Adaptations 13. The Namesake: Bibliography The Namesake: Introduction The Ganguli family in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake has a problem. The mother and father are traditional Bengalese from Calcutta‚ and they are not particularly interested in assimilating into the United States‚ their adopted home. Gogol‚ their son‚ however‚ was born in the United States and is somewhat embarrassed by his parents Bengalese practices. Gogol is also uncomfortable with his name. It is neither a Bengalese nor an American
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Lahiri’s “The Namesake” tells the story of the Ganguli family over the course of thirty years. The immigrant is constantly struggling with the memories of his homeland and the realities of the new world. This constant struggle is portrayed “The Namesake” as first generation immigrants and their children struggle to find their places in society. The Ganguli parents struggle with adapting to a different culture than they are used to. Their children‚ Gogol and Sonia‚ struggle to maintain their roots
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beliefs. Ashima Ganguli has grown up in an upper class family in
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The title The Namesake reflects the struggle of Gogol Ganguli‚ son of Ashoke and Ashima‚ Indian immigrants to the U.S.A. to get identity in the culture where he is born and brought up with his unusual name. Names do have some meaning in India. A lot of practice is done when a child is named in India. An Indian child generally carries two names‚ a pet name and an official one. Pet names are for the family and neighbours and acquaintances. They carry or may not carry meaning. But official names are
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been utilised throughout the novel to illustrate the factors that influence a person’s sense of belonging and in some cases a person’s sense of isolation. The reference to the short story The Overcoat written by Ashoke’s favourite author Nikolai Gogol has been used as both a motif and a form of intertextuality throughout the novel. The Overcoat is first mentioned in chapter one when Ashoke recalls his near death experience in a train accident. It is believed that
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expressed through a variety of literary techniques. The Namesake portrays the Ganguli family over a course of thirty-two years. It follows Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli from shortly after their emigration from Calcutta‚ India‚ to Cambridge‚ Massachusetts in the late 1960’s. The story then follows the couple as their children are born and raised in the United States. It is their struggles‚ particularly those of the eldest son‚ Gogol‚ that compromise the bulk of the story. Immigration can create cultural confusion
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interactions‚ whether it be enriching or limiting. While culture can add significant value to one’s life‚ the sense of tre belonging to only one culture must e sacrificed in order to final acceptance and belonging with others. In The Namesake‚ Ashima Ganguli is faced with the struggle to overcome the language and cultural barrier posed by her migration to America causing disorientation. The deliberate grammatical mistake used by Lahiri ‘ten finger and ten toe’‚ symbolises the often embarrassing struggle
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Gogol‚ the son‚ tries to find his own identity without losing his heritage‚ even though his parents‚ Ashoke and Ashima‚ are proud of the sacrifices they made to satisfy their family’s needs. In America‚ identity became a real encounter to the Ganguli family‚ Once Ashima made a baby boy‚ the baby name was an issue. Ashima and Ashoke were in shock they could not leave the hospital
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The struggle to find self identity within the upbringing of two different and contradictory cultural groups is the main theme for Alice Pung’s memoir Unpolished Gem and Mira Nair’s film The Namesake. The main characters for each‚ Alice Pung and Gogol Ganguli respectively grow up the children of immigrants from developing to western countries who are torn between respecting‚ participating and identifying with traditions from their parents countries or fully immersing themselves in the identity of the
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"Namesake" is curious because as Gogol grows up and mature he was able to understand the teaching of his parents about life. In this novel‚ the relationship between parents and children is the main idea that determines the destiny of different stories. The Ashoke and Ashima relationship with their parents was attached to Indian culture. Parents are who decide the by choosing who they marry this was a decision it determined their fate and character as parents. When Gogol is a small child the relationship
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