Unaccustomed Earth

Everyone experiences many problems that revolves around their personal lives. In Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri introduces Hema & Kaushik. Hema & Kaushik struggle to overcome the challenges in their lives due to how they respond to the problems they have, resulting in a hard life for both of them. In Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri puts together a collection of stories of people who have struggled adapting to American culture because of their native traditions and challenges they experience. In her three last stories, "Once in a Lifetime, Year's End, and Going Ashore", Lahiri introduces us to two characters, Hema & Kaushik. Both of them experience different problems and challenges throughout their lives due to their culture
Hema & Kaushik first meet each other under the same roof, Kaushik's family had moved from India to America & was temporarily going to live with Hema's family. Not only was Kaushik unhappy with this family decision, but all of them were forced to adapt and accept American culture. Adding onto Kaushik's problems, his mother was dying of breast cancer, which adds onto his struggle. Kaushik was starting to experience severe struggles in his life. "your mother told us, she planned to position her bed. It was all to give her two years to the hospital where your mother was dying, I revealed nothing about what you told me" (251). Once Kaushik's mother's fate was discovered, it would change his life forever, and indirectly those around him. In this quote Kaushik is talking with Hema about how his mother is dying of breast cancer. To Hema, it explains more about Kaushik & his family, and why his mother took her out bra shopping out of nowhere. This quote relates to the theme of enduring challenges in life that influence who they become because the death of Kaushik's mother has affected him forever & drastically. The