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The Namesake Literary Analysis Essay

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Literary Analysis of The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri is a creative author writer who displayed in the novel The Namesake the challenges and numerous aspects of immigration, relationships, identity and language. Also the author uses some literary techniques including imagery and symbolism. More specifically, the plotline of the story offers insight into the life of the Ganguli family and the struggles they face by respecting their native Indian roots and merging into American culture. The Ganguli family is an example and signifies the examination of family dynamics and the struggle of individual learning to establish and grow into ones identity, even with overwhelming parental influence with opposing beliefs. A situation that displays relationships between parents and children is when Sonia and Gogol did not come home to spend Thanksgiving with Ashima (Lahiri 159). Their need for independence is opposite of the need Ashima …show more content…

When Ashima was pregnant with her first born being very new to America she longed for her parents and specifically describes using imagery to home her parents are in the exact set up of that time of day in Calcutta. The migration from Calcutta to America was a major adjustment early on in Ashima and Ashoke’s marriage. The feeling of loneliness and containing different values and duties than the people you are surrounded with in you environment. The struggle of name and identity is relevant when Gogol starts kindergarten and hid parent instruct him to go by “Nikihil” at school and “Gogol” at home; since this is Bengali way to a private name to close family and then a name for formal use. As a child, he associates a new name with a new identity. “He is afraid to be Nikihil, someone he

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Force, pressure, and expectations are some of the things that Gogol endures in "The Namesake". In the story, Gogol is about to start kindergarten but he has conflicting feelings because his parents have told him he will use a new name which he doesn’t want. The characterization of Ashoke and Mrs. Lapidus is of extreme importance to the plot and Gogol, due to the conflicts between the two in front of Gogol about his name. At the start of the story, when Gogol walks into Mrs. Lapidus's office with his mother to talk about his enrollment, there is a clear conflict about what he should be called in school. Gogol's mother states that he wants his name to be "Nikhil" because they come from a different country and want him to fit in with the other kids.

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The reason is that from the moment of their birth, they were brought up in the settled country and they consider it as their home country and wanted to follow its culture and tradition as their own. The Namesake describes the cultural dislocation in detail. When Gogol mentions his stay in a room for three months, it upsets Ashima. When Gogol and Sonia reduce their visits to their parents, Ashima suffers a lot: “Having been deprived of the company of her own parents upon moving to America, her children’s independence, their need to keep their distance

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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.

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However, as time passes, they begin to nurture a love for each other. This is only the beginning of a series of relationships in “The Namesake.” The primary one, centers on Gogol and his tight relationship between his Indian-cultured parents. At first, Gogol is completely in disgust at his parents and their background. This is evident during the beginning of their trip to India.

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