Diasporic Sensibility in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake
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DIASPORIC SENSIBILITY IN THE NOVEL *THE NAMESAKE"BY
]UMPHA LAHIRI
x Prakash Bhadury
Abstract:
The word 'Diaspora ', etymologically means 'dispersal ', and involves, at least
two countries, two cultures, which are embedded in the mind of the migrants, side by side. Although the past is invoked now and then, the focus is persistently on the 'moment '. The past is invoked to indicate a certain
contrast, wliich must be incorporated, and controlled in the present life in order to negotiate the network of social relations in the immediate world. My paper explores the lived experience of the diasporic subjects as represented in Jhumpa Lahiri 's The Namesake '(2003). It demonstrates how an individual
life gets inevitably mixed up and messed up with those of others in different spaces, which lie in proximity to each other and contribute to his/her identity
formation. Hybridization, Tran cultural dilemma and diasporic sensibility are explored through the characters and setting of the Novel. Language carries the culture and the skillful use of language brings home the 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 alien setting in America. Ashok and Ashima get the first shock with the
change of the geographical location after their arrival in the USA. Amid the
"heaps of broken snow,"(Jhumpa Lahiri 30) "the frigid New England chill"
(ibid) "leafless trees with ice covered branches "(ibid) "not a soul on the
street" (ibid) etc.
DIASPORIC SENSIBILITY IN THE NOVEL *THE NAMESAKE"BY
]UMPHA LAHIRI
x Prakash Bhadury
Abstract:
The word 'Diaspora ', etymologically means 'dispersal ', and involves, at least
two countries, two cultures, which are embedded in the mind of the migrants, side by side. Although the past is invoked now and then, the focus is persistently on the 'moment '. The past is invoked to indicate a certain
contrast, wliich must be incorporated, and controlled in the present life in order to negotiate the network of social relations in the immediate world. My paper explores the lived experience of the diasporic subjects as represented in Jhumpa Lahiri 's The Namesake '(2003). It demonstrates how an individual
life gets inevitably mixed up and messed up with those of others in different spaces, which lie in proximity to each other and contribute to his/her identity
formation. Hybridization, Tran cultural dilemma and diasporic sensibility are explored through the characters and setting of the Novel. Language carries the culture and the skillful use of language brings home the 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 alien setting in America. Ashok and Ashima get the first shock with the
change of the geographical location after their arrival in the USA. Amid the
"heaps of broken snow,"(Jhumpa Lahiri 30) "the frigid New England chill"
(ibid) "leafless trees with ice covered branches "(ibid) "not a soul on the
street" (ibid) etc.
Cited: 2. Foucault, Michel. *Of other Spaces. Heterotopias '(1976) (trans. Jay Miskowiec).3&6 Barnet, Sylvan. The Practical Guide to Writing. Toronto: Longman, 2003