Diasporic Predicament of Binary Identity & Cultural Struggle in Jhumpha Lahiri’s The Namesak

Abstract

Lahiri’s The Namesake narrates the assimilation of an Indian Bengali family from Calcutta, the Gangulis, into American culture, the cultural dilemmas experienced by them, and their American born children in different ways; the spatial, cultural and emotional dislocations suffered by them in their efforts to settle “home” in the new land. This shows the juxtaposition of conventional thinking, and unconventional desires, their fruitless effort to satisfy a traditional lifestyle, while trying to comprehend the open western culture. The present study proposes to study the reasons that draw immigrants back to their roots and analyze the causes and consequences of the alienation, as well as the Diaspora writers’ longing for a homeland that results in cultural conflict. These immigrants are haunted by some sense of loss and agony over the home left behind; and they create their writings with elements of imagination. The impact of diasporic experiences on their psyche depends on their level of belonging in a foreign land.