Analysis of "Once in a Lifetime" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri’s story, “Once in a Lifetime” is well written and a great, simple story. I spent two months in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and I really enjoyed the Indian details and imagery. Also I the depiction of the struggle for Indian-American’s balance of cultures was done very well; deciding what is betraying of your roots and what is simply progressing with the rest of the world is a struggle that a great many Indians all over the world struggle with.

As for the narrative arch of the story, it was definitely present and successful. The speaker, Hema, goes through change and maturity as she learns to live with the family that comes to stay in her home.

I also enjoyed the characterization of everyone in the story. As the visiting family gets more and more dislikable, there are subtle ways that Lahiri keeps them from getting too unlikeable and in the end the characters are completely turned around leaving the reader feeling that the way that they acted was excusable. The way that Kaushik is characterized as a rebellious and selfish teen is also rounded off when he shows Hema the gravestones and tells her the truth about his mother. It makes the long periods of time Kaushik spent alone carry much more weight, and it explains the attitude he seemed to have toward everyone else.

One of my favorite aspects of this story is the fact that it is not very complicated or complex. An Indian family has another Indian family over for a little while, which then turns into over a month, and the mother of the family has cancer. These are about the only major things that happen, but the story is still gripping and interesting throughout though Lahiri’s subtle use of dialogue and wonderful grasp of the art of details.