57 pages • 1 hour read
Jhumpa LahiriWhen Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Candy
The candy motif reflects Lilia’s Coming of Age as a Second-Generation Immigrant and the loss of innocence that it entails. At the start of the story, Lilia stores all the candy she receives from Mr. Pirzada in a special box and eats one piece before bed each night. While this ritual demonstrates that she greatly treasures the treats he brings, she is simply enjoying the candy as any child would. However, once she learns about the war and the danger his family is in, she changes her nightly ritual. She lets the candy melt in her mouth and then prays for his family’s safety—despite having never prayed before or being taught how. She also forgoes brushing her teeth, worried that it will rinse the prayer away as well. This well-meaning attempt at helping Mr. Pirzada demonstrates some growth, but it is ultimately a rather childish way of dealing with the uncomfortable feelings her knowledge of the conflict gives rise to.
Once Mr. Pirzada leaves, Lilia continues the ritual until her family hears from him months later. She learns he and his family are safe and realizes she will never see him again. In this moment she finally understands “what it meant to miss someone who was so many miles and hours away, just as he had missed his wife and daughters for so many months” (42). With her naivety now gone, Lilia has no need for the candy and throws it away.
Watches and Time
The motif of watches and time underscores the importance of connecting with others, regardless of physical distance. Early in the story, Lilia explains that every night, when they sit down to watch the news, Mr. Pirzada “[takes] out a plain silver watch without a band, [...] and [winds] it with three swift flicks of his thumb and forefinger” (30), setting it 11 hours ahead to Dacca time. He has not heard from his family in months, but he knows they’re in the middle of an ongoing conflict, and with so little to grasp onto, he creates a connection to them through the ritual of syncing a pocket watch to their local time (it is not insignificant that he keeps the watch in his breast pocket and close to his heart).
Lilia and her father also sync their watches the night she goes trick or treating on her own for the first time. While the act has a practical purpose—Lilia is to return home no later than nine o’clock, so being in sync avoids any unnecessary worrying—the connection it creates also provides comfort. This motif reveals the importance of Rituals as Connection and Coping Mechanism, even for people who are physically close. Lilia builds a bond with Mr. Pirzada through the rituals they create around candy, which recur at the same time each day. Likewise, her entire family and Mr. Pirzada connect through their ritual of eating dinner in front of the TV as they watch the evening news.
Halloween
Halloween symbolizes American cultural traditions and helps Lahiri explore the experiences that immigrants undergo when assimilating. Toward the beginning of the story, Lilia notes that her parents like to befriend fellow Indian immigrants and that they often complain about American culture. However, despite their own lack of interest in assimilating, they encourage their daughter to do so. On Halloween her mother brings home a pumpkin to carve, and her parents allow her to trick or treat without adult supervision because “all the children will be out. It’s a tradition” (38). As such, Halloween makes the generational divide clear. Lilia’s parents stay home, attached to the TV—their link to their cultural roots and the only way they can stay informed of current events happening there—while she attempts to assimilate into American culture. However, despite her willingness to participate, Lilia is not allowed to fully assimilate and cannot escape her cultural heritage. While trick or treating, people at the houses she visits remind her of her differences by commenting on her ethnicity; at Dora’s house, she realizes how blissfully ignorant most Americans are about events overseas. Symbolically, she returns home to find that her pumpkin has been smashed and that the war has all but started—a final reminder that she cannot forgo her Indian heritage entirely.
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