Cultural syncretism in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Only Goodness”

Bengali Diaspora

Abstract

Cultural syncretism is used as a major tool in analyzing the integrating process of multicultural identities within diasporic communities. Here, majority and minority groups have been dealt with at an equal level; however, in some domains, it is connected to colonialism as it involves mimicking western patterns and behavior, which helps assimilation into the foreign culture. This method of ‘assimilation’ is quite complex because it combines the influence of the dominant or majority group and the folks of other groups share sentiments, memory and the impression of alienation. The term assimilation is constantly used for immigrants from unique cultural identities and encourages the idea of a ‘melting Pot’. This research paper seeks to identify the elements of cultural syncretism in Bengali diasporic communities in the story “only goodness” from the anthology of Jhumpa Lahiri entitled Unaccustomed Earth.