ipl-logo

The Namesake Essay

1959 Words8 Pages

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut novel, The Namesake describes the ethical aspect of Indian immigrants. In the nineteenth century those Indian immigrants were migrating to the west directions as apprenticeship labourers. Now a day they migrate for the prospect of career building and also a way of profit manner. But in both the cases culture plays a significant role in their life. The immigrants were enjoying their life in economic subjugation but have an emotional emancipation in their contra-acculturation. The Namesake deals with the problems of Indian immigrants of Bengali origins in America. The immigrants were come across several problems especially in language, political ideology, cultural practice, and social adjustment. They do not have any …show more content…

The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Calcutta, India to Cambridge, Massachusetts. The namesake is about the way various generation look at their native and foreign land. The first generation belongs to 1960s. They faced a lot of problems and trouble. They cannot easily to merge with foreign culture. On the contrary, the second generation practices Indian culture to pacify parents. But they live as American in their heart of hearts. Most of the diasporans intentional as choose to migrate to an alien country of their choice and also with the hope of living there. They were migrating to live a happy life. In the real life, they struggle a lot of problems for …show more content…

He gets a job, where he worked as an architect. Simultaneously he goes back to Pemberton road, because the home where his childhood had been spent. Now he again changed a Gogol because he loves the Indian dishes prepared by his mother and enjoyed. He was happy and content at this stage of life. At a party Gogol meets a pretty girl named Maxine and very soon develops a steady relationship with her. Maxine takes him to her home and introduces Gogol to her parents, Gerald and Lydia and observes the difference in their open culture. He finds burdened too heavily by the past and by India. He brings Maxine to visit his parents. He starts to live with her family and slowly becomes more and closer to her family. He starts to go on vacation with her family rather than with his family. He is spending most of his time at her

Show More
Related

Gogol Dialectical Journal

633 Words | 3 Pages

“Do I remind you of that night?” “Not at all,” his father says eventually, one hand going in his ribs, a habitual gesture that has baffled Gogol until now. “You remind me of everything that followed.” Chapter 5, page 124.

Read More

Analysis Of The Terrible Vengeance

980 Words | 4 Pages

Looking with the benefit of hindsight, things changed much neither during Gogol’s time not after him. Descriptions of Captain Gorobets’ individual guests are even more marvelous and edifying: On his sorrel stallion arrived Cossack Mikita, who kept

Read More

Analysis Of Jhumpa Lahiri

2148 Words | 9 Pages

Born to Bengali parents in July 1967,in London and with her family’s move to Rhode Island, Jhumpa Lahiri began life in the U.S.A. She grew up in the background of traditional Bengali culture. From childhood, she often accompanied her back to India-particularly to Calcutta (now known as Kolkata).. She observes that her parents retain a sense of emotional exile and she herself grew up with conflicting expectations. In her work, Lahiri, is a second-generation immigrant, reflects on the Indian diaspora and creates a narrative that reveals the inconsistency of the concept of identity and cultural difference in the space of diapora.

Read More

How Did Indo-Canadian Immigration Change Over The Course Of The 20th Century

1669 Words | 7 Pages

This shows that societies, and not only the government’s view on immigrants had an effect on Indian immigration. Societies’ outlook on immigration and prejudices have a serious effect on who will immigrate, and how many people will. However, over the course of the 20th century, the Canadian government came “under pressure from a newly-created independent Indian government, Canada began to change its discriminatory immigration policies after the end of the Second World War. The initial quota for Indian immigrants was 150, but was subsequently raised to 300 a few years later.” Indian

Read More

Analysis Of Two Ways To Belong In America By Bharati

465 Words | 2 Pages

In the essay “Two Ways to Belong in America,” from 50 essays, Bharati Mukherjee contrasts the different views of the United States from two Indian sisters. The author distinguishes her American lifestyle to her sister’s traditional Indian lifestyle. Both sisters grew up in Calcutta, India, moved to America in search of education and work. Bharati adjusts to the American society very quickly, where her sister Mira clings to her Indian traditions more strongly. Despite both sisters living in America, only Bharati is an American citizen, while her sister Mira is not.

Read More

Interpreter Of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri Analysis

1116 Words | 5 Pages

Ultimately, Lahiri suggests the idea that American culture plays an influential role in shaping one’s physical and cultural beliefs, but it is possible to avoid being assimilated through self-determination and resistance. In the story Interpreter of Maladies, an Indian-American family, known as the Das’s, travel to India, but upon arrival, they are clueless about the culture and history of their own country of nationality. Throughout the story, the behavior and actions of the Das family is told through the eyes of Mr.Kapasi, the

Read More

The Namesake Gogol Identity

1523 Words | 7 Pages

Gogol, the son of Ashima and Ashoke, was born in America and spends the first half of his life trying to run away from his Bengali roots. Although Gogol does not feel as lost and detached as his parents in America, he has a difficult time trying to balance the Bengali culture he was born into as well as the American culture he sees and experiences all around him as he is growing up. Throughout the novel, The Namesake, Gogol struggles to develop his identity due to the clashing of Bengali and American culture in his life. Gogol’s first obstacle in his search for self-identity occurs only a couple days after his birth, when his parents must decide on a name in order to be released from the hospital. Ashima and Ashoke eventually decide on Gogol, after the writer who saved Ashoke’s life during a train crash.

Read More

Analysis Of Moushumi In The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

868 Words | 4 Pages

To be alone on an island, painting the sky the desired shade of blue, but to be secluded, fending away civilization as it it were a parasite, is not one’s ideal state of mind. Yet, by a particular female character named Moushumi In the book The Namesake, they are confused. Moushumi is the ex-wife of Gogol and identified in detail by Jhumpa Lahiri. Moushumi’s identity is composed of her experiences, her values, and her background.

Read More

Bharati Mukherjee Two Ways To Live In America Analysis

849 Words | 4 Pages

Bharati comes to America with her arms open wide, willing to adjust her customs and conducts in order to assimilate to her new country. She celebrates change and views it as a positive aspect in her life. The author says, “America spoke to me - I married it - I embraced the demotion from expatriate aristocrat to immigrant nobody,” meaning that to Bharati, America is not just a country. It symbolizes opportunity and freedom, which she desires most. (Mukherjee 282).

Read More

The Namesake Essay Thesis

1885 Words | 8 Pages

She educates Gogol and Sonia both Bengali and American culture by giving in and cooking them American food once in a while. In the meantime, though she has lived in America for most of her life, has a social security number and driving license, and has raised two kids here, she never sees the U.S as India, her root. Long after her husband’s death, Ashima is experiencing a complicated moment, According to her, “True to the meaning of her name, she will be without borders, without a home of her own, a resident everywhere and nowhere.” (p276) She is going through a hard time thinking who she truly is: “For thirty years she missed her life in India.

Read More

Comparison Of Realism In 'The Nose And The Overcoat'

1578 Words | 7 Pages

The confusion between dream and reality in "The Nose" allow Gogol introduce the reader to a new space, where he would take for granted even the most dramatic plot twists. At the same time such a thin borderline between reality and fantasy, where neither

Read More

South Asian Identity Analysis

1252 Words | 6 Pages

Many South Asian immigrants were proud of their heritage and home country, but while they were not interested in losing their identity those that did permanently settle in the United States experienced racism, that impacted their experience in the States as well as their immigration and access to citizenship. Bald addresses nineteenth century South Asians settling into African Americans. Leonard addresses a group that settled in the Imperial Valley in California with Mexican immigrants. Wherever the South Asians took residence in the States they were normally seen as non-whites and this clearly impeded their naturalization because laws of identifying who could and could not become a citizen or have rights were complicated by the color of your

Read More

Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake Analysis

703 Words | 3 Pages

The Namesake, published in 2003, is Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel. The novel explores characters caught between two conflicting cultures; two worlds, India and America. This novel is based upon the author’s own experiences growing up in America as the child of Indian immigrants. Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli, the parents of protagonist Gogol Ganguli, her fictional counterpart, are based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s real parents. Gogol Ganguli is particularly torn between these two cultures.

Read More

The Namesake Relationships

1229 Words | 5 Pages

Gogol’s serious relationships began after he legally changed his name to Nikhil. The significance of relationships and marriage in the novel is purely based on intimacy and defining one’s identity. Gogol’s relationship with Ruth was his first real relationship. They

Read More

The Namesake Thesis

764 Words | 4 Pages

This is the moment where his two identities, Gogol and Nikhil, begin to pull apart from each other and more major differences between the two show more intensely. Later on, Gogol develops a serious relationship with an all-American woman named Maxine who leads him ever further from his family. “He tells her he has a deadline at work, but it’s not true-- that’s the day that he and Maxine are leaving for New Hampshire, for two weeks” (144). Since Gogol is spending all this time with Maxine and her family, he barely has any time for his own family and he’d rather be with Maxine. Gogol starts lying to his parents and making up excuses to avoid them which causes him to drift from his family even more than he already has.

Read More

More about The Namesake Essay

Related Topics

Open Document