"I've inherited a sense of that loss from my parents because it was so palpable all the time while I was growing up, the sense of what my parents had sacrificed in moving to the United States, and yet at the same time, building a life here and all that that entailed"
About this Quote
The subtext is the double bind at the center of the American immigrant narrative: the promised new life requires a kind of amputation. “Sacrificed” names the cost without melodrama, while “building a life here” refuses a simple victim story. Lahiri’s sentence insists on simultaneity: gratitude and mourning coexisting, neither canceling the other. That “and yet at the same time” does crucial work, pushing back against the cultural demand to package immigration as either triumphal assimilation or pure suffering.
Context matters: Lahiri has made a career out of tracing how displacement operates not as a single rupture but as a long, domestic aftershock. The phrase “all that that entailed” trails off like a sigh, suggesting paperwork, loneliness, accent, social erasure, career compromises - and the child’s awareness of being the reason and the reward. The intent isn’t to sentimentalize immigrants; it’s to show how identity gets built on someone else’s quiet forfeitures, and how love can arrive carrying a bill.
Quote Details
| Topic | Family |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lahiri, Jhumpa. (2026, January 17). I've inherited a sense of that loss from my parents because it was so palpable all the time while I was growing up, the sense of what my parents had sacrificed in moving to the United States, and yet at the same time, building a life here and all that that entailed. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/ive-inherited-a-sense-of-that-loss-from-my-55931/
Chicago Style
Lahiri, Jhumpa. "I've inherited a sense of that loss from my parents because it was so palpable all the time while I was growing up, the sense of what my parents had sacrificed in moving to the United States, and yet at the same time, building a life here and all that that entailed." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/ive-inherited-a-sense-of-that-loss-from-my-55931/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I've inherited a sense of that loss from my parents because it was so palpable all the time while I was growing up, the sense of what my parents had sacrificed in moving to the United States, and yet at the same time, building a life here and all that that entailed." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/ive-inherited-a-sense-of-that-loss-from-my-55931/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.
