Identity In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Unaccustomed Earth

Nathaniel Hawthorne suggests the idea of striking ones roots into unaccustomed soil in order to spark the flourishment of human nature. He sets up the novel in a way that integrates how blending differing cultural elements affects an individual. Hawthorne’s quotation prepares the reader to understand how Lahiri’s characters are undergoing a journey to find who they are, whether it be in worn-out soil they have lived in their whole life, or a destination, where they must respond to the unaccustomed earth. Harboring a compound identity herself, being born in London and raised in Rhode Island as an Indian American, Lahiri incorporates a unique voice in her stories that elucidates the struggle of her characters because perhaps it is one she experienced herself. The diasporic
Ruma subconsciously molded to her mother’s styles in order to compensate for the void she experiences due to her mother’s absence in Ruma's life. Ruma sacrifices her independence and success, accepting her role in the home as one based on Indian values that her mother pursued, rather than pursuing American values of work and self-determination to achieve happiness. Ruma’s lack of a sense of belonging, makes her unable to distinguish a balance in her identity with India or America. Ruma cannot find happiness in who she is because of the confusion she faces in whether she must preserve her roots or fully acculturate into American society, the unaccustomed earth she now lives in. Similarly, Rahul’s inability to keep up with the expectations of Indian familial obligations in an American society exemplify how the lack of harmony between the two cultures lead to the downfall of an individual. Rahul resists the dreams his Indian parents develop for him and fails to fulfill the identity of an American because like Ruma, he struggles to find a balance between the two cultures. Rahul’s parents play a role in his struggle to find himself mainly due to