Short Story: The Story Of Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, is an extraordinary attempt at weaving together the strings of love, family, friends, culture commingling with the essence of responsibilities and understanding. The tale revolves around the ups and downs of a Bengali family settled in Massachusetts, United States, the inevitable circumstances they step upon and the treacherous trials at accepting the western culture over an epoch. It is quintessential an immigrant novel, written with a great deal of sensitivity for both the parent and children’ generation.

A hint of standard events and tragedies involving love, death, birth, marriage and divorces, all this, written in third person present tense, with an innocent yet beautiful usage of words and vocabulary, along

He enjoys baseball and high school balls instead of vacations in Calcutta with his parents. As a child, he is unsure of the world that surrounds him. But as he grows he is better concerned about himself, his appearance, his reputation amongst his mates. As G.S. Chanda postulates, “Gogol in many ways typifies ABCD (American Born Confused Desi).” He thinks he’s ‘not Indian enough’ and is estranged to the relatives back in India where we see Ashoke and Ashima feeling at home even after so many years of separation. It is as if he feels an obligation to clarify his belonging. It is evident from the way he tells an aunt of Maxine, his white girlfriend, that he is an American and gets sick when they visit India. “We get sick all the time. We have to get shots before we go. My parents devote the better part of the suitcase to the medicines.”

Through his infrequent visits to his parents he tries to avoid the shame of the ‘indianness’ his parents embody. It seems as if he does not fall in love with Maxine, but the americanness she and her family represents. It is an easy way of attaching himself with the American culture and keep away from the Bengali ways of his