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.
About the authors
Somaye Sharify (b. 1983) is presently pursuing a PhD program in English Literature at Razi University Kermanshah-Iran. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on the intersection of Western philosophy and Eastern poetry. She is interested in fiction and poetry written by Asian female authors. Her publications include “Scientific output of Middle Eastern countries” (2010), “Migration literature and hybridity” (2016), and “Unhomeliness in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Hema and Kaushik” (2018).
Nasser Maleki (b. 1959) is an associate professor at Razi University Kermanshah-Iran. His research expertise includes literary criticism, romantic literature, comparative studies, and postmodern studies. His most outstanding publications include: “The Differénd in Paul Auster's City of Glass: A Lyotardian approach” (2015); “The application of Derrida's Differánce as a postmodern term in Keats’s poetry” (2016); “Far from the madding civilization: Anarcho-primitivism and revolt against disintegration in Eugene O'Neill’s The Hairy Ape” (2016).
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