Belonging Essay
The individual’s understanding of belonging is inextricably shaped by significant moments in time, which while not necessarily life-changing events, have a lasting, individual and personal impact. Such a concept of the significance of profound moments in time is echoed in Jhumpa Lahiri’s 2003 novel ‘The Namesake’ and Sean Penn’s 2007 film ‘Into the Wild.’ Both pieces rely upon an authorial manipulation of time, extended metaphor, symbolism and medium-specific techniques to make evident this importance of profound moments in impacting the individual.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘The Namesake’ spans over thirty years and across two generations, following the tale of second generation Indian/American or ‘American born confused Deshi’ Gogol Ganguli and his family. Lahiri’s storytelling fastens or slows according to the emphasis placed on respective events and as such it is clear that Lahiri pinpoints certain significant moments in the lives of Gogol and the other characters as profound in what they contribute to Gogol’s understanding of belonging- which is accomplished only by the end of the novel. Penn’s film similarly sees an authorial manipulation of time- though over a shorter period than that embraced by Lahiri. Penn relies on cut-away flashbacks to reveal significant moments of change in the outlook of protagonist Chris McCandless (later self-named Chris Supertramp) and as such the viewer gains an insight into Chris’ inexplicable sense of belonging to nature and each other living person he encounters in his escape from materialistic, American suburbia and its ‘things, things, things’ in his embracing of a nomadic lifestyle ‘lost in the wild.’
This manipulation of time however, also makes evident the near tangible presence of the past and past memories in the individual’s quest for belonging and self-realization in the present. Lahiri juxtaposes the memories of Ashima with those of Gogol to make evident the conflicts between first and second generational migrant
Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘The Namesake’ spans over thirty years and across two generations, following the tale of second generation Indian/American or ‘American born confused Deshi’ Gogol Ganguli and his family. Lahiri’s storytelling fastens or slows according to the emphasis placed on respective events and as such it is clear that Lahiri pinpoints certain significant moments in the lives of Gogol and the other characters as profound in what they contribute to Gogol’s understanding of belonging- which is accomplished only by the end of the novel. Penn’s film similarly sees an authorial manipulation of time- though over a shorter period than that embraced by Lahiri. Penn relies on cut-away flashbacks to reveal significant moments of change in the outlook of protagonist Chris McCandless (later self-named Chris Supertramp) and as such the viewer gains an insight into Chris’ inexplicable sense of belonging to nature and each other living person he encounters in his escape from materialistic, American suburbia and its ‘things, things, things’ in his embracing of a nomadic lifestyle ‘lost in the wild.’
This manipulation of time however, also makes evident the near tangible presence of the past and past memories in the individual’s quest for belonging and self-realization in the present. Lahiri juxtaposes the memories of Ashima with those of Gogol to make evident the conflicts between first and second generational migrant