The Separation Of Culture In Jhump Lahiri's The Namesake

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.

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.

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.

Gogol uses relationships as a disguise for himself without even knowing he’s actually looking for himself. The women in Gogol's relationships

As Gogol grows, he begins to hate his name as Gogol, and requests to change his name to Nikhil. ""What is the reason you want to change your name, Mr. Ganguli?" the judge asks. … "I hate the name Gogol," he says. "I always hated it."" (p.101-102) as Gogol brings up this topic to discuss during dinner befor he changes his name in the summer, Gogol claims that because he is an Indian with a Russian name in America, nobody is taking him seriously, thrust requesting to change his name into Nikhil, even if it makes a huge hassle to change his legal documents. With out the question of his rare name and confusion of the choice, Gogol accepts himself more easier and believes that he has become more Americanized. Gogol sees himself more Americanized as people do while he attends parties and other group activities in his social circle.

His response to his cultural collision is very unique. From this cultural collision Gogol questions himself and his life decisions. Gogol isn't embarrassed by his Bengali culture, he shares both cultures. Except Gogol is more immune to the American traditions so he uses it more. Because

In light of Gogol’s parent’s cultural roots and norms it is difficult foreign born Americans to assimilate into a new society. Gogol’s sudden change in “normal” can be traumatic discouraging for him to conform into what is “normal” in America. “The New World offers professional opportunity and financial betterment but also insists on assimilation and acculturation, a rejection of old habits, traditions and conditioning, and a merging with the culture of the new context […] invited to experience the death of the self as he has known it. He is asked to despise home culture which is seen by the New World as inferior, as less

The Namesake is a book that puts you on an emotional rollercoaster. This accompanied with the extremely fast progression of the first six chapters can make a confusing story. But with one of Deborah Appleman’s “Critical Lenses”, I can narrow it down to a single topic or mindset that can analyse the events in a very efficient manner. While the role of women and the shift in social class do present themselves in the chapters, the psychological shift in all of the Gangulis caused the most prominent conflicts and solutions in the story. Even after Gogol’s birth and childhood, along with Sonia’s, the family still needs to adjust to what their version of the American Dream will be.

As he grew up he was introduced to the American ways and seemed to quickly embrace them. Although, on the inside he was split into two different people. Gogol never attained true happiness because of his ability to not fully accept his Indian culture. It’s a struggle that is displayed through his whole life. Also his love life and him not

Accordingly, the difference in settings contrasts the mindset of Ashoke and Gogol, at times creating differences in opinions and actions. Moreover, Ashoke feels a heavy burden on his shoulders because his children do not get to grow up in an environment surrounded by family like he did. Contrary to Ashoke’s childhood, Gogol shares most of his memories with his immediate family and other Indian-American families. This difference between the Indian and American culture is made even more apparent when Ashoke’s coworker shares her life and few visits to see her grandchildren, “a life Ashoke’s mother would find humiliating” (Lahiri 48).

The author ofThe Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri focuses a lot of Gogol's relationship with his parents. At the beginning of the novel Gogol rebukes his heritage entirely. He finds it embarrassing, trying to distance himself from his parents. He abhors his name, changing it as soon as he is able. He barely speaks of his past to friends and when he does he recalls it with distaste.

In the novel, “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri, on pages 189-998 she talks about how Gogol’s life changed after he moved out from his parents’ house. Gogol graduated from the architecture program at Columbia, and he was living in New York. He works for a successful architecture firm and lives in a small studio in Morningside Heights, and the first apartment he has to himself. His parents are distressed by how little money he makes, and occasionally his father sends him checks in the mail to help him with his rent, and his credit card bills. They had hoped he would choose MIT, the other architecture program to which he had been accepted. However, Gogol decided not to go back to Massachusetts because he didn’t want to back to his parents’ culture,

Gogol's attempt to Americanize himself is best seen in his romantic relationships throughout the novel. His first real romance is with an American woman, Ruth. For Gogol, "white [women]...are not only exotic physical entities whose fair skin captivate him, but also political symbols within which lie the promise of power" (Bhalla 5). Gogol associates himself with white women as a means of feeling more American. Once his parents find out about his relationship, they go "as far as to point out examples of Bengali men they know who've married Americans, marriages that have ended in divorce" (Lahiri, The Namesake 117). In Bengali culture, like in many other cultures, interracial marriages are seen as the greatest act of betrayal. Although his relationship with Ruth does not last, his next girlfriend, Maxine , serves the same purpose for Gogol as Ruth did: "Maxine functions as a representative of Western high culture...[she] becomes a cultural usher, teaching Gogol how to...gain proximity to the advantages of whiteness" (Bhalla 5). Gogol becomes more a part of Maxine's family than his own. He realizes that "his immersion in Maxine's family is a betrayal of his own" (Lahiri, The Namesake 141). Maxine's family provides Gogol with something that his own cannot: a sense of belonging. As shown, Gogol looks to white women to become more immersed in American culture. He associates with them more than he does fellow Indian Americans because "they remind him too much of the way his parents

The Ganguli home is often filled with Bengali family and friends, and that provides a support system for Ashoke and Ashima. It makes the Ganguli’s feel like they did when they were in India, surrounded by family. Gogol receives some advice from his aunt before leaving for college. She tells him to have fun, but come home and marry a Bengali woman.