The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri Research Paper

Born 50/50
Jhumpa Lahiri, the brilliant author of The Namesake, made a significant point about second-generation immigrants having dual-identities in America. In terms of dual-identity in The Namesake, a person is encountered with choosing between cultures, lifestyles, and decisions. Gogol Ganguli, a protagonist, faces the problem of dual-identity throughout the book. Furthermore, he was faced with the idea of becoming either a true American or Bengali. Gogol’s problematic dual-identity journey started from the day that he was born till the day he found a true balance between his dual-identity.
The spark that lighted the fuse for Gogol’s problem was the day of his birth on American soil. His parents, Ashoke and Ashima, were confronted with

During Gogol’s sophomore year, the whole family goes on a trip to Calcutta. The more Gogol lived in Calcutta during his eight month stay; he felt less connected to his Bengali side. For instance, “Gogol and Sonia know these people, but they do not feel close to them as their parents do” (Lahiri 81). Hence that Gogol did not feel a connection to his Bengali side in India. Moreover, he never got to follow the tradition of a pet name and a good name which might be why he did not feel connected to his Bengali family members. Even back home in America, Gogol hated his name because he sensed that he was being smothered by three identities. “He hates that his name is both absurd and obscure, that it has nothing to do with who he is, that it is neither Indian nor American but of all things Russian” (Lahiri 76). Then later on his junior year, Gogol goes to a college party and meets a girl named Kim. Instead of saying his usual name, he calls himself Nikhil which was the name that he was supposed to have. “ ‘It wasn’t me,’ he nearly says. But he doesn’t tell them that it hadn’t been Gogol who’d kissed Kim. That Gogol had nothing to do with it” (Lahiri 96). After that night, Gogol took his first step into a new world and becoming a new person which pushes the story

He tried to push away his American side and his connections to it such as Maxine. He even said “I don’t want to get away” (Lahiri 182) in which he was referring to the chaos of dealing with the ceremony of his father death. Soon Gogol marries a childhood Bengali friend, Moushumi, and they have a grand, Bengali wedding. Then sadly, they get a divorce because Moushumi cheats on Gogol. Throughout that process Gogol experience the thrill of have a Bengali wife, but he also experience the typical American marriage of having a divorce. In the end Gogol remembered all the wisdom that his father told, and that helped understand what meant to have a dual-identity. There are always problems encountered in finding a