Compare and Contrast between “The Volunteer” by Lucinda Nelson Dhavan and “The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri

Compare and Contrast between “The Volunteer” by Lucinda Nelson Dhavan and “The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri

Introduction

Every Indian living abroad, be it US or UK or any other country faces a personal disconnect whenever he is confronted with the idea of home for which they, at some point in life, ask where their home is. They cannot call it home to the country where they migrated as they do not always feel accepted because there are always certain things which make them different from others neither they can call India their home as they have moved out long ago and lost the connection. The stories “The Volunteer” by Lucinda Nelson Dhavan and “The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri also address these issues.

Discussion

“The Third and Final Continent” is the story of a man who spent his life in three different continents. He is born in India, Asia and then moved to England, Europe and finally his employment leads him to Boston, North America. He finally settles there and waits for his wife's arrival to the country (Lahiri, n.d.). On the other hand, “The Volunteer” is the story about a woman who moves to India with her husband from America after a long time. In order to spend her time and bring some change in “third world” through her knowledge, she volunteers in an orphanage (Dhavan, n.d.). The story is about her struggle to mingle with children and understand their language and actions.

The main idea of both the stories is moving and adapting different cultures. If, narrator in “The Third and Final Continent” tries to adopt the American culture, so the woman in “The Volunteer” is trying to along with the children in India. Both of them are from the same country but settling down in America for man was different as compare to living in the other two continents. Lahiri illustrates the possibilities for people living abroad to find connection. The author portrays the painful experience of adjustment through which every immigrant goes (Wulandari, n.d). The efforts to adapt the culture of where he is living now yet maintaining his identity as an Indian are evident throughout the story. One of the powerful cultural symbols is food in this story. “Egg curry” is represented as a connection which links the final continent to the country which he used to call home (Lahiri, n.d.). It was the dish which he could easily make and also welcomes his wife with the same cuisine when she finally arrives to America.

“The Volunteer” is also about adjusting in a culture, but unlike “The Third and Final Continent”, the woman in this story struggles to fiddle with the people where she belongs to. She is an Indian but the one who has lost her connection with the soil long before. She is used to of IT savvy people who speak English fluently and remain ...