Category: The Namesake

Postcolonialism is defined as “the historical period or state of affairs representing the aftermath of Western colonialism, or that can be also used to describe the concurrent project to rethink the history and agency of people subordinated under various form of imperialism” (Ivison, 2020). Postcolonialism shows about identity, cluture and nationality. The namesake by jhumpa lahiri,The cultural disparity is one among concept in literature. It focuses on culture and how people are suffered by culture because people migrate to a foreign country to earn money or something.amd it also shows how this postcolonialism led to loss ones identity thus, the theme identity, diaspora, mimicry and hybridity are woven into lives of the charecter.

In the novel Identity like name, language and culture plays a vital role.postcolonial identity that is based on cultural interactions between different identities . As names are symbol of identity in life which helps people to communicate with each other that particularly plays an important role for people to identify themselve . In the story, the charecter Gogol is confused regarding his name and he want to change his name into Nikhil . He was sad where he feel indifferent since he was not able to adapt both name. People who knew him by name called him” Nick” knowing about his name change.By the end, he chooses to stick with his pet name Gogol since he realized the hope behind it as it defines who he is. Language became another issue for Gogol as their family speaks Bengali within families but speak other languages when they step out from the house In the process, he found difficulties in usage of languages and practicing of culture as his mother force him to focus more on Indian culture, That he is asked to eat with hands instead of eating with spoon making him confused with the two culture.

Diaspora is the situation in which people are scattered away from their original countries or coming together in a different place (diaspora-dictionary, 2019). Diaspora has been used as expressing the concept of hybridity. This novel tells us about the adjustment problems of Indians, both first and second generations, who have now settled in America. The pressure between adhering to Indian culture and absorbing American culture, between protecting family tradition and pledging to the individual freedom and realization that one is an outsider even though one is born there is beautifully highlighted in the novel. Ashima use to get confused between the Indian and American practices in which even her son pressurizes her about not being able to understand and feeling ashamed of practicing the Indian culture and speaking Bengali. Through the character of Gogol, Lahiri has revealed her own quest of identity and cultural hybridity. In spite of the Bengali-oriented education children receive from their parents, they get integrated to the standard American culture by schooling, university education and other extracurricular activities fundamental to American culture. They are caught between two conflicting realities – one of the host country through the socio-cultural surroundings and the other of the cultural patterns of the country of their parents. Similarly, many issues of culture difference, identity of name, language and homesick arises due to the diaspora nature caused by the Postcolonialism.

Another significant themes reflected in the novel are mimicry and hybridity. Mimicry in the colonial and postcolonial literature is “commonly seen when the members of the colonized society imitates the language, dress, politics and cultural attitudes of the colonizer” (Singh, 2009). In other words, it is also defined as being insincere and intentionally suppresses one’s own cultural identity, though in some cases immigrants and colonial subjects are left confused by their culture when it encounters with other dominant foreign cultures. Likewise, though Ganguli family is initially originated from Indian Society they generate preference of foreign culture than their original culture. In the novel, cultural conflict arises because the parents of Gogol who wanted to incalculate indian culture and values in them; however, their children prefer to follow American culture. Going to their native land is a joy for them but the two children have no attachment to either India or their relatives. Moreover, Gogol and his sister Sonia love Christmas more than Durga Puja and find Bengali cultural lessons boring. For their parents, India is their desh (country) but “Gogol never thinks of India as desh, instead he thinks of it as Americanas do, as India” just like any American kid, Gogol leaves his home. While doing so, it does not mean he hates his parents but the things they say is not the one that interests him .The copying of the colonizing culture, behaviour, manners and values by the colonized contains both mockery and a certain ‘menace’, ‘so that mimicry is at once resemblance and menace” (Bhabha,1994). Similarly, in the colonial and postcolonial literature mimicry is often seen as something shameful when the members of the colonized society imitate the language, dress, politics and cultural attitudes of the colonizer. For example, Ashima in the novel who lives in America cooks Indian dishes, wears their dress and speaks Bengali at home but whenever she steps outside the doorstep, her mind is preoccupied by the cultures and practices of new western society. There is situation where son faces so many challenges in speaking different language because he is confused between the two languages in which he later prefers to use the western language as he felt uncomfortable and ashamed to speak their native language. In that way one’s own cultures are covered by other dominant cultures leading to the impacts of hybridity.

In conclusion, the identity, diaspora, mimicry and hybridity are the main themes portrayed in the novel ‘The Namesake’ which is mainly based on the impacts of Postcolonialism. Postcolonialism has not only made the people to move from their original place but also made people to experience the diaspora nature where the settlers began to mimicry and hybridity the cultures and religions. On contrary, the most challenging thing is people faces difficulty in differentiating their identity and often get confused it with the foreign identity.

Postcolonialism has more disadvantage than advantage over the novel where main character named Gogol has to undergo number of challenges to identify and define himself. So, whatever advent of Postcolonialism has not only affected the living styles and cultures but also the identity.

A migrant’s ability to easily assimilate into a culture can be depended on whether or not it was voluntarily done, as they find it easier to discard their past and create a new identity than those who were strained to do so. Both Jhumpa Lahiri’s bildungsroman novel, ‘The Namesake’ and Kent MacCarter and Ali Lemer’s anthology ‘Joyful Strains’, explore the ways in which first generation and second-generation migrants display a positive view towards their migration journey. However, this positive outlook towards migration is to some degree only true for some migrants, as it is implied that those who willing migrate appear to find it easier to assimilate into their new country, as their reason for migrating is to discard their past. Both texts share the commonality that they are in the same social milieu and explore the complexities faced by migration to a foreign country and the misfortunes that arise due to cultural identity mishaps for the second-generation migrants. Lahiri and Lemer and MacCarter shed light on how the emotional relationships that migrants embark, changes their perspective towards the foreign culture.

The journeys that migrants take are often a means of escape for those who wish to leave their pasts behind, therefore forming a positive experience towards the concept of migrating. In The Namesake, Lahiri portrays Ashoke Ganguli as a man who wanted to walk “as far away as he could” from the place in which “he had nearly died” and through his journey to America, he is “born” a “third time”. His metaphorical rebirth in America demonstrates how his migration had granted him the opportunity to leave his traumatic past behind and enabled him to start a fresh. The communality that both texts share is an individual’s motivation to move from their homeland. For Ashoke, it was his individualistic desire to seek better opportunities for himself, and through his journey to America, he is able to lecture “before a class of American students”, symbolising his fulfilment of the American dream. In a similar manner, the editors of Joyful Strains remind readers that they “chose to move here” implying that their perspectives will differ from those “without the same freedom”. Readers are able to observe this through the author Akhil, in a similar way to Ashoke, establishes her love for Melbourne and her “first Cornetto, and this positive tone permeates her entire memoir…’moving to another country will make you more resourceful’. The similar motivations depicted in both texts demonstrates that, both first generation migrants of the text show how people with stronger language and social status in the environment often integrate easier than those who still have barriers. Both authors explore how migrants often face the crisis of belonging to a certain culture due to their accents. Moushumi makes an effort to adjust her accent to be one “just as American as [Gogol’s]”. These accents can be seen to segregate these individuals as they appear not only on the surface different but through their voices too. In a likewise fashion Flynn Irish shares the tribulation of having an accent which ‘frustrates’ him as it identifies him at as a foreigner. These accents can be seen to segregate these individuals as they appear not only on the surface different but through their voices too. Evidently, both authors convey the idea that an individual’s ability to create a positive attitude towards the concept of migrating is highly dependent on the reason for their migration and their language abilities, or else many complexities arise for these migrants.

The concept of assimilation is a “series of conscious and unconscious decisions about what you hold onto and what you let go of“, which ultimately has a subsequently effect on an individual’s migration experience. In the novel and anthology, the authors highlight that many migrants often experience many hardships and marginalisation because they migrate to environments that often challenge their own core values and beliefs, thus the social context these individuals find themselves reaffirm their sense of ‘otherness’ and influence their outlook towards migration as more of a negative experience to some extent. Ashima, who is forced to migrate for her husband, perceives migration to have “replaced [her old life] with [one] much more demanding and complicated.” Through feeling as if “nothing [was] normal”, Ashima can be identified by the audience as a dependent woman who willingly left her Bengali family for the sake of her husband, however unwillingly lived her new life imparted on her. Unlike Lahiri who chooses the American setting for her narrative Dmetri Kakmi’s text Night of the Living Wog is a memoir, therefore a reflection of pivotal moments in his life in Melbourne and Greece, yet the sense of being the ‘other’ is also explored as Kakmi arrives in Melbourne and is exposed to a culture that is unfamiliar. Both authors clearly suggest that the social context in which individuals find themselves has an alienating effect, but Joyful Strains highlights that racism in a society can lead to further estrangement and feelings of rejection. Lahiri explores how the challenges Ashima faces in maintaining her own traditions and rituals in America serve to alienate her from the dominant culture and even her children who distance themselves from her because their cultural context is dissimilar to hers. Whereas, in Kakmi’s memoir it is asserted that as he is used to living in a community where ‘everyone knew you as well as you knew them’ he reflects on the feelings of hostility he feels in Melbourne with ‘its jealously guarded backyard culture’. Despite their differing reasons for feeling a sense of dislocation, both authors are aiming to stress the idea that one’s ability to form a positive migration experience is a matter of how much the individual is willing to let go from their past in order to easily assimilate into the new environment.

The emotional journeys that individuals embark on through relationships assist in the ability to adapt to the new environment. In ‘The Namesake’, Gogol is caught between two immensely different worlds and it is through his relationships that he attempts to discover his identity. As a rebellious teen, he actively dates American women depicted through how he “falls in love with Maxine” and “her house”, symbolically demonstrating how Gogol attempts to connect with his American identity. However, as he matures, he “given into” his “parents’” wishes and marries Moushumi, a Bengali woman, elucidating his growth towards accepting his Bengali identity. What draws the line between the two texts is the outcome of these emotional journeys. Lahiri foreshadows the failure of Gogol’s relationship as she highlights how they had held a “wedding that neither [Gogol nor Moushumi] really want”. Similarly, Ali’s love for Sally and Dmitri’s ability to emulate heroes from the television into his life aided both these characters in the process of coming to terms with either homosexuality or overcoming the challenges faced with their migration experience. In essence, both authors are asserting that emotional journeys such as the ones that romantic relationships or relationships with tv characters provide can enable individuals to form a positive view towards their migration experience.

Both authors assert through their texts that migrants can be restrained to developing a positive point of view towards the migration experience if they lack basic language skills or don’t have any desires to migrate. The novel and memoirs demonstrate the challenges of being an outsider and why they are arisen, as well as the qualities that and individuals must have to have a more positive migration experience. Both authors novel and memoir illustrates the adversities one may face with cultural identity and migration, as well as underlining how they overcome these obstacles to form a sense of acceptance to the migration experience.

Globalization is a blessing and a curse. Multiple routes of transportation instruments can take a person half-way across the world; however, immigration is not as easy as simply relocating from a native country to a foreign country. In other words, immigration is easier said than done. Immigrants often struggle with balancing their identities, learning how to communicate in contemporary societies that still lack awareness in intercultural communication, and the handling the nostalgic feeling of home and for loved ones. This is especially so for immigrant who live in Westernized worlds, and this key term is hegemony. In Western societies such as the United States and United Kingdom, cultural hegemony perpetrates the overshadowing of the dominant culture over the recessive cultures. Minorities are given all sorts of stereotypes. For certain minorities, such as the Asian category, model minority is the concept in which the minorities are model citizens who work hard and have good professions that allows them socioeconomic success in the West. The struggle to transition, assimilate, and adapt into a new culture with existing cultural identity is perpetrated in Stephen Frears’ film Dirty Pretty Things and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. More specifically, the characters from the film and the book struggles with their ambiguous and confused identities, illuminating the postcolonial struggles that deals with similar hegemony but vastly different portrayals of colonialism—The Namesake portrays a struggle against hegemony through the concept of model minority whereas double consciousness plays specifically on Gogol’s self-identity, while in Stephen Frears’ film Dirty Pretty Things depicts the struggle in the process of assimilation under authority of hegemony.

For some immigrants, dealing with conflicting identities under the concept of double consciousness means eliminating one as the easy way out, which is perpetrated in Lahiri’s The Namesake. Specifically, the character disregards the identity to deal with the feelings of foreignness. The book places emphasis on a Bengali immigrant in the United States. When he was born, he was given the pet name, Gogol Ganguli, which has a deep Bengali cultural significance. In the text, the author describes that Gogol “is aware that his parents, and their friends, and the children of their friends, and all his friends from high school, will never call him anything but Gogol” (Lahiri 103). By having this name, Gogol is connected to the Bengali identity in America. However, Gogol has always struggled to accept his pet name. Gogol was the protagonist’s name, but at the same time, also rooted his Bengali identity. However, when Gogol reaches the legal age, he changes his name formally to “Nikhil,” which essentially tosses away his Bengali identity and fully embracing his American identity. When going to college, Gogol reinvents himself as Nikhil. where he introduces himself as Nikhil. This name enabled him to coil more confidence as an American. In particular, “now that he’s Nikhil it’s easier to ignore his parents, to tune out their concerns and pleas. With relief, he types his name at the tops of his freshmen papers” (Lahiri 105). From this statement, it can be seen that throughout Gogol’s life, he struggled with his identity. He desperately wanted to get rid of his Bengali identity and take on the more American identity by the name, Nikhil. The college experience essentially gave Gogol the opportunity to disconnect with the previous and act out the American part.

However, changing a name is merely not enough to deal with the cultural conflicts, because “At times he [Nikhil] feels as if he’s cast himself in a play, acting the part of twins, indistinguishable to the naked eye yet fundamentally different” (Lahiri 105). From this statement, it shows that identity cannot be wiped away by a change of name. Nikhil still feels different, particularly that foreignness of being fundamentally different than other Americans. Here, Nikhil is experiencing the phenomenon of the Western hegemony. According to Justin Lewis’ “Hegemony,” it is details that “hegemony is not merely a description but a process, one that makes the dominance of certain groups or ideas in society seem normal” (88). Lewis’ description perpetrates how Gogol changing his name to Nikhil would make him feel more normal because the name Nikhil is more Americanized than a pet name his Bengali parents gave him. Turning himself into Nikhil makes him more normal in the sense that his name is essentially American. People often change their names, and refer themselves to their English names, because they find it easier to fit into the society, easier to be accepted, easier to get jobs. However, for Nikhil to mention that he feels like he is a character in the play shows that the normal feeling from hegemony is only temporary, just as English-sounding names are simply attempting to act and sound more Western.

Similarly, the names in Dirty Pretty Things also heavily reveals how the name heavily associated with immigrant identity, particularly through Nigerian immigrant, Okwe, and Senay, a Turkish Muslim immigrant. Throughout the film, the names remain the same, until the very end when Okwe and Senay use illegal means to get new passports. The consistency of using the same names is actually a rhetorical device to limit both characters’ opportunities. Unlike Gogol who gets to refresh his life with a new name, both of the names from Dirty Pretty Things certainly do not sound like any normal American names. Hence, with less association with “Westernization,” there are fewer opportunities for them. Even more conflicting, Okwe is an illegal immigrant and Senay is a legal immigrant who is illegally working, which magnifies the struggles to survive in London, United Kingdom. Because she needs the work, but cannot work — she is threatened with many difficult circumstances, such as to perform oral sex on the manager working at the sweatshop, so that he would not report her to the authorities. For several occasions, Senay performs oral sex to secure her job and her immigrant status. She even resorts to planning to exchange a kidney for a passport with a completely new name. Both Okwe and Senay finally receive passports with different names after drugging the hotel manager and selling his kidney instead.

Hegemony is demonstrated in the film, where there are scenes that symbolically centres on the invisibility of immigrants. Senay works illegally at a hotel; however, her name is ironically not in the books of the employees or any documents that mention her name. By doing so, denotatively speaking, the hotel gets to hide from the authorities that they are hiring someone who is not supposed to work. But connotatively, what this actually demonstrates is Senay’s invisibility as an immigrant. Okwe is also in an almost identical situation; he is invisible, because he is an illegal immigrant. Officially speaking, Okwe is not recognized as an immigrant nor as a citizen. Both Okwe and Senay engage in some sort of underground economy, and to emphasize on the term underground illuminates the idea of being invisible. They go through illegal means such as the sale of organs or exchanging sexual favors. From the film, the hotel is essentially the inside, where Okwe and Senay hides, both physically and in terms of their immigrant status.

The ideal of model minority is the biggest difference between the book and the film; often times, Asians in general are the model minority group, while other racial or ethnic minorities are more deviant and marginalized. According to Curtis Chang’s “Streets of Gold: The Myth of the Model Minority,” it is stated that Asian-Americans tend to be the group that achieves “material wealth, wealth that flows from our successes in the workplace and in the schoolroom” (38) and essentially possessing “the top of the class” image. In The Namesake, model minority is perpetrated through Nikhil. In the text, Nikhil is surrounded by a successful, wealthy family called the Ratliffs, where the author details, “Gerald is a lawyer. Lydia is a curator of textiles at the met. They are at once satisfied and intrigued by his background, by his years at Yale and Columbia, his career as an architect…” (Lahiri 89). What this demonstrates is Nikhil’s admiration for a successful family, with prestige jobs and ivy league diplomas. Symbolically, this model minority is what Nikhil strives for. Culturally speaking. Nikhil has Bengali roots, which means that he has South Asian roots. As a result, this closely conforms to the myth of the model minority. On the contrast, Okwe and Senay are not exactly model minority, yet the assimilation, For the survival under assimilation, they work in a hotel that illegally runs an underground organ trade. Both Okwe and Senay are not authorized to work. Due to the hegemony, Okwe, a Nigerian illegal immigrant and Senay, a Turkish Muslim have to silence down, disobey the self-principle of morality, and suffer in sexual harassment.

Ultimately, the concepts of hegemony through model minority and assimilation in colonialism is examined through Stephen Frears’ film Dirty Pretty Things and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. There are similarities and differences in how the book and story portrayed these concepts. In similar terms, the desire to replace their old names to new names possess the want to belong in the dominant group, the group that holds the dominant power and influence. The olds names hold strong cultural connections to their native identity. The change of the name is the pursuit of normalcy as immigrants living in Western societies. On the other hand, model minority is presented in vastly different ways in the book and the film. The book shows examples of model minority using by a Bengali immigrant who sees success in his white surroundings, and even more emphasized with Gogol/Nikhil’s South Asian roots. Moreover, in the film as Okwe and Senay are engaging in illegal activities of all levels due to the survival under the assimilation pressure. The struggle of identity continues for immigrants as they attempt to juggle their past, present, and future.

Works Cited

1. Chang, Curtis. ‘Streets of Gold: The Myth of the Model Minority.’ Money and Success, pp. 37-41.
2. Dirty Pretty Things. Directed by Stephen Frears, Perf. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sergi López. 2002. Miramax Films, 2002.
3. Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.
4. Lewis, Justin. ‘Hegemony.’ Keywords for Media Studies, pp. 88-90.

“Being a foreigner is a sort of life-long pregnancy-A Perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an on-going responsibility, only to discover that previous life has vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding like pregnancy being a foreigner Ashima believes, is something that elicit the same curiosity from strangers, the same combination of pity and respect” (Lahiri, The Namesake)

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake revolves around the themes of Alienation, dual identity, nostalgia, homesickness, immigration, identity crisis and belonging. Gogol is the first child of Ashoke and Ashima. He feels unconfident and turns into an introvert as result his name and his roots from Bengal. “And so it occurs to him that no one he knows in the world, in Russia or India or American or anywhere, shares his name. Not even the source of his namesake” (Lahiri, The Namesake) His naming, acceptance by the American friends, ambivalence towards the Bengali culture, dual identity (American and Bengali), his choosing of American identity by cutting off his connection with the Bengali culture are of crucial importance in context of challenging the American and Eurocentric view of the world and self. He hesitates in using his name originated from India in front of his American friends. Before the death of his father he shies away from the responsibilities of his family which is common in America and Europe as the concept of family is different in West than the East but once his father dies he starts taking all the responsibilities of the family like a typical Eastern male and helps his mother by shouldering the problems with her. Here Gogol challenges the American and Eurocentric view of the family. In Europe or America the parents and children are free from all the responsibilities of the family once the children turn eighteen (18).

Jhumpa Lahiri tells the story of two generations of Indian family and their struggle to acculturate themselves in the West. She presents a gloomy spectacle of racism, prejudice and marginalization in which Gogol, the son of a Bengali couple, Ashoke Ganguli and Ashima Ganguli, becomes a victim of it. Gogol struggles to transform himself by escaping from the traditions of the community of Indian immigrants to which his family belongs but fails in doing so because even after changing his name to Nikhil, he could not find and escape in the American society. Ashima, while living in America, struggles to sense the belonging to American culture and atmosphere. She finds it extremely difficult to adjust to the American life style and society. She desperately tries to preserve and keep live her culture in a foreign land. Although it is impossible to walk into a mist and not get wet but Ashima remains Bengali and looks after her kids: Gogol and Sonia in a typical Indian way and teaching them both American and Bengali culture. Jhumpa Lahiri explains her situation in these words. “True to the meaning of her name, she will be without borders, without a home of her own, a resident everywhere and nowhere” (Lahiri). It is said that home is where the heart is. Ashima, after spending more than thirty years in America and securing all the privileges of the American citizens like driving license and social security card, she never felt at home. Her heart always lived in Bengal. Lahiri skillfully portrays the problems of immigrants through the character of Ashima;

“For thirty three years she missed her life in India. Now she will miss her job at the library, the women with whom she has worked. She will miss throwing parties, she will miss living with her daughter…she will miss the Opportunity to drive…she will miss the country in which she had grown to know and love her husband” (Lahiri, The Namesake)

Chandra Talpade Mohanty stated that “Eastern women are sexually constrained, ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, religious, domesticated, family-oriented, victimized, etc.” (Chandra Talpade Mohanty 1988) Jhumpa Lahiri counters this argument by portraying the character of Ashima as an educated and respected lady. She also counters the argument that the women of third world countries are ignorant. Ashima understands the ways of the western world and tries to adapt them which prove that Eastern women are equally capable of doing what the western women do. One of the events that redefined Ashima was her pregnancy which was a source of unbearable sufferings. It helped her in shaping ability to suffer and bear every difficulty. She defines every suffering by connecting to her pregnancy metaphorically;

“For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy – a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility, a parenthesis in what had once been ordinary life, only to discover that that previous life had vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding” (Lahiri, The Namesake)

Living in America, Ashok and Ashima could not restrain themselves from the Bengali culture. They created a circle of Bengalis around them because they were nostalgic and felt homesick. They conversed in Bengali inside their home Lahiri explains their situation in these words “Ashoke and Ashima created their own circle of immigrants Bengalis and they all came from Calcutta and for this reason only they are friends. The husbands are teachers, researchers, doctors, engineers. The wives homesick and bewildered turn to Ashima for recipes and advise.” (Lahiri, The Namesake). Gogol and Sonia strived to create their own identity other than the Bengali identity imposed on them by their parents. Gogol tries to create a new identity for himself by changing his name from Gogol to Nikhil. He created a dual identity for himself. Nikhil is a free man from all the bondages of his Bengali culture while Gogol ties him down to his native culture. He strives to achieve both American and Bengali cultural values. Gogol’s character questions the superiority of American culture by turning to the Bengali culture towards the end of the novel.

Abstract

The thematic study sheds light upon the issues based on the identities. The immigrants were lost their originality because of the adaptation of new culture in Alien Nations. The immigrants have suffered a lot and also longing for their original life style. So, the paper deals with the identity crisis in the novel Namesake. The novel shows that how a Bengali family adapts the foreign culture. The problem of identity is writ large all over diasporic fiction. The title of the novel shows the importance that she attaches to the identity of her protagonist.

Identity Crisis, Isolation, Diaspora, Culture, Sufferings

The Namesake (2003) is the novel written by Jhumpa Lahiri, which consisting the theme of Identity Crisis. Changing the identity in a particular person’s life is continuous because of the efforts of economical, social and biological factors. From an early age, the implementation of social and moral norms for the child associated with the pressure of forbidden impulses and simultaneous imitation or identification with the parents, with their moral norms and attitudes, within parents and society in general. The children’s habits and activities also based on their parents and their circumstances.

Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the most eminent and accomplished writers of contemporary Indian Diasporic Literature. She belongs to the second generation of immigrants to America and well comprehends the plight of young generation that feels sandwiched between the aspirations of parents cast in the traditional Indian mould and the influence of the western peer groups. Being an Indian by ancestry, British by birth and American by migration her depiction of Diaspora experiences are more vivid and buoyant in her works. The significance of her work as a diasporic writer lies precisely in the author’s attempt to exploit the underlying tension of an individual living between two countries and two cultures. Despite of her birth on the foreign land, Jhumpa Lahiri has a strong sense of her Indian roots which is clearly reflected through her portrayal of the agonies of non-resident Indians.

Etymologically the word Identity is derived from the Latin root idem, means the same. According to Oxford Dictionary, Crisis is a personal difficulty or situation that immobilizes people and prevents them from consciously controlling their lives. It’s also refers to a person’s feeling of fear, shock and distress about the disruption itself. Identity Crisis is a psychological condition of disorientation and the act of confusion occurring especially in adolescents as a result of conflicting internal and external experiences, pressures, and expectations and often producing acute anxiety.

The Novel begins as, Ashoke and Ashima are a young couple from Bengali family, leaving their native-Calcutta, and settle in Massachusetts. In there, Ashima struggles for speak English and cultural barriers and also she fears more about the survival in the new country. She delivers her first baby alone, without the help of her relatives.

Ashima thinks it’s strange that her child will be born in a place most people enter either to suffer or to die. There is nothing to comfort her in the off-white tiles of the floor, the off-white panels of the ceiling, the white sheets tucked tightly into the bed. In India, she thinks to herself, women go home to their parents to give birth, away from husbands and in-laws and household cares, retreating briefly to childhood when the baby arrives. (N-4)

The hospital seems like strange to her and suddenly she thought about Indian culture. If she is living in India, she had been send to her mother’s home and also treated well; her parents and relatives take care about herself and the baby. But in American country or American life style, there is no space for the relatives. She fears about her loneliness in the hospital and tries to console herself.

She’d noticed the watch among the cavalcade of matrimonial bracelets on both her arms: iron, gold, coral, conch. Now in addition, she wears a plastic bracelet with typed label identifying her as a patient of the hospital. (4)

American seconds tick on top of her pulse point. She calculates the Indian time on her hands. (4) In all the times, she can wear the watch on her wrist. But in the hospital, she wears the plastic bracelet with typed label identifying herself as a patient. She always calculates the Indian time on her hands. In that time, she can feel her identity as an Indian.

She is terrified to raise a child in a country where she is related to no one, where she knows so little, where life seems so tentative and spare. (6) She feels very fearful of her child. She can’t imagine about the raise of her child; she thought about the child’s future, it could be brighter one or else could be as a normal American person’s life. She can feel about the Indian culture; she knows very well as, their own culture and identity are destroying. They named their child as Gogol; it is a famous Russian author’s name.

At home, his mother is horrified. What type of field trip was this? It was enough that they applied lipstick to their corpses and buried them in silk-lined boxes. Only in America are children taken to cemeteries in the name of art. What’s next, she demands to know, a trip to the morgue? (70)

For reasons he cannot explain or necessarily understand, these ancient puritan spirits, these very first immigrants to America, these bearers of unthinkable, obsolete names, have spoken to him, so much so that in spite of his mother’s disgust he refuses to throw the rubbings away. (71)

According to Gogol’s school principles, he has to done a project. Ashima resists Gogol’s art project because the rubbings made in cemetery-out of the belief that such art opposed to a basic Bengali principle. She insists the honor and respect for the dead people. Ashima scold him for it. But Gogol still keeps those things in his room, not disobeying his mother rules, but refusing to accept totally the Bengali values of life and death to which his mother demands. In that situation, he felt the identity dilemma of those Indian and American cultures.

Gogol and Sonia must remember to say, not aunt this uncle that but terms far more specific: mashi and pishi, mama and maima, kakku and jethu, to signify whether they are related on their mother’s or their father’s side, by marriage or by blood. (81)

In sudden vacation, their family moves on to Calcutta for eight months. Gogol and Sonia felt upset; because they both have missed their school and missed America. They do not know how to call their relatives in Bengali; they call them as uncle and aunty. Their relatives become stranger to them. He can sense the struggles to survive in new culture. For his name changing process, finally his father accepts it and conveyed him that, “In America, anything is possible. Do as your wish”. (N-100) His father asserts regarding the American society and its principles.

It is as Nikhil, that first semester that he grows a goatee, starts smoking Camel Lights at parties and while writing papers before exams, discovers brain eno and Elvis Costello and Charlie Parker. It as Nikhil that he takes Metro-North into Manhattan one weekend with Jonathan and gets himself a fake ID that allows him to be served liquor in new haven bars. It is as Nikhil that he loses his virginity at a party at Ezra Stiles, with a girl wearing a plaid woolen skirt and combat boots and mustard tights. By the time he wakes up, hung over, at three in the morning, she has vanished from the room, and he is unable to recall her name. (105)

After changed his name as Nikhil, he gets a fake ID and he begins drinking, smoking, goes to parties, addicted to drugs and finally lost his virginity. The changes of his activities expresses the American culture changed his own identity. He is always searching for the identity. Later, he started his love with a beautiful girl named Maxine. His relationship with Maxine suffered when she was unable to understand that why he needed to talk to his mother and sister every evening after the death of his father and she says, “You guys can’t stay with your mother forever” and further when she asks him to come for a holiday “To get away from all this” and he replies “I don’t want to get away” (182)

Expensive pieces of jewelry presented on Lydia’s birthday, flowers brought home for no reason at all, the two of them kissing openly, going for walks through the city or to dinner, just as Gogol and Maxine do. Gogol is reminded that in all his life he has never witnessed a single moment of physical affection between his parents. (138)

These lines shows Gerald and Lydia (parents of Maxine), who are openly affectionate, remind Gogol of the distance in his own parent’s relationship, a distance that had always seemed normal, inevitable. He is reminded that in all their life, till that date, he has never witnessed a single moment of physical affection between his parents. He can see the difference between Indian and American cultures.

“Listen, I can’t come home that week end”, he says. The truth seeps out of him slowly. He knows it’s his only defense at this point. I’m going on a vacation. I ‘ve already made plans.” (144) Though she says nothing for a while, he knows what his mother is thinking, that he is willing to go on vacation with someone else’s parents but not see his own. (145)

After joined with Maxine’s family, Gogol totally forgot his family. His mother called him for celebrating his birthday; but he refuses to go there and he wants to spent time with Maxine’s family. Ashima thought that, Gogol is slowly leaving out from their control. But after the death of Gogol’s father, he has joined with his mother and married a Bengali girl.

In this novel, Gogol has an identity dilemma. The duality of culture threatens his identity as is reflected in his personal relationships. He experiences an emotional turbulence, torn by mixed feelings of love hatred for India, tumult inside him, a growing bewilderment and he is somewhere unable to fully catch up with the western culture. In spite of his westernization, Gogol is not completely cut off from his roots and identity. Gogol tries to rejecting past and serves all ties with Indian values. His refusal to recognize his relations and continuity with the past and the gaps and fissures of his present condition make him a stranger to himself. In the death of his father, he finds a beginning and understanding of community and of the place of the individual within family in society. The hour of personal grief unites him to his family and makes him accept their ways. The ambivalence of his in between state causes to vex him anymore. Responding to the binary opposition as complementary rather than oppositional, he eventually discovers and resuscitates his Indian roots and familial ties.

Finally, the author comes to an end with getting uprooted from the native culture traditions and values, the loss of indigenous language, man’s position as a mere outcast or an unaccommodated alien, together with multiple injuries and lacerations of the psyche, all account of the theme of identity atrophy.

Works Cited

1. Batra, Jagadish. Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake: A Critical Study. New Delhi: Prestige, 2010. Print.
2. Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2003, Print.
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18. https://www.shmoop.com/namesake/nikhil-gogol-ganguli.html
19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPaT7Ct7atU
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The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee are novels about Asian immigrants who came to America in hopes of giving their Asian-American children a life better than what they had in their own countries. In The Namesake, the main characters are originally from India, but move to America where they have their son, Gogol and daughter Sonia and raise them as American children, but still with their Indian values. In Native Speaker, the main characters are Korean and raise their son Henry as an American, but still tried to instill the Korean values. This paper will explore the different aspects of Asian culture in both novels as it relates to the world the characters live in. In The Namesake , Ashoke brings his new arranged wife, Ashima, to America, where he is studying and working so that they can start their family. Together they raise their American children with their Indian values, but they also learn that not every value can be preserved. Despite wanting to be American, Asian immigrants do not want their Asian- American children to lose their culture during their assimilation.

Asian Americans appreciate their culture, but also want to be American. In Asian cultures, the name you are called at home is usually not the name you are called at school or at work. When Ashima and Ashoke gave their son Gogol a “good name” for school— Nikhil, he went into his first day of kindergarten expressing to his teacher that he did not want to be called Nikhil, he wanted to be called Gogol. “And what about you, Gogol? Do you want to be called by another name?” (59). Gogol would come to regret that decision he made in kindergarten later in life. In American culture, children have more of a choice in their names and what they’d like to be called, despite the parents wishes. This annoyed Ashoke and Ashima because they knew down the line that Gogol would want to use Nikhil as his good name, but they did not want to start a conflict with his teachers, especially not at a young age. This shows how Ashoke and Ashima had to realize that American culture is different than their Indian culture and they would have to learn how to bend a little.

This is also shown in Native Speaker with the politician John Kwang connecting with “John Kwang’s people” (83). Kwang respects his culture but also wants his people to progress. but also wanting them to progress. Henry, a disgruntled African American customer comes to return a watch he purchased from H&J Enterprises, but the shopkeeper, a seemingly racist Korean man argues with him and does not want to help him. When he see John Kwang approaching, he stops arguing, and Kwang speaks to him privately. Kwang gives the shopkeeper money, and has him give Henry a new watch, and a gift for his wife, “When they returned, the shop owner approached Henry and nodded very slightly, in the barest bow, and offered him another watch” (187). Although the shop owner was obviously a bit reluctant to give Henry anything, with the money and persuasion of John Kwang, he does it. Kwang realizes that yes, his people (Asians) may support him, but he also must earn the trust of other types of people. This shows that Asian Americans want the older generation to learn to be more accepting and try to change their views of cultures other than theirs.

Asian parents want their children to succeed in America, so they lead very strict and almost identical lives. In The Namesake, Ashoke and Ashima want Gogol to have fun while in college, but ultimately, they want him to marry a Bengali woman. That is a value that is similar throughout almost all Asian cultures. The parents do not mind who their child dates, but they ultimately want them to end up with someone from their race. When Gogol experienced his first kiss, he said “it wasn’t me” (96). Gogol gives this explanation to his high school friends after he tells them about his first kiss with Kim at a college party. When Kim asks him what his name is, he tells her his name is Nikhil—instead of Gogol, he then has the confidence to kiss her. Later, when he himself is in college, he will permanently change his name to Nikhil and gain confidence with women as a result. When Gogol started to date a white woman— Max, he does not tell his parents about her for a long time, and when they finally meet, the cultural differences are clear. Max physically embraces his parents with hugs— something he had never even seen his parents do with each other. Gogol knew that the cultural differences would not make for a lasting relationship and his relationship with Max ultimately ends after a couple of years. In Native Speaker, Henry compares himself to his other Korean friend, he realizes their lives are interchangeable, because their parents raised them the exact same way, with the exact same values. This shows that Asian parents have a set of rules and values they require their children to follow, despite the American influences.

Asian culture is definitely preserved for big events such as weddings and funerals. When Ashima finally hears the news of her husband Ashoke’s death from a medical intern, “the young woman tells her that the patient, Ashoke Ganguli, her husband, has expired. Expired. A word used for library cards, for magazine subscriptions” (Ch 7), she breaks down immediately, but also follows her Indian culture which requires her to take off her jewelry and make up. For Ashima, Ashoke is everything: husband, father to her two children. He is the person who organized things around the home, performed the chores, earned the majority of the family’s income. Ashoke is the reason that Ashima has come to the United States in the first place, even though she was terrified of leaving Calcutta. The notion that Ashoke could be simply “gone” is too terrible to contemplate. Gogol also followed Indian culture by shaving his head. As the son of Ashoke, it is customary for him to shave his head and be a big part of the prayers that take place during pouring. Although Ashima told Gogol he did not have to shave his head, Gogol knew that he had to— for his father, and for his Indian culture. This shows how despite being “Americanized” their Asian culture is preserved through different religious ceremonies. Even at Ashoke’s funeral, Gogol’s white American girlfriend, Max, stood out because of their cultural differences. Max wore a sleeveless dress, which is disrespectful, and also tried to embrace Gogol in a hug and kiss, which is a sign of affection, and as previously mentioned, not part of Indian culture. This shows that ugh thy are in America while having some of these ceremonies, their Asian culture and rituals are still preserved, even for the younger generations.

Racism is also interpreted differently by Asians. When the Ganguli’s come back from vacation to their mailbox saying “gangrene” on it. Ashoke claims it was just children being silly, but Gogol is truly offended and want to find the racists who vandalized they mailbox. This shows the difference between India-born Ashoke and America-born Gogol. Racial tensions have always been prevalent in American society, but because Ashoke is from India, they do not experience racism in the way that it is experienced in America. Growing up in America, especially with the name Gogol, it can be assumed that Gogol experienced racism and prejudice from American children in school, solely based on his name and the fact that he is Indian. Gogol’s reaction to the vandalism on his family’s mailbox is how many Americans would react, as opposed to Ashoke’s reaction which was just chalking it up to “kids being kids”. Gogol personified the outrage people should feel when they are being treated unfairly due to their race.

The Korean shopkeeper in Native Speaker reminds Henry of his racist father because of how he acts toward the African American customer, also named Henry. The narrator Henry, recalls his own father explaining to Henry how he tried to hire African Americans and how it never worked out, and that prejudice toward African Americans— that they steal, are lazy, and are bad workers was engraved in Henry’s father’s beliefs, “With blacks he just turned to stone…he always let them know there wasn’t going to be any funny business here” (185). Henry, who, like Gogol, was born and raised in America, so he realized his father’s blatant racism toward black and hispanic people. He noticed how his father would sweep when back people would be in his shop. He is baffled as to how his father’s business is still going well after all those years of treating people the way he does. This shows that Asian people have their own prejudices toward other races despite being part of a race that experiences racism all the time.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee are great examples of novels that show Asian culture in America, as well as showing how Asian-Americans fuse both cultures into their lives. Gogol grows up in America with Indian parents. He creates his own identity through the years and even though he was raised “American”, he still has his Indian values. All of the values brought from India were instilled in Gogol, but it was up to him if he wanted to adapt them into his own life. He dated outside his race, which his parents were not happy with, but accepted. Gogol ended up marrying within his race, but even though they were from the same place, they were not compatible and they did not last long. Gogol’s sister, Sonia, ended up marrying a man outside of their race, after Ashoke passed away, but Ashima welcomed it. Although all of the Indian values were instilled in the children, the children used their won judgement and life experiences to make their own decisions. Lahiri and Lee do great jobs of showing Asian culture in the realm of American society. It was interesting to read about cultures coming to America, and having to assimilate, but not fully lose their culture. It shows the true meaning of when people refer to America as a melting pot of cultures, because it really is.

Lahiri’s works has a deep insight into women’s problems and dilemmas, with a realistic portrait of contemporary women. The female protagonists in her novels are in constant search for the meaning and value of their life. Lahiri explains the cross-cultural experiences of dislocated women and the condition of belonging in the maze of cultural plurality. In the novel, The Namesake, Lahiri discusses the feeling of alienation, anxiety and disillusionment that the characters faced once they have migrated to abroad. In The Namesake, Ashima and Ashoke migrate to the US, the socio-economic factors motivate the two characters to migrate to the United States.

In The Namesake Ashoke Ganguli’s move to the United States to pursue his Ph.D. in fiber optics at MIT. As a Bengali middle-class boy, he doesn’t have any intention of going abroad initially, and he also believes that a good book can help a person “travel without moving an inch”(TN 16).

Later, Ashoke changes his mind when he met a stranger, Mr.Ghosh, in the Train during the travel to Jamshedpur to visit his grandparents. On that fateful night, he met with an accident, the train wreck. The Rescuers find him only with the hands he holds inside the book, ‘The Overcoat’. He thanks Nikholai Gogol. a Russian author for his life as he had been awake reading Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’. Soon he comes to know that Mr.Ghosh is dead. That fateful night becomes an etched memory forever. Ashoke become bedridden for several months as he had several injuries. Then, he decides to go to abroad to pursue his studies, once after he regain his bodily strength.

After two years stay in America, Ashoke returns to Calcutta. His parents arranged the marriage for him with Ashima Bhaduri, nineteen years old Bengali girl. Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli leave their tradition-bound life in Calcutta and move to settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ashima tries to adapt herself in the new spatial and cultural setting, since her landing in America. Ashima has no high dream of going to Boston, a place so far from her parents, but the marriage creates no ill-feeling in her- “Won’t he be there”(9). Ashima leaves Calcutta to fly alone with Ashoke, with a heavy heart and lots of instructions from her family members and relatives who come to see her off at Dum Dum Airport, “ not to eat beef or wear skirts or cutoff her hair and forget the family the moment she landed in Boston”(37).

The Namesake opens with the pregnant Ashima trying to make a spicy Bengali snack, which is usually sold in the sidewalks of Calcutta, with the American ingredients.

“ Ashima Ganguli stands in the Kitchen of a Central Square Apartment, combining Rice Krispies and Planters peanuts and chopped red onion and adds salt, lemon juices, thin slices of green chili pepper – a humble appropriation of the snack sold for pennies on Calcutta sidewalks and on Railway station throughout India- Tasting from a cupped palm, she frowns; as usual there’s something missing”(TN 1).

In the novel The Namesake, the tale begins in the kitchen and the Lahiri’s novel contains aromas and flavours of food. In this novel the dinners and parties were Indian Bengali food is served on occasions of communion among the members of the Bengali community. Throughout the novel, food plays a major role and it acts as a link between the characters and their own traditions. Hence, those Bengali traditions become “Americanized”.

In the three-room apartment in Boston Ashima feels homesick and upset. She feels spatially and emotionally dislocated from the comfortable ‘home’ of her father full of loved ones and wishes to go back. Ashima remains lost in the memories of her ‘home’. She spends on re-reading Bengali short stories, poems, and articles from the Bengali Magazines she has bought with her from Calcutta. Thinking of Motherhood in a foreign land disturbs her badly: “ That was happening so far from home, unmonitored and unobserved by those whom she loved, had made it more miraculous still. But she is terrified to raise a child in a country where she is related no one, where she knows little, where life seems so tentative and space”(6).

Ashima is longing for her homeland. She does not have a happy life in het Holland, because there is always thought of her family ruined her mind. If she had been in India, she would have been surrounded by innumerable relatives, but now there is no one there to accompany her. She severely misses her Relatives in Calcutta. Her unhappiness and loneliness are reflected in the attempts to recreate her homeland through memory and Nostalgia.

She sinks in nostalgia, “ In India, she thinks to herself, women go home to their parents to give birth, away from husbands and in-laws and household cares, Retreating briefly to childhood when the baby arrives”(TN 4)

Ashima spends her days in Cambridge by recollecting her past life in Calcutta. She doesn’t want to give birth to her child and grown-up her child in an alien environment. She wants to move to Calcutta. After the birth of Gogol, she earnestly desires to go back to Calcutta to raise her Child there in the company of dear and new ones: “ I am saying don’t want to raise Gogol alone in this country. It’s not right. I want to go back”(32). But for her husband’s sake, she decides to stay there and keeps all her emotional turmoil and disappointments to herself. The nostalgia for Calcutta affects her all the more.

The movie entitled “The Namesake,” is an Indian-American movie made in 2006 directed by Mira Nair, and based on the original book written by Jhumpa Lahiri. The story shows how culture and inheritance are influencing people’s identity in society, especially when this one is different from their original one. The novel, through the Ganguli family, shows how the experience of being an immigrant differs from one generation to another. Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli, are from India live the American dream while their children are American born. As a result, Gogol, their son, struggles to find his identity divided between his Indian heritage and his desire to live an independent life in the American style.

The conflict to have a name and nickname to identify itself to culture is not only recognizable in Indian cultures, but for many immigrants who came to live in the United States, as evidenced by Gogol and his family in Lahiri’s “The Namesake.” To begin with, Gogol identity is linked to his father, because for Ashoke, his name represents hope and all gifts he receives from life after his tragic train accident. Gogol’s name is not even Indian but Russian, which reinforce its uniqueness. For that reason, it is logical to see his name as a strong indicator of his personality and an important variable in the course of his life. For the writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, names are powerful interpreters of identity which justified why Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli wanted to wait for the grandmother to give a name to their son (Sen p.1, The Namesake movie). In the Bengali culture, it is common to wait even years before naming a child because the tradition wants people to have two names, the pet name “daknam”, and the good name “bhalonam” (The Namesake movie). “Daknam,” is the name intimates people use to call him in private, while “bhalonam” is the name used in the outside world by anyone (Sen p.1). Choosing Gogol as a name, was not random.

Actually, Ashoke had a plan for his son, which is to travel and see the world as he did. Moreover, a name does not necessarily have one meaning. A name can be chosen for the its aesthetic aspect, or for personal reasons. In this logic, a name is individual and is associated to a subject. The name “Gogol,” is chosen as daknam while “Nikhil” as bhalonam for a specific reason that Gogol misunderstands. “Gogol” is the bridge between him and the world as an American, and Nikhil the bridge that connect him to his Bengali roots (Sen p.1). To illustrate that, as for many immigrants, immigration is followed by “identity transformation,” which explained why Gogol wants to forge his identity based on his life experience, not based on his father’s expectation (Heilbrunn, Gorodzeisky, and Glikman p.236). Through the character of Gogol, Lahiri shows how a culture clash can affect an immigrant life and his identity development (Bahri p.10).

Therefore, Gogol identity is connected to his father, because it is the combination of his father’s past and hope as well as his cultures that would guide his life. Subsequently, the struggle to fit in both cultures pushed Gogol to change his daknam to “Nikhil” in the desire of a clear identity. In his episodes of self-development, Gogol feels trapped and wants to escape the influence of his family as well as a life dictated by traditions. Here, the main problem is that the influence of a “majority group” has an impact on how immigrants identify themselves (Heilbrunn, Gorodzeisky, and Glikman p.237). When people from the same origin are far from their country, they used to stay in groups sharing a common lifestyle in accordance to their roots. For example, Gogol, “so American in his education” wants to stay away from this group. As a result, he dates an American girl name Maxine who does not share his tradition and who he is considering marrying (Sen p.1).

This disapproval toward his Indian roots is once again something really common in a second immigrant generation. They have received a different education and have developed a different way of thinking from their relatives. The story is actually targeting this immigrant audience who can clearly recognized different similarities with their lives (Bahri p.10). Lahiri herself is part of these people who wants to make their own choices and balance between both cultures carrying two homes with them. In addition, there is a disconnection between Gogol’s family and Maxine’s family. This disconnection is pictured when Gogol’s attempt to the graduation party of her girlfriend and when she mate his family. For instance, Maxine’s family is more seductive with money, friends from high class, while Gogol’s family is more conservative with a different idea of how to act as couple, for example. They know him as Nikhil while his parents still call him Gogol. This culture shock is translated by total ignorance of outsiders cultures, as evidenced by Maxine attitude toward Gogol and his parents (The Namesake movie). At this level, Gogol’s identity is strongly defined by his American education. This one, allows him to be accommodated to Maxine habits, but not his parents. As a result, his desire of a clear identity leads him to be closer to the American culture than his origin culture, like many second immigrant generation . However, Gogol attempts to reconnect with his Indian roots by allowing his culture background to become a part of his identity. His father death, changed something in Gogol that provokes a new step in his identity development.

Consequently, he accepted a blind date set up by his mother with a woman, Moushumi. This one has a similar cultural background as him. By doing so, he is allowing himself to be more comfortable with the different facets of the traditions and culture, which makes a big part of who he is even if he didn’t get to experience it as fully as his parents did. His wife knew him as Gogol and during their first date he presented himself as Nikhil, which shocked her. This small detail, reinforces their relationship because his name “Gogol” connectes them. To illustrate that, Lahiri goal in the character of Gogol, is to help immigrant “who need to make sense of their own identity” (Sen p.2). From that they could embrace their duality and have the bliss of choosing who they want to be as a person. Similarly, the failure of his marriage with Moushumi, marked a new acceptance of his past helped by the hidden message from his father. From the beginning to the end of the story Gogol’s name has always been a symbol of comfort. In fact, he has never been able to completely rejected his name, because it is the bond between his family and him (Sen p.2). As a second immigrant generation, by inheritance he received the obligation to know about his tradition, better understand it, and also carry his name as a reminder of it. To conclude, studying what it means to have a name and nickname to identify itself to a culture is for many immigrants who came to live in the United States, a way to balance between both cultures and carry two homes with them. Gogol’s example is the perfect one to illustrate the difficulty that many immigrants are facing in their quest to defined their identity. An name it is full of meanings and values defining a person as the holder of his origins and traditions.

The Ganaguli family lifestyle can be very different than others in America. Particularly, the Ratliff family. When Gogol meets Maxine, she invites him to dinner and mentions that she lives with her parents. Gogol asks if her parents mind, she laughs and responds with, “Why on earth would they mind?” (Lahiri 129). This displays the different morals between the two families. Gogol’s parents tend to be strict about who he is with and who he dates. Especially Gogol’s mother, who tends to frequently ask if he has a girlfriend or not. While Maxine’s parents don’t seem to mind what she does. Furthermore, when Gogol eats dinner with Maxine and her parents, he notes that, “His own mother would never have served so few dishes to a guest… The table would have been lined with a row of serving bowls… But Lydia pays no attention to Gogol’s plate” (Lahiri 133). There is a noticeable difference in hospitality when it comes to the two families. Gogol’s mother would be scanning the guests to make sure everyone has enough to eat. She would also insist that the guests have seconds and thirds. While Lydia, Maxine’s mother, seems to barely even look at Gogol’s plate and doesn’t announce when she brings out more food.

Ashoke’s near death experience causes him to change and he thanks Gogol, a Russian writer for saving his life. When Ashima has the baby, they must give him a name, Ashoke remembers the incident but this time he feels different and he says, “‘Hello, Gogol,’ he whispers, leaning over his son’s haughty face, his tightly bundled body’” (Lahiri 28). This is one of the decisions that is affected in his life by the accident because if it didn’t happen, he might’ve not even cared about Gogol. This doesn’t seem to affect Ashima but it does affect Gogol later in his life. As he grows up, he is taunted by other kids and is insecure about it. This drives him to hate the name and despises when anyone says it. When he is older, he has finally had enough and changed his name to Nikhil. Furthermore, Ashoke decides to use a cane after about a year. So he decides to finish college and study abroad but “His siblings had pleaded and wept. His mother, speechless, had refused food for three days” (Lahiri 20). Since Ashoke went through the accident, he had changed his vision of his future. He became more determined to do something with his life. The fact that he took this opportunity had such a negative effect on his family.

When Ashima moves to America with Ashoke, it has a very negative affect on her. She is clearly not happy and misses her family so says, “I’m saying I don’t want to raise Gogol alone in this country. It’s not right. I want to go back” (Lahiri 33). This displays her feelings about America and her desire to go back to India and raise her child there. Furthermore, when Ashima talks about her friends, she mentions that, “A number of them live alone, as Ashima does now, because they are divorced” (Lahiri 162). This was most likely one of the effects of them moving to America. Yet this had a slightly positive affect on Ashima because she became more independent and actually went out and made some friends. When Ashima find out Ashoke is in the hospital, she “…feels a wave of sympathy for him, at the thought of him driving to the hospital alone. She misses him suddenly…” (Lahiri 164). This displays that Ashima still cared for him yet wasn’t in love with him.They could have had the chance to fall back in love but Ashoke unexpectedly dies of a heart attack.

In this novel, Gogol’s first serious relationship was with a girl named Ruth. They meet when Gogol is still in college and he is on a train to head home for Thanksgiving. Initially, the relationship is very intimate and Gogol, “…begins to meet her after her classes, remembering her schedule, looking up at the buildings and hovering casually under the archways” (Lahiri 113). This type of behavior persists for a couple months. However, Ruth travels to study at Oxford for her second semester. Gogol, says he doesn’t mind, but deep down it gives him a bad feeling. During that time, “He is lost without her. It sickens him to think of the physical distance between them…” (Lahiri 117). As he waits for her to return, Ruth takes an unexpected turn and ends up staying in Oxford so they decide to break up. Furthermore, his second relationship is with Maxine Ratliff. Gogol attends a party and Maxine instantly catches his eye. This relationship is very similar to the one with Ruth in the beginning, In contrast to his previous relationship, this lasts longer and, “Within six months he has keys to the Ratliffs’ house… He keeps a toothbrush and razor on her cluttered pedestal sink” (Lahiri 140). He is clearly happy with her and more comfortable in this relationship. A sudden turn takes place when Gogol’s father dies. He ends up staying close to his mother for a year, within that year, Gogol breaks up with Maxine. Finally, Gogol’s last relationship is with Moushimi, a close family friend. Originally, he didn’t care and, “He has no intention of calling Moushumi” (Lahiri 192). It is clear that he doesn’t want anything to do with her until he calls and actually meets with her. After his night with her, “He had not expected to enjoy himself, to be attracted to her in the least” (Lahiri 199). This goes on for several months and they get married. Gogol’s love for her persists for about another year until the honeymoon phase is over. Moushumi falls back into old habits and she calls an old friend, Dimitri. She has an affair and after Gogol finds out, and instantly leaves. The last time he sees her is “when she appeared one last time at his office, so that he could sign the divorce papers…” (Lahiri 283). This shows Gogol’s romantic pattern throughout his life. All of his relationships started great but all of them ended with a tragedy.

In the beginning of this novel, Ashima was very dependent on Ashoke. After she has a baby, she talks to Ashoke and says, “I’m saying hurry up and finish your degree” (Lahiri 33). She says this because in her mind, it isn’t right to raise her child in America. Since they are married, she must depend on Ashoke to finish his degree so they can go back to India. As Ashoke would go to work, “She would spend hours in the apartment, napping, sulking, rereading her same five Bengali novels on the bed” (Lahiri 35). She would lament all the time because she knew she couldn’t go out since they were in a new country. Being in a new country made Ashima more dependent than she originally was. However, she slowly develops throughout the novel. After many years, they get a divorce, but this is also when Ashima beings doing things herself. She starts at a library, “It is Ashima’s first job in America, the first since before she was married.” (Lahiri 162). Since the split, she realizes that she must do something with her life and must become independent. However, Ashoke still “pays all the bills, and rakes all the leaves on the lawns, and puts gas from the self-service station into her car” (Lahiri 163). Even though she has developed a sense of independence, she still needs assistance from Ashoke. At the end of the novel, after Ashoke’s death, she becomes her own person. In the novel, it states that “She has learned to do things on her own, and though she still wears saris… she is not the same Ashima who had once lived in Calcutta” (Lahiri 276). This displays her character development because when she had first moved to America, she depended on Ashoke to finish his degree so they could leave to India. She begins to develop after the divorce because she can’t rely on Ashoke anymore. Even after Ashoke’s death, she learns how to do things herself because her children are grown and she doesn’t have anyone to depend on.

One of the events that Lahiri uses to change the plot of the story would be Ashoke’s train accident. This event can be used to change Ashoke in different aspects of his life. For example, after the accident, “Instead of thanking God he thanks Gogol, the Russian writer who had saved his life…” (Lahiri 21). Ashoke actually worships Gogol and looks up to him. This event can be used to change the plot because this is the main reason Gogol is so relevant to Ashoke. So, this is also the reason he names his child Gogol. Additionally, the first night that Moushumi and Gogol meet had a huge impact on the plot. Within their whole lives, they have never paid attention to each other until that particular night. Once the night is over, as Gogol walks home, “He decides that it is her very familiarity that makes him curious about her…” (Lahiri 199). If Ashima never introduced Moushumi to Gogol, the plot would have been very different considering they got married. Moreover, if Gogol didn’t enjoy himself with her that night, they might have never gotten married. Ultimately, the death of Moushumi’s co worker led to a huge turn in the story. After her co workers death, Moushumi goes into her office to find a stapler but ends up finding an old friends resume, Dimitri Desjardins. After a week, she decides to call but, “She tells herself she’s calling an old friend. She tells herself the coincidence of finding his resume, of stumbling upon him this way, is too great, that anyone in her position would pick up the phone and call” (Lahiri 262). This would be the beginning of Ashima’s affair. If her co worker wouldn’t have passed, she wouldn’t have found Dimitri’s resume. So she wouldn’t even be thinking about him. Which would mean that Gogol and her wouldn’t get a divorce and would stay married through the end of the novel.

Gogol, Sonia, and Moushumi experience the same cultural dilemma due to the fact that both of their mothers wanted them to do something they didn’t have a passion for. For instance, when Moushumi was younger, her mother made her play the piano. During her time with Gogol she says, “I never wanted to learn in the first place. My mother had this fantasy. One of many” (Lahiri 193). This shows the pressure that was put on Moushumi, to do something she didn’t love. She only did it because her mother wanted to fulfill her fantasy. Gogol also experiences this type of behavior from his parents too. When he gets his first girlfriend, Gogol says that, “ His relationship with her is one accomplishment in his life about which they are not the least bit proud or pleased” (Lahiri 116). This goes to show that Gogol’s happiness isn’t his parents first priority. They make it obvious that they disapprove and tell him things to try and break them up. In comparison, Gogol and Moushumi are facing the same situations in a way. Both of their parents are trying to force them to do something they don’t want to do. Moushumi’s mother is forcing her to play the piano causing her to be miserable. While Gogol’s mother on the other hand, is trying to get him to break up with Ruth, as a result he gets frustrated and end up not listening to her or her advice

Conclusion

This novel has the title, The Namesake because namesake means for something to have the same name as another. This ties into the novel because when Ashima and Ashoke choose a name for the child, they name him Gogol. They must choose a name before they leave the hospital and Ashoke says, “‘Hello, Gogol,’, he whispers leaning over his son’s haughty face, his tightly bundled body”’ (Lahiri 28). We know automatically why Ashoke chooses this name. His train accident had influenced how he thought which affected future decisions, such as what name he would give his child. After his accident, the novel says that, “Instead of thanking God he thanks Gogol…” (Lahiri 21). He thanks Gogol because when there was a search time at the wreck they had almost missed him. However, when Ashoke was stuck, “He was still clutching a single page of “The Overcoat,” crumpled tightly in his first, and when he raised his hand the wad of paper dropped from his fingers” (Lahiri 18). As he dropped the piece of paper, a man saw him and he was saved. If he didn’t have the wad of paper from Gogol’s novel, he would’ve been left at the train. Now it is clear why Ashoke thanks Gogol instead of God. In conclusion, this all ties together because the namesake means for something to have the same name as another. In this case, the child that Ashima gives birth to has the same name as a Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. This happened due to Ashoke’s past experience in the train wreck.

This study tries to examine the two main characters of the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri including Ashima and Gogol; in order to do that, the researcher uses the ideas of postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha, especially the concept of hybridity. The study tries to see the way the two main characters see and experience the world as to representative of the first and second generation of immigrants who have started to live in the United States of America. Using the theory of Homi Bhabha that argues that all cultures and, therefore, all people in different cultures are and become hybrid, the two characters will be examined where Ashima, who has lived both in India and in the United States, seems to show the signs of hybridity while Gogol, who feels he does not belong to either community, experiences frustration instead.

This study is an attempt to reread the novel The Namesake through the lens of the postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha. The novel is a good choice to be interpreted through the theories of Homi Bhabha for different reasons; on the one hand, it deals with the lives of some Bengali people from India who have come to the United States in search of bright future but they also need to tolerate the differences in culture, ideology, and society of the target country. On the other hand, the question of colonialism and its impact on the lives of colonial subjects add more to the depth of this study.

The distinctive features of each culture, American and Indian, will create some troubles for the immigrants who face a new world. The researcher, therefore, uses the sociological and psychological theories that Homi Bhabha has provided to read the novel since the novel deals exactly with the cultural, societal, and personality conflicts, and sometimes antagonisms, that exist in both cultures but represented in the lives of the immigrants and the second generation immigrants. It is to that purpose that Homi Bhabha seems to be the most influential theorist when he talks about the clash of the two cultures and the things that happen after wards. In other words, Homi Bhabha and Jhumpa Lahiri deal with the same thing but from different perspectives; while Bhabha gives ideas about what happens to these kinds of relationships and conflicts, Jhumpa Lahrir describes it in the form of a novel.

The two main characters in the novel The Namesake including Ashima, the mother, and Gogol, the son, experience their lives differently. Ashima has lived almost half of her life in India and has immigrated to the United States to stay there forever; for Ashima, there is a point that connects her life in India with that in America which can be called a Hybrid. On the other hand, Gogol, Ashima’s son, does not experience the same feeling and, unlike her mother, he does not regard himself as a person with one identity made from a cross of cultures; rather, life for Gogol, as a second generation immigrant, is full of frustration since he thinks he is not a Bengali person for he has not been born and raised in India and also he is not an American for his roots are somewhere else. Although investigating the characters from the point of view of Bhabha shows that both characters can develop hybrid identities, Ashima succeeds while Gogol rejects the transformation which leads to frustration.