“One hand, five homes. A lifetime in a fist.”
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and led her after-life in Rhode Island. Her mother was a
Bengali and her to follow all the Bengali customs and traditions. She pursued her M.A. in creative writing and Ph.D. in Renaissance studies. Much known for her fictional works, she was awarded prestigious prizes like Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel Interpreter of Maladies. Her other famous works include The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, In other
words, etc.
About the novel:
The Namesake is a diaspora novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. In this novel, we get to know an Indian-American family struggling with an identity crisis. The protagonist of the novel Gogol faces name, identity, and cultural crisis because of his alienation in the foreign land. Ashoke and Ashima belong to the Bengali family and trapped by strangers in America because of the lack of familiar relations between them. The novel talks about a lot of significant theme including native and foreign. All the characters constantly struggle to retain their self by not getting lost in a foreign land.
Genre: Fiction
Tone: Sympathetic, generous, and nostalgic
Type: Fiction
Year of publication: 2003
Main Characters
Gogol Ganguli: Son
Ashoke Ganguli: Husband
Ashima Ganguli: Wife
Sonali Ganguli: Daughter
Moushumi: Son’s wife
Maxine Ratliff: Son’s girlfriend
Ruth: Son’s girlfriend
Significant themes
The relation of being and becoming
Alienation and recluse
Nostalgia/ homesickness
Hybrid identity with a mix of both the worlds
Significance of name and identity crisis
Fondness of family and relations
