Theme Of Identity In Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake'

Indian immigrants are the second largest immigration group to the U.S. Most Indian immigrants today are young, highly educated, and proficient in English, with growing careers in the STEM field. Ashima and Ashoke are good examples of this. Ashoke moved to America with Ashima soon after their marriage to continue his education and start his career as a professor. When they have their first child, Gogol, they have to raise him in a country that is new to them. He is raised by Indian parents who teach him their customs, but surrounded with the American culture that he lives in. In the novel “The Namesake,” Jhumpa Lahiri explores the theme of identity by analyzing the dichotomy between Gogol’s Indian and American cultures.

Even from a young age, Gogol has trouble trying to differentiate the two different cultures that surround him. “She teaches him to memorize a four-line children’s poem by Tagore, and the names of the deities adorning the ten-handed goddess Durga during Pujo… Every afternoon Ashima sleeps, but before nodding off she switches the television to channel 2, and tells Gogol to watch Sesame Street and The Electric Company, in order to keep up with the English he uses at nursery school” (Lahiri 54). In this quote, Ashima is trying to teach Gogol about his Bengali culture as well as addressing the American environment he is growing up in. By doing this, she is immersing him into two different cultures. This leaves Gogol to fulfill the expectations of both. “The