For twenty years I studied Italian as if I were swimming along the edge of that lake.
-- Narrator (The Crossing paragraph 8)

Importance: Jhumpa uses the image of a lake across which she wishes to swim to help her reader understand her progress in learning the Italian language.

It seems like a language with which I have to have a relationship.
-- Narrator (Love at First Sight paragraph 5)

Importance: This quote introduces the theme of Jhumpa’s developing relationship with Italian. At some points she indicates she believes the language wants nothing to do with her while in other parts she protects her growing knowledge of the language as one would protect an infant.

When you live in a country where your own language is considered foreign, you can feel a continuous sense of estrangement.
-- Narrator (Exile paragraph 5)

Importance: Jhumpa describes to her reader her feelings of never having a language to which she belonged. She grew up speaking Bengali in America, a country where no one else...