If certain books are to be termed 'immigrant fiction,' what do we call the rest? Native fiction? Puritan fiction? This distinction doesn't agree with me.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
A lot of my personality was informed by feeling very different in the world I grew up in, feeling that I didn't fully belong, that my parents didn't belong.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle of feeling alienated and the impact of belonging on identity.
Jhumpa Lahiri's quote speaks to the profound effects of feeling different and disconnected from one's surroundings. It highlights how such feelings shape an individual's personality and identity, especially in relation to family and social belonging. The awareness of not fitting in can inform one's character, often leading to a deeper understanding of oneself and the complexities of cultural and familial ties.
Themes
IdentityBelongingAlienationFamilyCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about cultural identity at a conference, one might cite this quote to illustrate how belonging impacts personality.
More from Jhumpa Lahiri
All quotes βWhen I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
When I am experiencing a complex story or novel, the broader planes, and also details, tend to fall away.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
I think each time you start a story or novel or whatever, you are absolutely at the bottom of the ladder all over again. It doesn't matter what you've done before.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
The sky was different, without color, taut and unforgiving. But the water was the most unforgiving thing, nearly black at times, cold enough, I knew, to kill me, violent enough to break me apart. The waves were immense, battering rocky beaches without sand. The farther I went, the more desolate it became, more than any place I'd been, but for this very reason the landscape drew me, claimed me as nothing had in a long time.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
On the technical side, I hope that my writing is evolving and maturing, ripening, deepening.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
Similar quotes
There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude... we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.
Baron De MontesquieuRead
For time and eternity there have been fathers like Nathan who simply can see no way to have a daughter but to own her like a plot of land. To work her, plow her under, rain down a dreadful poison upon her. Miraculously, it causes these girls to grow. They elongate on the pale slender stalks of their longing, like sunflowers with heavy heads. You can shield them with your body and soul, trying to absorb that awful rain, but they'll still move toward him. Without cease they'll bend to his light.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Some forms of veil are justified by the idea that you're not tempting men. Well how about men just behaving and keeping their hands to yourselves? How about, instead of criticizing how I dress, respecting me and my right to the public space?
Mona EltahawyRead
Do you know what people really want? Everyone, I mean. Everybody in the world is thinking: I wish there was just one other person I could really talk to, who could really understand me, who'd be kind to me. That's what people really want, if they're telling the truth.
Doris LessingRead
Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don't over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.
Leo BuscagliaRead
Every child needs to have for itself not only its loving parents and siblings and friends of its own age, but a grown-up friend.
P. L. TraversRead