"Hell-Heaven," by Jhumpa Lahiri is about the experiences and struggles of Bengali immigrants living in America. The narrator of the story is a young Bengali girl who lives with her parents who have moved to America to pursue better opportunities and she is reflecting on her childhood of how her mother fell in love with Pranab who was a friend to them. The story takes place in Central Square in Cambridge Massachusetts. Throughout the story different themes are displayed, the plot of the story changes as time passes, the tone of the narrator is clearly conveyed, the different settings are unique to what makes the story, and the characters are important in the plot of the story. .
Different themes are shown throughout the story: tradition, modernity, culture and identity. The first theme would be tradition vs. modernity. Usha, the narrator explains to us how her mother, Boudi, strongly holds on to the Indian beliefs and practices. The way she dresses in the traditional "tangail sari"(622), how she prepares them traditional Indian meals and also how she interacts with people. The narrator then goes on to say when Pranab followed them in the park he knew she was a Bengali because she was wearing the traditional red and white bangles married Bengai women normally wore and because she has a "thick stem of vermillion powder"(622) in the center parting of her hair. These things clearly show how she has stuck to her traditions and roots despite living in a totally different society. The theme of tradition is further displayed by how the mother prepares a local meal for Pranap when he visits and how he had a bachelor dinner his wedding to his American fiancée Deborah. When invited to a party by Pranab's in laws on Thanksgiving, Boudi and her husband conducted themselves in accordance to the Bengali culture and didn't do things outside of their cultures standards.