Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake highlights this struggle through the eyes of the Ganguli family. The novel ultimately shows us that one can simultaneously belong to two cultures‚ in this case Indian and American culture. Many scholars are hung up on the fact that protagonist Gogol must belong to one culture or the other. Heinze’s “Diasporic Overcoat?” suggests that Gogol puts on an “overcoat” through the switching of his name to represent the switching of his identity across various relationships
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There are many factors that affected people to be what they are now. In The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri‚ Gogol‚ the main character‚ developed from a child attached to his family to a teenager that often rejects his parents and their Bengali culture. As a young boy‚ he was very close to his parents‚ especially his mother‚ and would listen to them‚ but as he grew up‚ it eventually changed. He wasn’t as close to his parents as he was when he was at a young age. He rejected his family and his culture because
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How would you respond to a collision in culture‚ would you completely change your original culture‚ modify it to a certain extent‚ or not make a single altercation to your identity? In The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri‚ Gogol is caught in the midst of colliding cultures and responds by adapting to the host culture‚ the American culture. Throughout Gogol’s life‚ he faces an identification crisis and a crisis in balancing between the Bengali and American culture. Gogol slowly moves to the American culture
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The Namesake showcases a boy named Gogol who culturally different from the rest of society‚ and undergoes numerous life changing situations. A namesake is a person named after another. The namesake in this novel being Gogol and the author of the Overcoat‚ Nikolai Gogol but to why his father chose this name and this namesake is a mystery to Gogol Ganguli. Symbolism‚ something used quite commonly throughout the novel‚ in which it shows two major symbols. These being the name “Gogol” and trains‚ all
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Knowledge and perception are key factors in how things are interpreted. They can be the difference between understanding and being perplexed. In the novel‚ The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri‚ Gogol seems to go through identity issues with his name. He struggles to find meaning in his name but as the years pass‚ he starts to understand his namesake through being able to accept his name himself. Although Ashima and Ashoke move to America‚ they seem to try to raise Gogal in their Indian culture unaware that
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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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Introduction In The Namesake‚ Jhumpa Lahiri provides an account of the Ganguli family‚ an Indian American family of educated‚ middle-class Bengali immigrants. Torn between two cultures and two worlds‚ the Ganguli ’s live in Suburban Massachusetts. Ashoke and Ashimi Ganguli have two children‚ Gogol and Sonia. The caste system in India impacts the lives of Ashoke and Ashimi‚ whose marriage is arranged‚ but in suburban Massachusetts such distinctions are undermined through the common ties of class
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BELONGING The concept of Belonging is a multi-layered concept‚ particularly in the novel "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri‚ the news article "Burqas and Fries" by Erika Hayasaki and the play "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. A person’s sense of belonging is determined by the relationships they share with themselves and other people. Whether it’s family‚ friends or society in general‚ humans have a desire to belong and be an important part of something greater than themselves. The ideology
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“Some people claim that a person’s cultural identity is the foundation or groundwork on which every other aspect of their being is built” (No Bullying). That describes exactly what Gogol in the novel‚ The Namesake‚ by Jhumpa Lahiri is trying to discover about himself through his name. Almost every aspect of this novel have to do with Gogol and his journey with his companions and family to find his sense of belonging through his culture. Lahiri uses the manipulation of time in this novel in order
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Gogol as the Perfect Namesake In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake‚ Indian parents bestow a Russian name to their first born baby boy; the name is Gogol Ganguli which is after the famous Russian writer‚ Nikolai V. Gogol. In Lahiri’s novel‚ the main character fights an identity crisis because of his highly unusual name. Gogol carries uncertainty about himself throughout the novel because of his name‚ “He hates his name . . . that is has nothing to do with who he is‚ that it is neither Indian nor
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