Interpreting the uncertainty in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “A Temporary Matter”

Sammanfattning: An American author who is regarded as being a masterful storyteller when it comes to the struggle with immigrant identity is Jhumpa Lahiri. Those who have read her work would most likely agree with me that her texts provide the reader with an intimate and realistic insight into what it is like living between two or several cultures. How does she create this intimacy and feeling of first-hand immigrant experience? One defining feature of Lahiri’s writing is that she leaves many questions unanswered. In other words, there is an endless amount of “gaps” in her texts that it is up to the reader to fill with meaning. This is, from my point of view, an experience very true to life as there are many questions in life we can begin to attempt to answer. Along the journey towards finding an answer, you realize that you have simply ended up with even more questions unanswered. As Lahiri’s writing contains so much ambiguity, the text invites the reader to actively search for alternative interpretations, which is also a feature of this essay.