Blog 7

Of all the literature that we have read and watched throughout this class, I was particularly affected by Lahiri’s “Mrs. Sen’s” and the message of assimilation in American society. Takaki addresses the clash of cultures of the Asian Indian group in particular on page 446 in Indian American Dr. Patel’s thoughts on American culture: “There is too much individualism here in America. I am getting old and I am afraid my children will grow up and will not be near me. In India, Children take care of their parents. This doesn’t happen in this country. So there is a price to be paid for coming here” (448). This “price” of cultural sacrifice is prominent in “Mrs. Sen’s” as Mrs. Sen attempts to drive a car and communicate over the phone in an unfamiliar country. Her fearful experiences in the terrifying environment of America contradicts the grand expectations of her family back in India and she tells Eliot, “’They think I live the life of a queen, Eliot. … They think I press buttons and the house is clean. They think I live in a palace’” (307). Her hopeless despair reflects her own bitter disappointment upon experiencing an America quite different from her initial fantasies. The story ends without resolving this despair.

This story really illustrated for me the plight of many Asian immigrants, the visions they nurtured of an America of endless riches and opportunity, and the often bitter reality they eventually discovered. The social discrimination made assimilation very foreboding for immigrants like Mrs. Sen and amplified their social and economic hardship. After reading this story and watching “The Namesake,” which portrayed a similar assimilation experience, I gained a more intimate awareness for the day-to-day anxiety that many immigrants faced. Things like learning to drive a car and how to communicate over the phone in a foreign language seem so simple to me, but for those who grew up in a different land, these everyday things are much harder to overcome.