it is that tension between what was and what is – never far from Lahiri’s or the reader’s mind – that drives the narration‚ colors the drama‚ and shapes the lives of the novel’s characters. As The Namesake opens‚ Ashima Ganguli is a young bride who is about to deliver her first child in a hospital in Massachusetts. Her husband‚ Ashoke‚ is an engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ashoke had traveled back to Calcutta to find a wife. While
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Ashima’s grandmother‚ but the letter from Calcutta never comes. The name Gogol is important as he starts kindergarten. His parents intend for him to go by "Nikhil" at school and "Gogol" at home‚ but Gogol is confused and does not want a new name‚ "He is afraid to be Nikhil‚ someone he doesn’t know. Who doesn’t know him" (Lahiri‚ J. p. 59). As a child‚ he associates a new name with a new identity. As a little boy‚ Gogol likes his name and when his parents try to give him a "good name" Nikhil‚ when
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characterisation of Gogol (the main protagonist of the story) and the symbolic nature of his name. Contrasting Gogol’s adult life to his adolescence‚ his sense of belonging is never as natural‚ innocent or playful. Gogol has to work towards achieving a feeling of belonging and to understand himself as a person. Torn between his Bengali and American culture because of his name‚ his struggle with his cultural identity causes him to gain a sense of alienation. In the event where Gogol attends an ABCD meeting
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symbolizes the American tradition of dating whomever someone has interest: Gogol did not know much Ruth‚ but in the heat of the moment started to date her. Gogol‚ being Indian-American‚ denotes the culture clash. As Gogol is socializing with other families he realizes what he is unable to do around his own family: “At times‚ as the laughter at Gerald and Lydia’s table swells‚ and another bottle of wine is opened‚ and Gogol raises his glass to be filled yet again‚ he is conscious of the fact that
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Abstract This paper makes a modest attempt to analyse the various issues faced by the immigrants as portrayed in Lahiri’s novel first novel The Namesake. The story of the novel is set in United States‚ Calcutta hovers in the background. . It is out of her experiences of the bizarre identity crisis on the part of those who have remained as immigrants and those who were traumatized by homelessness‚ that the contents of the novel The Namesake were derived. Jhumpa Lahiri admits that as the novel conveys
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Summary A year after Ashoke’s death‚ Gogol is studying for his registration exam that will allow him to be a licensed architect practicing in New York. He has broken up with Maxine a few months after Ashoke’s death‚ and now she is engaged to someone else. Sonia is still living in the house on Pemberton Road with their mother‚ who spends her nights awake and lonely‚ watching TV in bed. One night‚ Gogol agrees to go out with the other students in the class he is taking to prepare for his registration
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heightened sense of homecoming‚ The protagonists Ashima and Gogol stages become obsessed at different to absorb the world inherited and finally in the process of assimilation they long for belonging.A balance is finally struck in their lives. Introduction: The Namesake is the cross cultural multigenerational story of a Hindu Bengali family ’s journey to self acceptance in Boston‚ The story takes the Ganguli family from their tradition bound life in Calcutta to their
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The film I have chosen is “The Namesake” by Jhumpra Lahiri. A traditional Bengali Indian family‚ the Ganguli’s‚ are moving to New England and are trying to stay engulfed in their unique cultural identity. Ashoke Ganguli brings his new wife‚ Ashima‚ to a strange new world‚ leaving her lonely and confused of a culture outside of her own. Ashima needs to learn to love a man she does not know‚ to customize herself to a country she is unfamiliar with‚ and to hold true to her values in a culture foreign
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Matt. J. Sociology The Namesake A Bengali girl named Ashima partakes in a marriage arranged to Ashoke Ganguli. After the ceremony the new couple left India to move to the United States where Ashoke has started to build a new life. They were going to face the cultural differences together‚ as one. For Ashima‚ this was difficult. Her new husband had to earn a living to support the two of them so she often found herself home alone. Not knowing the English language or culture at that became very
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characters to develop and change throughout the entire novel. There are many different characteristics in order to make up a bildungsroman novel. However‚ in The Namesake‚ the character that developed and changed throughout their life into adulthood was Gogol. Gogol’s coming of age was made evident by the bildungsroman’s genre conventions of social isolation and a conflict of generations. In Buckley’s novel Season of Youth‚ he talks about the characteristics and qualities that make up a bildungsroman novel
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