The Third and Final Continent: The Bridges that Link Us Together Throughout her collection of short stories,

The Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri focuses on the post-modern theory of barriers in the human connection, and the freedom we have to belong. Throughout the book, but especially in the final short story, The Third and Final Continent, a tension is created between the carnal need of belonging to a particular place or culture and yet, at the same time, being an outsider. By displacing her characters geographically and communicatively, Lahiri illuminates different possibilities for people to find connections, even in the most unlikely places. In this short story a young man from Calcutta is separated from his homeland, his new wife, and his culture, and lives in isolation in America for a few months. It is here that he waits for his wifes papers to become official, finds a job, and tries to learn the American culture the best he can. Rather than attempting to find Indian food or cook it himself, he eats corn flakes and milk for each meal, emphasizing his displacement from his culture, his homesickness, and his attempt to assimilate into American culture. The story takes place in 1969, right after the first men landed on the moon, of which he mentions throughout the duration of the story, as does his landlady, who exclaims every day, There is an American flag on the moon! This splendid event helps create the parallel between Mrs. Croft and her Indian tenant, since are no longer living in a place they belong. Mrs. Crofts outdated clothes and philosophies on interactions between genders emphasize her displacement in the year 1969. Although Mrs. Croft and the man exchange only a few words over the course of six weeks, they develop a relationship of mutual understanding. It is with this understanding that the cultural and generation barriers weaken, creating an unlikely kinship between two very different people.

A similar parallel that runs through the story is that of the man and his wife, Mala, to whom he was arranged to marry in Calcutta before he left for America. At first, his tone towards Mala is apathetic and, at times, annoyed. He comes to like his isolation; his routine and ritualistic way of life that he has developed in America. He no longer feels so foreign, but with Mala, he knows that it will be his duty to protect and provide for her (190). This view of her, whether it is intentional or not, is another barrier he will have to break down in order to have a successful marriage. At first, the communication between him and Mala is forced; they were living as strangers that were bound together by some outside force. There is a certain tone of scrutiny when he tells Mala that she doesnt need to put her sari over her head, since nobody cares here (193). It is almost as though her appearance is embarrassing to him, as seen when he wonders if Mrs. Croft can see Malas dyed feet (195). The characters, while trying to deal with the remoteness of their relationship, must also try and assimilate themselves into a new culture, creating a tension between the two. The narrator, however, worsens this by being resentful towards his culture that has bound him to a stranger and forced him to live a life of belonging rather than autonomy. He externalizes these feelings of displacement by eating cereal instead of rice in the mornings, the way Bengali husbands did (192). It is Mrs. Croft that serves at the interpreter in this story, proclaiming Mala as a perfect lady, most likely because of her modest appearance that Mrs. Croft could connect to (195). Because of the respect the narrator has for Mrs. Croft, her judgment is, in a sense, maternal approval of his new wife, and the strangeness between the couple fades. Unlike the other stories in this collection, this story reveals an interpreter that was able to interpret the malady they were presented with, and help alleviate the suffering. It is at this moment that the

narrator and Mala share their first genuine moment together, laying a foundation of acceptance and belonging, all built upon an old-fashioned womans approval. Throughout the book, Lahiri utilizes people and their natural tendencies in order to transcend the barriers and steer them towards acceptance and belonging. By taking two unlikely relationships and setting them parallel to one another; a landlady and a young Indian tenant, a man and the wife he was arranged to marry, Lahiri reaches beyond our own conceptions of barriers and bridges the gap with extraordinary connections that are as marked and peculiar as the moon (Tyrell 198).

Works Cited
Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999. Print. Tyrell, Michael. Interpreter of Maladies: Review. Harvard Review 17 (1999): 198 -199. JSTOR. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.