Francis Gregory L.

Ku

Sir Michael Estipona

ENLIT 12

November 29,2019

PROMPT: Establish the similar and divergent statements that both texts make regarding,
diaspora, alienation, and identity. Develop and justify this reading using close reading of each
text’s relevant elements.

“Grass is always Greener on the Other Side”: An analysis on Jhumpa Lahiri’s “ The Third
and Final Continent” and Jose Dalisay Jr’s “At the Embassy”

Whether one work’s outside of the country because they desire better facilities, higher
income, an opportunity to enhance one’s career or even because it is just the trend nowadays,
there is no denying that it comes with both disadvantages and advantages. Working abroad
usually offers higher payments and opportunities compared to jobs in third-world countries.
They have better employment rates, higher salaries, and better equipment but as overseas
workers gain better experience, salary, and facilities by working abroad, they risk the chance
of suffering from diaspora or the feeling of “displacement”. These workers must leave their
friends, family, and home and enter a place devoid of familiarity. They are exposed to
different cultures, people and surroundings making them feel alienated and out of place.

This, of course, is not how everyone sees the idea of working abroad. Some people
already feel a sense of alienation and powerlessness in their current society and look at
working abroad as an “opportunity for escape”. Whether you are rich or poor, sick or healthy,
or famous or unpopular, life can still feel overwhelming and claustrophobic. No amount of
money, wealth or status can exempt one from experiencing problems and obstacles in their
life and feeling stressed and anxious is a common part of living. This is why the longing for
escape is a common desire and a feeling that has crossed almost everyone’s minds. The
thought of starting over in a new place, where there are more opportunities and higher-paying
jobs can seem like salvation to some people instead of sacrifice. This paper aims to analyze
the duality between these two clashing perspectives present in the story “ The Third and Final
Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri and the poem “At the Embassy” by Jose Dalisay, Jr, and
establish the similar and divergent statements that both texts make regarding diaspora,
alienation, and identity.
 The short story "The Third and Final Continent," by Jhumpa Lahiri, narrates the story
of a young Bengali Indian and the challenges of loneliness and isolation he faces working
abroad in the 1960s. As the title implies, the narrator is in his third continent, North America,
after coming from England and initially from India. He first leaves Calcutta his hometown,
with ten dollars to his name to attend Lectures in LSE, a school in England and worked in the
library there (1). After a few years in London, he emigrates to America to work a full-time
job at MIT as a librarian (1). Eventually, after spending a few days in YMCA, he rents a
room in an apartment owned by a lady named Ms. Croft and they both bond and form a
routine of daily discourse (2 ). One main part of their routine was Mrs. Croft’s repeated
statement that there is an American flag in the moon; she would bring it up almost every day
and every time she did, her statement had to be met with the word “Splendid” (3 ). These
daily interactions with Mrs. Croft are what helped strengthen their bond together while he
awaited the arrival of his arranged wife, Mala, a woman his older brother arranged him to
wed (4 ). A few weeks later, when his wife’s passport was ready, they meet each other and
begin to live together. Initially, Mala, just like the narrator didn’t fit in. It took time for him to
get used to having someone there, anticipating his needs and despite being husband and wife
they felt like they were strangers. Even the act of giving her a few dollars is fueled not out of
compassion from the narrator but merely because of his belief that it is his duty, thinking “ I
parted with them reluctantly, but I knew that this, too was normal (10). This relationship as
strangers was temporary, and due to a series of events, including one with the protagonist
introducing her to Ms. Croft, their bond deepened and they both adjusted not only each other
but to the city, they lived in as well (10). The tale ends a few years later when Mala and the
narrator are seen as well-adjusted to American life. They are both American citizens and their
son attends the prestigious Harvard school (12). Knowing that in a few years his son will
graduate soon enter the real world and experience hardship, he reminisces the trials and
tribulations he had experienced as a foreigner and compares it to the moon landing that the
then departed Ms. Croft used to speak so fondly of (12). The astronauts only had to spend
hours in an unfamiliar and alien place, but the narrator survived more than thirty years
outside of his continent. This contrast also enables a comparison between diaspora life being
equivalent to space travel since both are travels and explorations of alien lands.

The issue of the narrator’s identity is an issue that is evident in the story. In the early
stages of the story, his identity was fragmented. The need to assimilate the culture of each of
the three continents he had lived in Asia, Europe, and North America caused him to
experience a sense of social alienation due to unfamiliarity. In England along with other
Bengali bachelors, he was described living comfortable with friends. On weekends he would
lounge barefoot in drawstring pajamas, drinking tea” watching cricket and eating “pots of egg
curry (1). Displaying acts present in both Indian and England customs and showing harmony
and assimilation between the two cultures he experienced. This, however, changes when he
enters the States, where he experiences isolation and an unfamiliarity towards the culture and
customs. Even simple acts like buying milk were new to him since he stated that “in London,
we’d had bottles delivered each morning to our door” (2). These details also imply that the
immigrant is familiar with the so-called Western way of living but has realized that not all
parts of the Western world are the same throughout his stay in the United States. His identity,
however, doesn’t remain fragmented and through a series of events in the story, he finds
stability through the strengthening of his relationship with Mala and the familiarization of his
surroundings. At the end of the story, he is shown to be living with a fully as a fully
assimilated individual. He is seen fully adjusted to his American lifestyle without losing his
Indian roots.

The theme of alienation and isolation is also seen among the central characters of the
story, Mrs. Croft, a 103-year-old widow and the narrator’s wife Mala. Mala, just like the
narrator undergoes diaspora and alienation because of new surroundings and lack of
familiarity. Mrs. Croft, on the other hand, gains her isolation from a different source. She is
isolated because of her age. She experienced a timeline different from the one she was
accustomed to, and this causes her to also feel unfamiliar with her surroundings. It is harder
for her to open up and accept people and living alone also plays a big part in her isolation.
This intrigues the narrator and the story mentions that he “ [t]ries to picture the world she had
been born into, in 1866—a world, [he] imagined, filled with women in long black skirts, and
chaste conversations in the parlor. Now, when [he] looked at her hands with their swollen
knuckles folded together in her lap, [he] imagined them smooth and slim, striking the piano
keys” (8).

Jose Dalisay Jr.’s poem, “At the Embassy” showcases a similar theme of diaspora
alienation and identity but presents it in a different perspective, different from the narrator in
the story “The Third and Final Continent”. The poem is structured similarly to a migration
visa application, A form issued to foreign nationals who intend to stay in countries they don’t
originally belong. It requires aspiring immigrants to fill up a form requiring a name, date of
birth, place of birth and the other information needed by the embassy to process immigration
documents.

The poem, however, deviates from the typical migration visa application, not because
of the structure of the information required, but because of the responses that were given.
The information asked is not met with the appropriate answers and is instead met with words
that don’t appear to have any correlation with the poem. The name section is filled with
dickhead, the date of birth is filled with the phrase “you keep filling out”, and the rest of the
sections are also filled with answers that don’t address the information required(1-8).
Although readers may view these as nothing more than random jargon, these answers, when
reading vertically, reveal a hidden allegory. A message that says “ dickhead, you keep filling
out this same stupid form only to be thrown out of this goddamn embassy because you’re
dying to live in their milk and honey”.

It is through this message that we can see, diaspora and hopelessness elements not in
the persona, but on the person the persona talks to. The message implies that the person the
persona speaks to constantly keeps filling up the same form to no avail(2). It implies that they
deeply desire to get approval to go abroad. Unlike the story “ The Third and Final Continent
which depicts the difficulty of assimilating to life abroad, “ At the Embassy” shows the
difficulty and hopelessness some face in attempts of acquiring the opportunity to go abroad.

Some people already feel alienated in their society and see working abroad as a
chance to escape their desolate situation. People, especially ones from third-world countries
see other countries as places where there are more opportunities for success and prosperity .
They see working abroad as a chance to escape their feelings of powerlessness, whether it is
powerlessness because of a lack of money, alienation from work or to escape their repetitive
and unrewarding routine. This ideology is seen in the recipient of the message, who was
described as dying to “live in their milk and honey (6-7). An individual so desperate to
experience the prosperity and richness he believes working abroad can give, despite chances
of feeling alienation and diaspora abroad, that they fill-up the form constantly despite
numerous failures. They appear to be alienated from the production work itself or society and
desire solace outside their own country.

The narrator in the story “ The Third and Final Continent” experiences alienation and
feelings of diaspora because of working outside the country while the person the message
was directed to in the poem, “At The Embassy” showcases a person so desperate to attain
what the nameless protagonist of The Third and Final Continent suffered from that the
individual is even described as “dying”(6) . The source of diaspora and alienation from the
narrator in the first story is what the persona in the poem seeks as a remedy for their feelings
of alienation.

The outcome of their identities at the end of the story also differs. Although both
share the similar trait of fighting against alienation, The narrator in “The Third and Final
Continent” successfully deals with his initial ordeal of alienation after diaspora. He is able to
assimilate the cultures from his previous continents, gaining a new identity contrary to the
fate of the person in “ At the Embassy”, who remains trapped in a state of isolation. He is still
in a search for escape and solace. Just like in poem's fifth line , his permanent address is still
this goddamn embassy (5).