Names and the Journey to Define a Multicultural Identity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

Abstract

Like many other Asian American writers, Jhumpa Lahiri writes stories that capture the experiences of immigrant families in America. What sets The Namesake apart is that Lahiri cleverly uses the names of her characters to shape their individual lives and futures not just as a first or second generation immigrant, but as people who are more than what that labelling connotes. Although the struggle faced by Ashoke and Ashima to hold on and adapt as first generation immigrants is contrasted with the search for identity among second generation immigrants seen primarily through the experiences of their children Gogol and Sonia, Lahiri uses their struggles as an immigrant family to serve as a starting point for each member of the Ganguli family to find their own identities and understandings of who they are as individuals apart from their race, history or cultural heritage so that they may truly be without borders.

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