Vol. 8, Issue 10, Part E (2022)

Jhumpa Lahiri is a well-known author who writes about the Indian immigrants. In her second novel, titled The Lowland, she explores the complexities of human relationships against the backdrop of migration. The main character’s life is beautifully portrayed, particularly his periods of solitude and the guilty complex that he experiences. The Naxalite movements that occurred in India are discussed in this novel. The protagonist is involved in some way with the situation directly. Even after the protagonist has moved away from his hometown, the novel explores the lasting effects that this involvement has had on his life. The use of memory as a technique creates a stunning depiction of the characters’ feelings of alienation as well as their struggles with identity crisis. The emotions of melancholy and homesickness for times gone by play a significant role throughout this novel. The frantic search for one’s own identity in a land that is completely foreign to one. In this text, each character’s life in the diaspora is determined through their own choices.

The Lowland cannot be defined as diasporic literature in the fullest and most traditional sense of the word, one can undoubtedly see a diasporic problem in which the people involved in various connections negotiate their own personal choices and fate. The paper will attempt to analyse the nostalgia and cultural assimilation, identity crisis and family relationships, and intergenerational gap.