THE THIRD AND FINAL CONTINENT
Jhumpa Lahiri1999 SUMMARY | One might think the story is about the experience of being an immigrant but it is more about pioneering nature of the human spirit and its ability to adapt to new circumstances. It does not deal with more obvious themes of prejudice etc. | PLOT | This story tells of the narrator’s arrival from India, via England, to America. The narrator’s arrival coincides with the first landing on the moon and depicts the narrator’s own first ‘small step’ into a new world, his first emotional connection with another human being and the arrival of a wife he does not know. It gently portrays the growth of a bond, and ultimately a love between them and finally the attainment of contentment with his life, their lives together. The big events of the plot are: Moving from India to England (Finsbury Park, London) in 1964 Arranged marriage to Mala in 1969 Move to Boston, Massachusetts, USA immediately after the wedding Mala arriving from India in August 1969 …but they have no greater importance than renting a room from Mrs Croft, treating others with consideration, kindess etc. | STYLE | The narrative is heavily descriptive, offering detailed observations of his encounters with Mrs Croft. The observations are very dispassionate and matter-or-fact, merely stating what the narrator sees without passing judgement. Even the ‘big events’ are described in very ordinary terms. The occasional bit of humour allows the reader, and the characters, to smile. | THEMES | Pioneering resilience of the human spiritThe narrator moves from India to England to America, enduring some sordid conditions, but all the while working to better his position. His arrival in America, armed only with The Student Guide to North America, coincides with the first moon landing, juxtaposing that extraordinary event with the narrator’s ordinary landing in the USA, both ‘one small step’. But while the astronauts take their flag and return to Earth, it is clear from the title and the narrator’s words that the parallel ends there. With gentle persistence and an uncomplaining nature, the narrator finds value in things that others struggle with – especially Mrs Croft whose tenants usually ‘run screaming’, and Mala whose many potential husbands have rejected as she ‘did not possess a fair complexion’.Even the non-event of the wedding, accepted with ‘neither objection nor enthusiasm’ by the narrator, does cause him to question his lot in life. Instead he says ‘As strange as it seemed, I knew in my heart that one day her death would affect me, and stranger still, that mine would affect her’. Humanity makes the ordinary extraordinaryContrasting with the obviously extraordinary ‘There is a flag on the moon’, what is narrated are at once very ordinary action of characters in extraordinary situations, actions that have an extraordinarily transforming effect. ‘Simple gestures’ such as handing Mrs Croft the rent personally, accepting Mrs Croft’s command to shout ‘Splendid’ (doing which eventually starts the process of bringing Mala and the narrator closer), asking the very simple question ‘Are you hungry?’ when Mala arrives, noting the tightness under the arms of the pullovers but not complaining, recognising the kindness in her voice, the amusement in her eyes, suggesting going out and not correcting Mala when she overdresses, consoling each other. | CHARACTERS | NarratorQuietly spoken Indian gentleman who just accepts and gets on with things without complaint. He accepts his wife and her ways without complaint and sees the good in her as they get to know her rather than the bad that cause many previous suitors to reject her. Clearly affected by his mother’s dementia, he finds Mrs Croft’s age and values extraordinary Mrs Croft103 year old landlady seems to belong to a different age, has standards that she won’t relinquish, is fiercely independent, feisty and severe at first, but who is not lacking in humanity as shown when she meets Mala ‘A perfect lady’. Her cry of ‘Splendid’ seems to exhort others to see the best in everything. She reminds the narrator of what he lost when his mother succumbed to dementia and eventually died. HelenHelen represents the changing world and changing attitudes, although 68 herself, she still attract her mother’s disapproval for ‘improper´ behaviourMalaPlain looking, homesick and alone in a foreigh country (she doesn’t know the narrator when she gets married or arrives in the USA) but like the narrator, accepts her lot with grace. | LANGUAGE/TECHNICAL | VocabularyVery precise, detailed descriptions Almost totally non judgemental StructureIntro moves us through 5 years of extraordinary life changes as if they were nothing and sets the tone for the remainder of the story Pace Very gentle and lacking any semblance of conflict. | SUMMARY | A beautifully crafted account of how two individuals come together as strangers in a strange land to make a new life together. The narrator arrives with nothing more than a guidebook for help and finds comfort in the old fashioned ways of his ancient landlady, ways that are possibly culturally closer to his experience than the America of the 60s. The is a sense that his arrival America and in Mrs Croft’s house echoes the same ‘small step’ as that taken by Neil Armstrong. But America, we know, is his final continent. He does not remove his flag and go home. Instead he is joined by a wife he barely knows, who is not considered good looking and who cried for the only five days they spent together after the wedding. But rather than rail and fight against his situation, he faces everything and everyone with equanimity and kindness and by the end of the story, not only have he and Mala learned to get on, but to ‘find solace’ in each others’ arms, but the outlook is optimistic and the tone uplifting. |