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Critical Analysis Of The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

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CROSS CULTURAL CONFLICTS IN JHUMPA LAHIRI`S THE NAMESAKE A. Tara Lakshmi Lecturer in English Govt., Degree College NAIDUPET S.P.S.R Nellore (Dt.) Abstract: The objective of this paper is to bring forth the excellence of the author Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer Prize winner, …show more content…

“Ashoka and Ashima are shocked. What about the parent`s preference? Ashima and Ashok wonder, shaking their heads. But since neither of them feels comfortable pressing the issue, they have no choice but to give in”. ( Namesake 60) The irony here is that, having been born to Indians and that too to Bengali parents; Gogol has to retain a Russian name in America. Secondly he is neither Indian nor American but Russian named after the Russian author who happens to be his father’s favourite writer. The issue of his identity with his confusing name becomes even tougher when he attains youth. Continuously he suffers the problem of his name in his multi-cultural life. One day when he happens to attend a panel discussion about Indian novels written in English, he comes to understand the distinctive definition of the cultural conflict he is facing. He arrives at a clear idea about ABCD, “American born confused desi’’. He avoids, ABCD friends for they remind him too much of the way his parents choose to live, befriending people not so much because they like them but because of a past they happen to share.

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