Summary

In the section “The Hairy Adolescent,” Jhumpa is invited to participate in a literary festival where she is asked to write a piece based on the subject of the festival. In this case the subject is “Winners and Losers.” The pieces will be included in a bilingual catalog. Jhumpa chooses to write her submission in Italian. Although she does not want to be the one to translate her piece into English, Jhumpa’s husband encourages her to do so. She is surprised how difficult the translation process is. Since she is a more fluent writer in English than in Italian, she believes the Italian piece feels lifeless after it has been translated into English. In English she could find multiple ways to express herself instead of being handicapped by her still-limited Italian. She compares her English skills to...