Surprise
Who wrote the third and final continent?
Jhumpa Lahiri
These are the grocery items the narrator always buys at the store and was his first meal in America, signifying his assimilation to American culture.
A carton of milk and a box of cornflakes!
Where did the major location of tension happen?
Mrs. Croft’s parlor
Whose house did the narrator rent his room in?
Mrs. Croft
What university in Cambridge Massachusetts did the narrator get a job at?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
What two symbols did we talk about?
Mrs. Croft & the moon landing
In which three countries has the narrator lived in?
What historical event occurs when the narrator first arrives to Boston?
The first landing of astronauts on the moon.
What was the message/overall theme of The Third and Final Continent?
The immigrant experience
What was the one word Mrs. Croft told the narrator to say?
“Splendid!”
The narrator’s arranged marriage to Mala shows how this feeling can grow over time through shared experiences and understanding rather than beginning as romance.
Love / connection
What does Mrs. Croft symbolize?
Tradition, resilience, routine, isolation, and the realities of aging.
“The Third and Final Continent” ends with these two sentences:
“Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination” (Lahiri 193)
What does this show?
The narrator’s growth, gratitude, and appreciation for his extraordinary journey.
Why was ”The Third and Final Continent” the last story in Interpreter of Maladies?
Does not have a name, unnamed.
What two types of POVs did we mention?
Objective First Person (Observer) & Limited Omniscient First Person (Participant)