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Sadye Moore ’24

Tent and a person under a pastel tree.

Analysis: ‘Mrs. Sen’s’ by Jhumpa Lahiri

“This assignment is what I call a ‘passage selection.’ Students pick any length excerpt from the assigned reading and react in a page or two. They transcribe their chosen excerpt at the top of the page, and then they get into their reaction. Some students pick a sentence or two, and some choose a longer excerpt; it’s up to them. They are encouraged to engage deeply with the excerpt, and to try to tie it to any themes that they notice in the text. These assignments take place before we’ve had any discussion of the reading in class, so the students are reacting honestly and personally, and without the benefit of any explication from me or impressions from their classmates.”

-Professor Emily Sausen

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Excerpt:On the way home an old woman on the bus kept watching them, her eyes shifting from Mrs. Sen to Eliot to the bloodlined bag between their feet…When they reached the nursing home the woman in the overcoat stood up, said something to the driver, then stepped off the bus. The driver turned his head and glanced back at Mrs. Sen. “What’s in the bag?” Mrs. Sen looked up, startled. “Speak English?” The bus began to move again, causing the driver to look at Mrs. Sen and Eliot in his enormous rearview mirror. “Yes, I can speak.” “Then what’s in the bag?” “A fish,” Mrs. Sen replied. “The smell seems to be bothering the other passengers. Kid, maybe you should open her window or something.” (Lahiri 133)

 

 Revealing Microaggressions

Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story “Mrs. Sen’s” portrays the life of a young boy named Eliot and his babysitter, Mrs. Sen, who is an immigrant from India. The story describes the experiences that Eliot shared with Mrs. Sen and the impact she had on his perspective of life.

This passage describes a particular memory, where Mrs. Sen and Eliot have gone to the market and are returning home. After buying a fish, the two are peacefully eating clam cakes while riding the bus. In the chosen passage, Eliot describes how an old woman’s “eyes [are] shifting from Mrs. Sen to Eliot to the bloodlined bag between their feet” (Lahiri 132). As the woman exits the bus, she makes a comment to the bus driver, which leads to the encounter detailed in the passage.

A common theme throughout the story is the immigrant experience. At first glance, a glare from an elderly woman may seem innocent, but it is an example of the micro-aggressions and discrimination that minorities, especially immigrants, encounter often. The comment that the woman makes to the driver is unknown, but Lahiri’s phrasing implies that the interchange prompts the conversation that follows. Eliot’s recounting of the conversation indicates the driver’s judgmental undertone. The driver questions Mrs. Sen about the bag at her feet and “ [She] looked up, startled. [the driver asks]”Speak English?”” and after allotting very little time for her to respond, he assumes that she cannot speak English (Lahiri 132). The latter question is a clear example of a common, recurring stereotype about immigrants, where one assumes that someone cannot speak English based on their physical appearance. Mrs. Sen is described as regularly dressing in traditional Indian styles and consistently having her hair braided with crushed vermillion placed along the part (Lahiri 117).

This situation is a major turning point for both Mrs. Sen and Eliot. Throughout the story, Eliot’s point of view and the differences that he observes between his and his mother’s lives and Mrs. Sen’s life are presented. This moment stands out among others because Eliot is involved in a situation where prejudice is evident; he witnesses the disrespect that Mrs. Sen is subject to. She is not only profiled as someone who doesn’t speak English, but the driver addresses Eliot as though Eliot has authority over Mrs. Sen, telling him to open Mrs. Sen’s window as though she wouldn’t understand the driver if he were to ask (Lahiri 133). Lahiri seems to include this moment to point out the real differences between the two characters. Eliot is an American child and Mrs. Sen, although a grown woman, is a minority and an immigrant. Eliot seems to outrank her, being that he was asked to do something when the driver got impatient with her, despite his young age and the fact that she is supposed to be the one caring for and in charge of him. Lahiri uses this conversation to not only further develop their characters, but also to reveal the discrimination that immigrants deal with, and to open a discussion about it. 

The author includes a great deal of imagery in order to set the scene before the encounter, and to convey a tone of yearning, where it feels both Eliot and Mrs. Sen dream of something new. Eliot on his own is a very pensive character, fascinated with Mrs. Sen’s wishful personality. From description and imagery, it seems clear that Eliot is also indirectly forming an opinion of Mrs. Sen. The images linger in the mind of the reader and create a somewhat unfavorable connotation of the older woman, before her significance is fully explored. For example, the narrator describes Eliot and Mrs. Sen eating clam cakes and how “traces of fried batter dotted the corners of [Mrs. Sen’s] mouth” as the old woman glances between them and the bag at their feet (Lahiri 132). When Eliot describes the elderly woman’s hands as ‘gnarled’ and ‘colorless’, it creates an image similar to that of a witch or evil stepmother in fairy tales. It plants a seed in the mind of the reader and creates a negative impression of the old woman, before the significance of her experience as an immigrant is known.

Throughout the story, the imagery also supports a slight melancholy tone, and this passage is consistent with that. There is no real description of the emotions of either Mrs. Sen or Eliot, but it is clear that the encounter on the bus had a critical effect. On the next opportunity to pick up fish, Mrs. Sen calls her husband to take her and Elliot to the market but he doesn’t answer. Instead of taking the bus again, she takes it upon herself to drive them herself, resulting in a car accident. Mrs. Sen was so affected by the situation on the bus that, despite being unable to drive and unlicensed, she decides to get into the car with the boy she is meant to take care of and keep safe. This moment implies that the encounter on the bus was bothersome enough for Mrs. Sen that she opted for a potentially dangerous decision, rather than subject herself to further exposure.

The story is told in a candid manner from Eliot’s perspective, but the detailed imagery throughout conveys the story’s tone, and the character’s emotions. This particular passage highlights an experience that is pertinent to understanding the characters and also makes a real-life connection, as Mrs. Sen’s experience is one that many immigrants are subject to. This moment expresses the story’s underlying meaning, and the real narrative that the relationship between Mrs. Sen and Eliot represents.

 

Works Cited

Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Mrs. Sen’s.” Interpreter of Maladies, Houghton Mifflin, 1999, pp. 111-135

 

Sadye Moore