Desire and Domestic Disquiet: Exploring Emotional Instability and Familial Fragmentation in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth

J. Vishalinromiya

Teaching Assistant,

     SSM College of Arts and Science, Dindigul – 624002.

Email ID: vishalinjohnson1912@gmail.com

Abstract
This study explores the conflict between unwanted emotional attachment and familial responsibility in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth by using the Family Systems Theory. The stories in Unaccustomed Earth portray family life as emotionally connected with everyone. Unwanted desires eventually disrupt the domestic harmony. Using Murray Bowen’s concept of the family as an emotional unit, this study connects that unwanted desire impacts not only the person, but also the entire family system. This captures contemporary issues like detachment between family members. When personal emotional desires contradict with moral responsibility and cultural standards it results in emotional detachment and fragmentation. Lack of free communication and generational misunderstanding confuse familial relationships. Finally, Unaccustomed Earth explores how conflict between desire and obligation disrupts family members’ well-being and transforms the emotional structure of the modern diasporic family.

Keywords: Desire, Fragmentation, Disquiet, Emotional Instability and Moral Responsibility.