England. When he is married, he did not used to the smell of Mala’s hair which being added coconut oil.

“On weekends we lounged barefoot in drawstring pajamas, drinking tea and smoking Rothmans, or set out to watch cricket at Lord's.” (page 3, paragraph 2)

“ I was not used to the fragrance of the coconut oil she rubbed every other night into her scalp, or the delicate sound her bracelets made as she moved about the apartment.” (page 15, paragraph 6)

From that, it can be concluded that Indian’s culture mostly similar to Bengali’s culture. Proudly, no matter where we are, we should not forget where we come from.

LIFESTYLES

• Next, the American culture which totally differ from the Indian culture. From what we can see, the Indian culture still can be practiced even when the American culture dominates the society. In this story, the narrator tried his best to adapted to the American culture without diminishing his own culture. He also learnt that some American culture could also being accepted such as when Mrs Croft counsel Helen for wearing inappropriate attire and when Mrs Croft told that Helen did something improper with the narrator.

“I learned that Americans drove on the right side of the road, not the left, and that they called a lift an elevator and an engaged phone busy.” (page 3, paragraph 3)

“In the end I bought a carton of milk and a box of cornflakes. This was my first meal in America. Even the simple chore of buying milk was new to me; in London we'd had bottles delivered each morning to our door.” (page 4, paragraph 2)

“She wore a sleeveless summer dress…” (page 10, paragraph 5)

“It is improper for a lady and gentleman who are not married to one another to hold a private conversation without a chaperone!” (page 11, paragraph 7)

“She added that it was also improper for a lady of Helen's station to reveal her age, and to wear a dress so high above the ankle.” (page 11, paragraph 8)

RELIGION• From the religion view, ox which is quite similar with cow being

assume as God to the Indian society. It was a holy symbol for them. That is why Mala did not have the oxtail soup that being offered when she was on a flight to America to meet her husband.

“I told her I had prepared some egg curry at home. "What did they give you to eat on the plane?“

"I didn't eat.“"All the way from Calcutta?“"The menu said oxtail soup.“"But surely there were other items.“"The thought of eating an ox's tail made me lose my appetite.“

(Page 14, paragraph 4)

The End