Reflection for Rhode Island
A place, with its distinctive inclusiveness, always presents to contain some characteristics that can reflect both spiritual pursuits and material conditions for the residents of it. As a result, the place one lives in to some extant shapes one’s philosophy and builds one’s sense of identity. In this short story Rhode Island, Jhumpa Lahiri narrated a couple of her life fragments that happened in different time periods in first-person sight. Although all the episodes are not very long, readers are able to understand what a crucial role that the life experience she had in Rhode Island during her childhood and teenager life played in the process of shaping her life philosophy. Throughout the story, she had been continuously compared every place she mentioned that she had stayed before with Rhode Island. No matter what characteristics other places had, which are formed in a way that fit their own circumstances, Lahiri always preferred the ways Rhode Island presents. She adored Rhode Island’s weather, its geographical environment and the life style its residents live in although some of the people had left her family unpleasant memories.
There is one sentence in the story that fully represents the sense of belonging that Rhode Island has created for Lahiri. Lahiri writes, “Though I was born in London and have Indian parents, Rhode Island is the reply I give when people ask me where I am from.” (Lahiri, 102)I feel resonated when I read this since I share the same experience with Lahiri. I grow up in a city called Shenzhen, which is close to Hongkong and has been regarded as one of the top cities in ChinaI. However, I was not born in Shenzhen; instead, I was born in a very small city in China, which is my mother’s hometown. As a matter of fact, my parents moved to Shenzhen just before their marriage. However, from my aspect, only Shenzhen is my hometown, neither the place I was give birth nor my parents’ hometown.
Through Lahiri’s narration, we can see how the atmosphere of a place can shape one’s life. For instance, Lahiri carefully described her life in kingston’s library, which I think had profound influence on building her interests of reading and writing and laid the foundation of her prestigious writer life. She wrote this to show the importance of Kingston’s library in her childhood life, “From my earliest memories I was obsessed with the library, with its creaky cramped atmosphere and all the things it contained.”(Lahiri, 104) In addition to this, her description of her miss for kingston after her family moved to Peace Dale revealed her preference of the intellectual atmosphere the small town Kington, since “it was full of professors and their families and had a laid-back,intellectual feel.” (Lahiri, 105)
What’ s more, there is an episode that I like very much. It goes as, “The Atlantic I grew up with lacks the color and warmth of the Caribbean, the grandeur of the Pacific, the romance of the Mediterranean. It is generally cold, and full of rust-colored seaweed. Still, I prefer it.” In this short fragment, Lahiri seemed to only point out the shortcomings of Atlantic by depicting the attractive characteristics of the other oceans. In fact, Lahiri used this method to stress the distinctiveness and incomparable charm that Atlantic had since he pointed out that all these beautiful oceans could not displace her preference of Atlantic.
This story, with its narrative and lively tone, depicted the importance role that Rhode Island plays in the author’s life. It is structured by a couple of short but moving life fragments of the author and easily resonates me by refreshing my memories. I am able to connect my own experience with that from the character. In addition to its moving plot description, the language of this story is also pretty appealing and worth-learning.
A place, with its distinctive inclusiveness, always presents to contain some characteristics that can reflect both spiritual pursuits and material conditions for the residents of it. As a result, the place one lives in to some extant shapes one’s philosophy and builds one’s sense of identity. In this short story Rhode Island, Jhumpa Lahiri narrated a couple of her life fragments that happened in different time periods in first-person sight. Although all the episodes are not very long, readers are able to understand what a crucial role that the life experience she had in Rhode Island during her childhood and teenager life played in the process of shaping her life philosophy. Throughout the story, she had been continuously compared every place she mentioned that she had stayed before with Rhode Island. No matter what characteristics other places had, which are formed in a way that fit their own circumstances, Lahiri always preferred the ways Rhode Island presents. She adored Rhode Island’s weather, its geographical environment and the life style its residents live in although some of the people had left her family unpleasant memories.
There is one sentence in the story that fully represents the sense of belonging that Rhode Island has created for Lahiri. Lahiri writes, “Though I was born in London and have Indian parents, Rhode Island is the reply I give when people ask me where I am from.” (Lahiri, 102)I feel resonated when I read this since I share the same experience with Lahiri. I grow up in a city called Shenzhen, which is close to Hongkong and has been regarded as one of the top cities in ChinaI. However, I was not born in Shenzhen; instead, I was born in a very small city in China, which is my mother’s hometown. As a matter of fact, my parents moved to Shenzhen just before their marriage. However, from my aspect, only Shenzhen is my hometown, neither the place I was give birth nor my parents’ hometown.
Through Lahiri’s narration, we can see how the atmosphere of a place can shape one’s life. For instance, Lahiri carefully described her life in kingston’s library, which I think had profound influence on building her interests of reading and writing and laid the foundation of her prestigious writer life. She wrote this to show the importance of Kingston’s library in her childhood life, “From my earliest memories I was obsessed with the library, with its creaky cramped atmosphere and all the things it contained.”(Lahiri, 104) In addition to this, her description of her miss for kingston after her family moved to Peace Dale revealed her preference of the intellectual atmosphere the small town Kington, since “it was full of professors and their families and had a laid-back,intellectual feel.” (Lahiri, 105)
What’ s more, there is an episode that I like very much. It goes as, “The Atlantic I grew up with lacks the color and warmth of the Caribbean, the grandeur of the Pacific, the romance of the Mediterranean. It is generally cold, and full of rust-colored seaweed. Still, I prefer it.” In this short fragment, Lahiri seemed to only point out the shortcomings of Atlantic by depicting the attractive characteristics of the other oceans. In fact, Lahiri used this method to stress the distinctiveness and incomparable charm that Atlantic had since he pointed out that all these beautiful oceans could not displace her preference of Atlantic.
This story, with its narrative and lively tone, depicted the importance role that Rhode Island plays in the author’s life. It is structured by a couple of short but moving life fragments of the author and easily resonates me by refreshing my memories. I am able to connect my own experience with that from the character. In addition to its moving plot description, the language of this story is also pretty appealing and worth-learning.