Familial Relationships in Literature

Our readings in class this week all shared the theme of familial relationships.  We read Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Green Chile,” Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies,” and Seamus Heaney’s “Digging.”  All three of these works focused on the relationships between family members.  In “Green Chile” we read about the narrator’s relationship with his grandmother and how they use green chile to uphold cultural and familial traditions, in “Interpreter of Maladies” we read about how secrets can tear a family apart, and in “Digging” we read about how a person can still be a part of family traditions and values even if they choose a different way of life.  The families in each of these stories are all very different.  In “Green Chile,” the narrator cares deeply for his family’s traditions and even sacrifices his own preference for red chile to be a part of his grandmother’s love of green chile.  The narrator of “Digging” still follows his family’s tradition of digging, but chooses to dig with a pen instead of a shovel.  The Das family from “Interpreter of Maladies” completely leaves behind their Indian heritage and traditions in order to talk, act, and dress like typical American tourists.  In their own way, the families in each of these works have to decide for themselves if and how they will participate in the traditions of their parents and grandparents.