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In this podcast episode, the host discusses the short story "Mrs. Sen's" by Jhumpa Lahiri. The story follows Elliot, a young American boy who is cared for by an Indian immigrant named Mrs. Sen. The story explores themes of isolation and loneliness, both experienced by Mrs. Sen as an immigrant in the United States and by Elliot, who lacks stability in his life. The protagonist is Elliot, and the story is told from his perspective. The main conflict revolves around Mrs. Sen's homesickness and her struggle to adapt to life in America. The story highlights the emotional challenges faced by immigrants. Overall, the host enjoyed the story and believes it resonates with feelings of isolation and loneliness that many people can relate to. Hello, and welcome to my podcast. My name is Justin Rodriguez, and in today's episode, I will be discussing the short story, Mrs. Sen's by Jhumpa Lahiri. Let me start off by giving some background on who Lahiri is. Full name Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri is a Bengali American author, best known for her short stories, novels, and essays. Lahiri's writings often explore themes such as identity, belonging, cultural dissonance, and the immigrant experience. This is something that holds true in her short story, Mrs. Sen's. Mrs. Sen's was written and appears in Lahiri's debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, in the year 2000, which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. The story follows Elliot, a young American boy who is cared for after school by an Indian immigrant, Mrs. Sen's, whose husband works as a mathematics professor at a university. Elliot's mother is a single mom who works a little distance away from home. Elliot's mother needs someone to watch Elliot while she's working, since his father is not in the picture and lives a couple thousand miles away, which is where Mrs. Sen's comes into the equation. After a few past babysitters have come and gone, Elliot's mom found Mrs. Sen's via a bulletin board ad at the supermarket. This is what kickstarts the whole plot and story to come. Although the story is quite lighthearted on the surface, the themes of Mrs. Sen's cut deep and invoke real thinking and inner reflection, the most prominent and arguably most important one being isolation and loneliness. This multifaceted theme is portrayed in more ways than one, the most prominent being Mrs. Sen herself. As a woman who has immigrated to the United States from India with only her husband, she lacks community and connection. Most days, she doesn't even leave the comforts of her own home due to the fact that she cannot drive. Driving is used as a symbol in many ways for independence. Mrs. Sen is reluctant to drive, which can be seen in a way as her not wanting to fully be alone and independent. Her lack of mobility alludes to the fact that she cannot connect to the outside world. She already feels so alone and some of the only time she gets to spend with her husband is when he drives her places. I can imagine she wouldn't want to give that time up either. Going back to the theme at hand, we also see isolation and a sense of loneliness in Elliot. Even though he's only 11 or so, he doesn't have much stability in his life. His parents aren't together, his mom is always working, his father lives thousands of miles away, he has had three different babysitters in the past couple of years, and it seems as though he doesn't have any friends. So it's not peculiar as to why Elliot and Mrs. Sen find solace in each other, even if Elliot may be too young to realize it yet. This overarching theme makes readers question under what circumstances a person has to be under in order to feel isolated and a sense of not belonging. Is it the fault of the individual person or the environment they're in? Moving away from the theme, I want to delve deeper into the characters themselves. Mrs. Sen is ultimately the main character. However, the protagonist would most likely be Elliot as we follow his perspective. We can see Mrs. Sen's deterioration through Elliot's perspective. The story itself is told in a close third-person point of view as we're able to see it through Elliot's lens, but we don't know his thoughts or emotions. This dual protagonist lens is important as we get to see serious topics such as Mrs. Sen's deterioration through an innocent, inexperienced point of view, such as Elliot's. Elliot being so young and inexperienced with life is essential because he doesn't discriminate against people, thus giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. He doesn't feel any sort of way when Mrs. Sen talks about the possibility of him not visiting his mother when she's old. This could be because he doesn't understand or because he doesn't feel very connected to his mother anyways. She's always working and never really had time for him in his developmental years of life. This is part of the reason why Elliot and Mrs. Sen get along so well without even knowing each other too well. Now moving on to the main conflict of the story, in which this case would be Mrs. Sen's internal struggle of homesickness. She doesn't like her life in America. She came for Mr. Sen's job, and they were aware of the change that would occur, but now she is confined to the home and has become reliant on her husband. Her inability to drive only further constricts her. After traveling all this way, leaving behind her family, friends, and life back home just to come and feel isolated, I'd be upset too. Everything is still moving on around her, but she is frozen in time in a sense. Her sister has had a baby that she won't be able to meet for years, and her grandfather died, and she's not able to be there with or for her family to grieve. This is extremely powerful and is often overlooked in real life as it's a common occurrence for immigrants. Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was sad at times, but I feel as though it's a very real story and depiction of emotion when you're in a new place. I think everyone can relate to Mrs. Sen at some point in their life. Not that everyone moves across the world, but the isolation, anxiety, and loneliness is something that everyone feels. Thank you once again for listening to this episode of my podcast. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more content to come.