Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri

Hell-Heaven, by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a short story that talks about the difficulties that immigrants face in adjusting in the new American culture. In the story we see the character Pranab getting lost in the American culture, which is his mind is the most important one, and forgets about the Bengali culture. That is something we do not see in the beginning of the story, when Pranab first comes to the United States. We see that the more comfortable he becomes with the new surroundings, the more he steps into the American culture.

The story introduces a good outlook of the concept of culture shock. According to Edward Dutton, the most commonly used culture shock model is the "Four Stage Model" (Dutton 1). The first stage is called the "Honeymoon Stage"(1), during which the immigrant finds the new culture fascinating. The second stage is described as the "Reaction Stage"(1), in which the individual develops a strong dislike about the new culture, and romanticizing about home. In stage three, there is a sense of "Resignation"(1), and some coping strategies are developed. Finally in stage four, the individual understands the new culture and starts adapting into it.

The story "Hell Heaven", gives you a great picture of the Four Stage model. In the beginning of the story, Pranab is already in the second stage. He is at the point that he wants to go back home, and what stops him is meeting Usha's family. After that he goes to the third stage, where he gives the new culture another chance. When he meets Deborah, he steps into the fourth and final stage, where he becomes comfortable with the American culture, and he starts liking it.

I remember when I moved in the United States, I felt similar to Pranab. The first couple of months, I was fascinated, because I was looking at it as being a tourist, and not someone that might potentially spend the rest of his life here. After a while, everything started to change, I went to school, and it was tough to connect with anyone. I did not understand Americans, and I would often isolate myself from them. I spent a lot of time with my cousins(that had already been here) because I felt they were the only ones that reminded of home and my culture. The author Li Sha says in her article "Do you know", that "we have all paid twice in sweat, tears, and courage... We had to brace ourselves when we first got off the airplane, when we spoke English for the fist time, when we walked into the classroom, for the first time, when we answered question for the fist time."(Li Sha 32). I could imagine it was way more difficult for Pranab, because he came to the United States by himself. Now things have changed for me, since now I have been here for six years, and it would be really difficult for me to go back home, since I am so used to the new environment.

Later on in the story we see that Pranab changes perspectives on the whole sticking with his culture. He decides to take on the American culture and way of living by dating Deborah, and it seems that he forgets all about his heritage. This shows that some people can drastically change, when they move to a new "world, where everyone thinks and acts differently than them. Especially when someone moves to the United States, you can see them getting overwhelmed with the freedom and the new opportunities that they get. They feel that they used to live inside a box, and when they realize how much there is to do out there, they distant themselves from their previous life.

After Pranab makes his big transition, we see him portraying a very different character. The new Pranab is going against the culture that he grow up upon, and he is also going against his parents will. He is about to take a step that is really hard to come back from. From my experience, when you come from a culture that has a completely different set of standards than the one you move to, there is a particular set of rules that you are supposed to follow. When I first started dating in the United States, my mother resented all of the girls that I was dating, saying that they are not good enough for me because they do not understand our culture. After a while though, she became more comfortable with the American culture, and stopped bothering me over it. We do not see that with Pranab's parents, because they are not there with him, so it is really hard for them to understand like my mother did.

Pranab's wedding has no Bengali elements in it whatsoever. The only Bengali people in the family was Usha's family. The wedding was all American, from the guest size, the attire, the location, and the food. After the wedding, Pranab and Deborah distanced themselves from Bengalis. Pranab bought