NEW INTERPRETATION OF GENDER RELATIONS IN JHUMPA LAHIRI`S “HELL-HEAVEN”

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of gender relations (gender roles changes) in Jhumpa Lahiri’s writing. The article’s aim is to explore the peculiarities and new interpretation of gender relations in the context of the transculture paradigm in Jhumpa Lahiri’s writing (her story “Hell-Heaven” is the research object). It is indicated that often the writer focuses on second-generation immigrants and on their symbolic “struggle” with the new cultural environment. There is a striking difference between the experiences of diasporic men and women in Lahiri’s writing; moreover these experiences are always gendered. But we see completely different migration experience with women. Very often they leave their home country just to accompany their husbands, following the practice of arranged marriage. Special attention is focused on women of color (in our case American-Bengali women). Many of Lahiri’s women characters explore their independence through their traditional gender roles, rooted in Indian culture. Lahiri’s short story “Hell-Heaven” (from her second collection “Unaccustomed Earth”, 2008) is a vivid example of gender roles changes.