AP Prompted Writing #1: Running from the Past

Ann Jacob

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Multicultural Literature

2007. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Running From the Past

            It is widely debated whether or not the past can “haunt” you and if one has the ability to change their future from their past. This gray area couldn’t be truer than that for Rahul. Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Unaccustomed Earth: Only Goodness, uses chronological order and the stereotype of a typical Bengali lifestyle to demonstrate how the past molds people into who they are and who they will become.

            Jhumpa Lahiri proves that the past controls the future. “It was Sudha who’d introduced Rahul to alcohol” that started a lifelong addiction (Lahiri 128). But, regardless of who started it, it was Rahul who allowed the temptation to overpower him. Typical of an Indian lifestyle, Rahul graduated in the top of his high school class and landed a spot at the prestigious Cornell University. But, his luck quickly soured because after a mere two semesters at Cornell, Rahul began getting C’s and D’s and took up film and literature, while “dropping biology and organic chemistry (Lahiri 139). Once so content with Rahul, even bragging to their friends about his accomplishments, Rahul’s parents now bend their heads in embarrassment, the shame driving them to lie about their son’s status. Despite this humiliation, when older sister Sudha tells their parents that “Rahul might have a drinking problem”, their parents surprisingly refuse to put the blame on Rahul, instead pinning it on the American life system (Lahiri 143).

            Jhumpa Lahiri allows the audience to see a break for Rahul to change and the effects it has on him. After many tense, crumbling years of living under his parent’s roof, dropping out of college, working a lowly job at the Laundromat, and continuing to fuel his addiction for alcohol, Rahul finally takes off, even stealing his mother’s gold dowry to pay for his new lifestyle.

            Lahiri proves that the past controls a person’s future through Rahul’s journey. After over a year of isolation, Rahul finally contacts Sudha and tells her about his new life. He tells her “I’m sorry”, that now he’s now standing on his own two feet working as a “line cook”, he’s back with his old girlfriend, and he “started rehab” to fix himself (Lahiri 161). Sudha, frantic to rush Rahul a reply in fear that he will leave again, tell him to come to her home soon. When Rahul gets leave from work, he makes the journey to Europe to visit Sudha, her husband Roger, and their new baby boy, Neel.

Lahiri toys with the possibility of change in the future upon Rahul’s arrival to Sudha’s home. Rahul seems calm and content, even refusing the glass of wine offered at dinner the first night. After a spending over a week with his sister’s family, Rahul encourages Sudha and Roger to enjoy a date night and let him bond with Neel. Seeing Rahul for the past week, Sudha and Roger both see a change and agree to a relaxing evening. After dinner and a movie, Sudha and Roger return home, absolutely horrified. After screaming Rahul’s name, they find their precious baby in the tub without any supervision. Neel was “sitting without the plastic ring they normally put him in so he wouldn’t tip over…and the water was up to his chest and no longer warm. One slip and [Neel] would have been faced down”, drowned (Lahiri 169-170). Furious, Sudha and Roger find a passed-out Rahul, nursing a “glass [of alcohol] tucked under his arm” (Lahiri 170). Rahul, after a harsh briefing of the night before , is thrown out into the streets, forced to fend for himself, wallow in his irresponsibility, and return to his pathetic life and detrimental addiction.

Jhumpa Lahiri proves to the audience that the past is impossible to run from. From Rahul’s college parties to leaving a baby in water unattended, despite rehab and change, Lahiri shows that the past does control the present and future no matter how much effort is put toward change.