Week #6 Blog Post

Hi, Karen Chau here.

In "Once in a Lifetime," Lahiri introduces a point of view that combines first person and second person. The narrator describes a time in her past and reflects upon her young love, whom she refers to as "you." This technique draws the reader in and allows the reader to visualize the scenes from both the narrator's point of view and her crush's. Besides these two central characters, the narrator's parents' personalities are illustrated through their actions. For example, the narrator's mother "considered the idea of a child sleeping alone a cruel American practice and therefore did not encourage it..." (489). She wants the narrator to sleep with her, and this shows how traditional the mother is. The narrator's parents' tedious preparation for their guests to arrive also shows how much they value friendship and those who have helped them before. Character development is done mostly through descriptions of what the characters did and how they dressed. By stating that Parul has on "bright lipstick and frosted eyelids," (491) the reader can infer that she is much more "americanized" than the narrator's mother. These differences in characteristics are highlighted in the visual scenes, such as shopping for bra scene, the first dinner scene, smoking in the bathroom scene, and more. The narrator's observations are illustrated clearly through the use of sensory details, allowing the reader to see the scenes vividly.