American Culture In The Namesake, By Jhumpa Lahiri

The film, The Namesake, directed by Mira Nair, suggests that everyone has a cultural identity, whether they ignore or embrace it. Gogol Ganguli initially wants to abandon his family’s traditions and adopt American customs since he was born in America. Soon he learns that his name has a very emotional meaning to his father. Because of his new knowledge of the significance of his name, he begins to enter a transformation where he accepts and loves his culture. Throughout the film, Gogol has an internal conflict with himself when, on one side, he has his Indian culture, and on the other, he has the American culture he has always wanted to belong to. Although some people think that cultural identity is destined and final, I claim that cultural identity can change because of how willing people are to welcome it.

The Namesake, written by Jhumpa Lahira, a famous Indian writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for her story collection Interpreter of Maladies, brilliantly illustrates the immigrant experience and the tangled ties between generations. In this novel, the main characters Ashima and her husband, Ashoke, were first generation immigrants in the United States from India. The whole story begins with Ashima's pregnancy and her nostalgia of her hometown, and a sense of melancholy revealed from the first chapter. While Ashima felt insecure and worried about her new life in the United States, her husband Ashoke, rather wanted to settle in and struggle for a new life. All of uncertainty and reluctance of this new-coming couple faded way when their son,

In the Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri, America is often referred to as the land of opportunity despite how foreign immigrants are still being treated as second class citizens such as an outcast. Throughout the novel The Namesake the parents of Gogol, Ashoke Ganguli and Ashima Ganguli brought their family to America to find their opportunity despite their strong beliefs in their Bengali culture. Going against their Bengali belief, Ashok and Ashima settled in america with their baby boy Gogol and their baby girl Sonia. Throughout the novel The Namesake Gogol has been struggling to find himself and make peace. Gradually throughout the story Gogol begins to wonder why his parents made the decision to come to america, Despite their strong Bengali beliefs to stay in india. Gogol’s crisis to finding himself slowly deteriorates when he finds himself come to peace with who he is. The author, Jhumpa Lahiri shows Gogol improving and developing as a mature character intellectually, socially, and emotionally despite all the hardships that Gogol had faced.

Intergenerational conflicts mainly involves in the process of searching identity in a new country. In The Namesake, it seems like the major part of the book is about Gogol’s identity formation and confusion. In fact, Ashima is also part of the process of forming American identity. One of the significant incident is the name-changing process of Gogol. At first, we can see how Gangulis’ parents Ashima and Ashoke are “still proudly and deeply entrenched in their Indian heritage” (Bhattacharyya 77), when they were asked to name their baby after themselves or one of the ancestors. They think “This tradition doesn’t exist for Bengalis, naming a son after father or grandfather, a daughter after mother or grandmother. This sign of respect in America and Europe, this symbol of heritage and lineage, would be ridiculed in India” (The Namesake 28). But later when Gogol ask to change the name, his parents agrees either because becomes accepting individualism or doesn’t want to explain why they name Gogol at the very first place. This explains how much Gogol wants to possess a new identity beyond his parents’ traditional norms.

The film The Namesake started out while Ashoke Ganguli was traveling on a train to visit his grandfather. On the train Ashoke meets fellow traveler, Ghosh, who impresses upon him to start traveling. The train crashes and Ashoke almost dies but is found and survives. After the crash, Ashoke relocates to America for school. In 1977, Ashoke returns home to India to be arranged to marry Ashima. When Ashima accepts Ashoke’s marriage proposal, she has to move to New York with him where their residence becomes permanent. Ashima has to adapt and adjust to American culture, which is very hard for her because she has never been out of India and she misses her family. Shortly after, they become parents of a boy, who they name Nikhil, with the

For starters, Ashoke and Gogol were different because they didn’t really have the same culture even though both of them are Indian. Ashoke was born and raised in India, unlike Gogol who was born and raised in America. Ashoke felt as if he was living in a foreign land because even though he had lived in America for many years, it was not a part of his culture. When they move back to Calcutta for eight months Ashoke felt alive and he felt like he could enjoy life because he wasn’t being judged by others. On the other hand, Gogol was born and raised in America and he had adopted the American culture. Gogol hated leaving The United States to move to Calcutta for eight months. In addition, he felt like an outsider because even though he was Indian he had never been around that culture so he didn’t really see the Indian culture as being a part of him. Gogol was more American than he was Indian, because he had been raised in America rather than India.

After Gogol learns about his two cultures, Gogol's life decisions have really gone with the American customs. But even though he really just follows one, he will always have both close to his heart. The

Gogol grapples with his name throughout the majority of the novel, yet this tension was in the makings even before his birth. Ashoke and Ashima being immigrants set Gogol up to live in two different cultures, American and Bengali. Many children of immigrants may feel like Gogol, having one foot in each world. Gogol framed his struggle with cultural identity through something tangible, his name. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, Gogol’s struggle with cultural identity is exposed most greatly by the name others call him and his reaction to it.

The Namesake Reduction By Jhumpa Lahiri Author Lahiri was born in Nilanjan Sudeshna on July 11, 1967. Her works mainly consists of novels, short stories and postcolonial. In her career, she has won the Pulitzer Prize and the O. Henry Award and currently she works at Princeton University as a creative writing professor. Significance of title A namesake is a something that is named after something else. In Gogol’s case, when he was just born and the doctors asked for his name, his parents didn’t know what to say because they were expecting as letter from Ashima’s grandmother (which didn’t arrive). Thus, Ashoke named his son Gogol after the famous Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. This may seem a bit random considering their Indian background, but we were told that when Ashoke was young, he was in a train wreck, and in that train wreck the only item he was able to take was a copy of the book “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol. Because of this, Ashoke’s first thought when it came to that moment (when he had to choose a name for his son) was of that author. And thus, Gogol, the Indian child with raised in America with a Russian name came to be. The book centers on Gogol trying to find meaning and a way to express his life with a name that didn’t mean much significance…until later. Plot The start of the novel begins with the birth of Gogol in Cambridge,

When someone has established his or her identity based on experiences and is proud of that identity, he or she is said to be comfortable. In the novel The Namesake, the main character, Gogol Ganguli, is divided between Bengali and American culture, while also having difficulty accepting his name. This causes him to struggle with establishing and being comfortable with his identity. In The Namesake, Gogol, who struggles to identify with his name and his culture, becomes more comfortable with himself after going through difficult life experiences

The choices one makes dictates the life they lead. In her novel The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri reflects on the world of the Ganguli family. One particular character, Gogol Ganguli becomes the main focus as Lahiri takes us through his assimilation process, and how he tries to achieve the goal of being socially accepted. Lahiri illustrates the development of Gogol’s quest for his true cultural identity through his personal struggles: his name, his romantic relationships, and his father’s untimely death.

All around the world people struggle with a sense of self-individualization, which is the internal battle each person has to face in order to discover ones true identity. The quest to find oneself is a difficult and lengthy endevor that can take a lifetime to accomplish. Some if not most people never reach a point where they can truly face who they truly are. In the Novel The Namesake by Lahiri, identity is illustrated by intensely examining the importance of ones background, name and culture. The main characters in the story try to uncover the reasoning behind their lineage, which they belive will lead to discovering the answer destiny in life. Playing on this belief the Ganguli’s sustain the element of traditions with them and practices

An individual’s identity is reflected in many aspects of their character. On of the aspects which affect a person’s identity is culture; culture plays a major role in the formation of an individual's character. It imposes customs which ultimately manifest through a person’s identity. The clear link between culture and identity suggests that conflict with one’s culture may affect a person’s sense of self. Jhumpa Lahiri explores this type of conflict in the novel The Namesake, in which Gogol Ganguli is stuck between two cultures the Bengali traditions of his parents and the American culture he grows up with. The novel explores Gogol’s conflict with both cultures and how it ultimately impacts the development of his identity.

William Shakespeare once said, “What’s in a name?” “ A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” In the novel, The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol Ganguli struggles with his own name throughout most of his life because he is unable to truly assimilate to either of his culture’s, American or Bengali. He was named after a Russian author, Nikolai Gogol, whose book had literally saved his father’s life in a train accident. When Gogol was born, his parents had been waiting for a letter from their family in India, supposedly with the name to be given to their new baby. But the letter never arrived and they had to come up with a name on the spot, his father decided on Gogol because of the train incident and how it represented his rebirth and a new chance at life. In Chapter 12: “Is that a symbol?” Foster talks about how we can’t pin down a single meaning for a symbol, they generally have many meanings. So when Gogol changes his name to Nikhil it represents his separation in identity from his parent’s culture. One night when out to dinner, “Ashima slips, asking, ‘Gogol, have you decided yet what your major will be?’ Gogol feels helpless, annoyed yet unable to blame his mother, caught in the mess he’s made” (106). He does not want to be as involved with the Bengali culture as his parents are and in turn, to rebel against that, he changes his name to Nikhil in order to renounce his past and create a new life away from home. But even though the name can be a symbol for his new

The makeup of our everyday lives is influenced immensely by the culture we are a part of. In Bengali culture, a person is usually given two names, a pet name and a proper name. Families who move from Calcutta often struggle to assimilate to American life and maintain their cultural heritage. In the novel, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol’s changing of his name along with his romantic relationships with Ruth and Maxine show his initial rejection of Bengali identity and culture. This essay will give an explanation into the ways in which Gogol rejected his culture, first by changing his name, but also through his close relationships with American girls.