Abstract The present study intends to examine the link between clothes and cultural identities in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Hema and Kaushik” (2008). It will argue that Lahiri explores her protagonists’ cultural displacement through their items of clothing. We want to suggest that the protagonists’ clothes are employed in each narrative as signifiers for the characters’ cultural identities. The study will further show that each item of clothing could be loaded with the ideological signification of two separate cultures. In other words, it aims to demonstrate how ideology imposes its values, beliefs, and consequently its dominance through the dress codes each defines for its subjects. Moreover, it intends to suggest that the link between clothing and identity is most visible and intense in the case of female immigrant characters rather than men. Drawing on Luptan’s structure of the Cinderella line, we will explore Lahiri’s protagonists’ cultural transformation from simple ethnic girls to stylish American ladies through their items of clothing. The study will conclude that the “Cinderella line” does not work in Lahiri’s realistic stories the way it does in fairy tales and romance fiction.

中文翻译：

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后殖民文学中的衣服符号学

摘要本研究旨在探讨Jhumpa Lahiri的《 Hema and Kaushik》（2008年）中衣服与文化身份之间的联系。它将辩称，拉希里（Lahiri）通过他们的服装探索了主人公的文化流离失所。我们建议在每个叙述中使用主角的衣服作为角色文化身份的象征。这项研究将进一步表明，每件衣服都可能带有两种不同文化的意识形态含义。换句话说，它旨在通过各自为主题定义的着装规范来证明意识形态如何强加其价值观，信念，从而强加其统治地位。此外，它旨在建议在女性移民人物而非男性的情况下，服装与身份之间的联系最为明显和强烈。借鉴Luptan的灰姑娘系列结构，我们将探索Lahiri的主角通过其服饰从简单的族裔女孩到时尚的美国女士的文化转变。研究将得出结论，“灰姑娘线”在拉希里的现实故事中并不像在童话故事和浪漫小说中那样起作用。