Gendered Differences in the Experience of Diaspora in “Once in a Lifetime,” “Year’s End,” and “Going Ashore,” Eve Mandel College

In her trio of short stories, titled “Once in a Lifetime,” “Year’s End,” and “Going Ashore,” Jhumpa Lahiri artfully recounts the complex love story between two Indian-Americans. Hema and Kuashik first meet as children through their parents, who both came to Massachusetts from Calcutta, and later reunite romantically as adults. On the surface, Hema and Kaushik appear to experience diaspora in similar ways. As adolescents, both show self-consciousness about their Indian heritage: Hema hides her Indian side from her American friends who “would ridicule me if they knew” (229) and Kaushik refers to his stepsisters’ Indian style dress as “unstylish” and “silly” (262). Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that Hema and Kaushik respond to diaspora differently. Hema feels the need to disguise her deviations from the Indian cultural norm, while Kaushik uses emotional suppression and compartmentalization to manage the stress resulting from his diasporic experience and his outright rejection of tradition. By examining why these differences occur, we can begin to understand the larger question of how diaspora relates to gender dynamics. Although in superficial ways Hema and Kaushik seem to undergo diaspora similarly, Hema must...