Dangling and Sandwiched Identities in Jhumpa Lahiris THE NAMESAKE

Abstract
This paper makes a modest attempt to analyze the identity crisis and the baffled relations due to generational differences faced by the immigrants and their children in diasporic culture with reference to Jhumpa Lahiris novel- The Namesake.

Introduction
The writers of the South Asian diaspora, in recent decades, found prominence in the international literary arena. These writers while depicting migrant characters in their fiction explore the theme of displacement and self-fashioning. The diasporic Indian writers depiction of dislocated characters gains immense importance if seen against the geo-political background of the vast Indian subcontinent. That is precisely why such works have a global readership and an enduring appeal. The diasporic Indian writers have generally dealt with characters from their own displaced community but some of them have also taken a liking for Western characters and they have been convincing in dealing with them (Saha, Exile Literature and Diasporic Indian Writing 186). While Indian writers have been making a significant contribution to world literature since Independence, the past few years have seen a massive flourishing of Indian fiction in the global market. Though there is a great deal of difference between Indian writers, there are few themes that loosely link them together- the issues of identity and language for example, and the themes of exile and diaspora which have been a focal point of much Indian fiction. (Sinha, The Sense of Exile 184) The immigrant experience, the question of identity and the expatriate experience continues to furnish terrific material for fiction and can be traced in the works of various South Asian women writers too. For example, Monica Alis Brick Lane which won the

Grantas Best of Young British Novelists of the decade, Newcomer of the Year at the 2004 British Books Awards and was also short listed for Booker Prize, reveals tellingly that the truest part of Alis writings is about the experience of exile, the pain of unbelonging. Zadie Smith, another non-white novelist blasted into the literacy scene with White Teeth- the Booker nominated bestseller about immigrant culture in London (Sinha, The Sense of Exile 184). Jhumpa Lahiri is also one of the finest South Asian writers who has explored the ins and outs of immigrants experiences- those immigrants who have lost their sense of belongingness and with their alienated self they dangle between two worlds in search of their true identity. Having born of educated middle class Bengali parents in London and grown up in Rhodes Island (USA) Jhumpa Lahiri beautifully and authentically portrays the diaspora experiences in her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies (which won her the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000) as well her first novel The Namesake (which spent several weeks in on New York Times bestseller list). What sets Lahiri apart is the combination of her empathetic concern for the moral and psychological truth related to the immigrants discontentment with the outstanding literary qualities which makes her writings- supple, elegant, economical, ironic and compassionate, marvelously capturing the nuances and minutely observed details. Aruti Nayar remarks: Though endowed with a distinct universal speech, her stories do bring out rather successfully the predicaments of the Indians who trapeze between and across two traditions, one inherited and left behind, and the other, encountered but not necessarily assimilated. Lahiri holds a unique place among the Expatriate writers as well as Indian English writers. Though she has produced only nine short stories and a novel uptil now, she has become a milestone in Indian English Literature. She is the zephyr in the firmament of Indian English Literature. She is the writer of the caliber, who can hold her own place in any grouping- among Indian writers, among short story specialists or American literateurs (Bheda, Indian Women Novelists in English 115).

About the novel and the immigrant experiences of the characters

Undeniable is the fact that living in between condition is very painful and marginalising for the diasporas. Rootless and displaced, they nostalgically yearn for home, go back to the lost origin and imaginary homeland (Nair, Compromise or Confrontation?: Dislocated Self 177). The new generation of Americans, born of immigrant parents are presented by this young and vibrant writer, Jhumpa Lahiri in her novel- The Namesake, in a very genuine and first hand manner. Her first novel The Namesake was published in 2003 which made her a literary celebrity overnight. In The Namesake, a fiction, She deals with the theme of identity crisis and the problem of assimilation and adaptation in another country. The novel is a story of two generationsAshoke and Ashima on the one hand and their children Gogol and Sonia on the other hand, and their life period of thirty years. The novel begins in the year 1968, the birth year of Gogol and stretches to the year 2000, depicting the different attitudes, outlooks and directionality of two generations in dealing with the problems in a foreign country. They face different problems as the meaning of the culture differs for both the generation- the first being directly related to his/her homeland and second generation forming an image of culture based on the information transmitted by the first generation (Agarwal, Generational Differences in Diasporic Writings 29). The Namesake presents the story of the Ganguli family and their attempts to survive in a middle class neighborhood of Boston. In fact, it is an immigrant tale which traces an East Indian familys conflicting attempts to assimilate American ways. Her major subject for projection is the bi-cultural experience that an immigrant goes through. Her emphasis is on the significance of cultural encounter which takes place among Indian diaspora, and the creation of a new culture which finally emerges on diasporic surface. Jhumpa Lahiris The Namesake explores the inner conflict of the characters who are sandwiched between two cultures and they are unable to recognize their real identity. First generation wants to stick to their traditions and culture but often they have to jump to the role desired by their children according to American culture. Even the second generation is expected to follow their root culture but they fail for obvious reasons.

The first part of the novel revolves around the life of an immigrant couple Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli who have come to create a new life for opportunities for themselves in the University of Suburbs in Boston. Ashima is the anchor for the first part of the novel, which presents the immigrant experience in an authentic manner. Her attachment to her family in Calcutta gradually seems to loosen up, a her life begin to revolve around Gogol and his upbringing, various experiences which Ashima has, during her delivery a very lifelike and bring out many sharp contrasts between the two cultures. These experiences are presented in a first hand manner, as Lahiri was born of immigrant parents. She seems to understand the immigrants realization of being a hyphened self, and have portrayed them in life-like manner. The novel begins with the pathetic portrayal of anxiety, uneasiness and various psycho-sociological problems such as nostalgia, rootlessness, alienation, schizophrenia experienced by Ashima who at a young age has migrated to a country where she is related to no one (Lahiri, The Namesake 6). Motherhood for Ashima does not bring only happiness but also the threat of raising the child all alone in a country of strangers. The childs birth was a lonely celebration and the realization that his entry in the world was so alone and deprived (Lahiri, The Namesake 35) laid the foundation of the dilemma that small child had to experience throughout his life. Ashimas struggle to adjust in a foreign country, to adapt herself to the newly found environment, is the struggle of every immigrant, for the universal issue of identity (Bhatt, Immigrant experience in Jhumpa Lahiri 36) In the beginning of the novel, Lahiris unnamed, third person-omniscient narrator writes of Ashimas maternity: As the baby grows, so, too, does their circle of Bengali acquaintances They all come from Calcutta, and for this reason alone they are friends. Most of them live within walking distance of one another in Cambridge. The husbands are teachers, researchers, doctors, engineers. The wives, homesick and bewildered, turn to Ashima for recipes and advice, and she tells them about the carp thats sold in Chinatown, that its possible to make halwa from Cream of Wheat. (Lahiri, The Namesake 38)

Ashima for all her efforts to settle down in a new way of life, felt homesick in that alien land. She felt uprooted and lived in a world of nostalgia. She spent hours in the apartment napping and sulking, rereading her parents letters and the same five Bengali novels time and again. The dichotomy between public and private sphere is always tormenting to these woman immigrants who have to suffer double dependence. It becomes difficult for them to cope with multiple stresses of the two different cultures. They have to reconstruct their gender identity and locate themselves in the host culture. These immigrants have to construct a sense of community, culture and nation (ality) in a country where they see themselves as different. They have to define both their historical legacies and their present geographic and social realities (Agarwal, Generational Differences in Diasporic Writings 30-31). Ashimas pains and the yearnings for going back to her own country, own land is kept hidden away in some corner of her heart, to herself. She keeps the disappointment to herself (Lahiri, The Namesake 30), not wanting to offend Ashoke or worry her parents, Ashima gradually adjusts herself to the new surroundings and devises a routine for herself where she completely mergers herself in looking after Gogol, her son, who demands her utmost devotion and care. (Mishra, The Identity Crisis- An Immigrant Experience 67). Nostalgia for ones own homeland often problematizes the identity of an immigrant. The tug-of war between the distant past and isolated present is made further cruel by the absence of family/society. The vacuum disorients the immigrants to the extent that they hanker after relocating themselves in this adopted culture. For an Indian to raise children, to lead a happy and secure life, a society is must. Society, community and culture are a shelter as well as a safeguard behind which an individual grows finds his roots. And when that shield is removed, such a person becomes unprotected, uprooted, dislocated. For immigrants like Ashima, maintaining ties to India, and preserving Indian traditions, in America, means a lot (Joshi, The Namesake: Account of a name 95). Once Ashima asks Ashoke, after her delivery, that she feels so lonely:

Im saying hurry up and finish your degree. Im saying I dont want to raise Gogol alone in this country. Its not right, I want to go back (Lahiri, The Namesake 33). Ashimas nature is nostalgic, as a typical immigrant Bengali woman in initial stage she finds it difficult to adjust and adopt herself to the American atmosphere. Her migration disturbs her, but in the course of time she welcomes it as one accepts inevitable (Joshi, The Namesake- Account of a Name 95). Ashokes loneliness and sense of exile becomes apparent from his fondness for Nikolai Gogol. Once he explained Gogol, his son, I feel a special with Gogol more than any writer He spent most of his adult life outside his homeland. Like me (Lahiri, The Namesake 77). Throughout the novel, he keeps a pregnant silence. This one sentence describes his loneliness and nostalgic nature very strikingly. It was his and Ashimas dream that after getting retirement that they would return to India, but Ashoke could not see that dream getting fulfilled. Before his retirement he dies. Ashokes character creates a vulnerable picture of an immigrant who considers his nostalgia as a positive force, to walk ahead and explore the world, to create a place of his own in an alien world (Joshi, The Namesake- Account of a Name 107). It is around Gogol, and around whose name most of the second part of the story revolves. They also have a daughter Sonia, who totally portrays the second generation of immigrant Americans and is least involved in family matters (Mishra, The Identity Crisis- An Immigrant Experience 67). For the second generation Diaspora, Gogol and Sonia, identity and problem are rather different, for they have a sense of pride and affinity to India, but it is America that is perceived as home. In America, they are born and educated. In America they want to be accepted on their own terms. It is here that they face a sense of alienation in the sense of insider outsider (Agarwal, Generational differences in Diasporic writings 32).

The first generation diaspora wants to retain their homeland culture and transfer it to the second generation, it is through the eyes of older generation that the younger generation perceives and learns about homeland culture. Ashoke and Ashima sent Gogol to Bengali classes and culture classes every other Saturday, held in the home of one of their Bengali friends. Though they do face some conflict with this endeavor but the older generation makes certain compromises to maintain inter-generational relation. Ashoke and Ashima learnt to celebrate some of the main festivities of the dominant culture. For the sake of Gogol and Sonia they celebrated with progressively increasing fanfare, the birth of Christ, an event that children look forward to more than the worship of Durga and Saraswati (Lahiri, The Namesake 64). Ashoke and Ashima adjusted with food habits of Gogol and Sonia. It is Bengali food, that Ashima and Ashoke relished and preferred but for Gogol and Sonia, she conceded and made American dinner once a week as a treat Shake and Bake chicken or hamburger helper prepared with ground lamb (Lahiri, The Namesake 65). Ashoke and Ashima gave in many ways but it was only to peripheral values, i.e. food, dress which were negotiable but not the core values such as their cultural and religious traditions. In fact, the first generation maintains a tangible link with the homeland by continuing tradition- an outward manifestation of its cultural tradition (Agarwal, Generational differences in Diasporic writings, 33). The approach of second generation to their state of being in someone elses home is not as emotional as that of first generation. In fact, the title The Namesake reflects the struggle Gogol Ganguli goes through to identify with his unusual name. His struggle for establishing his identity is dual. The name that untimely defines a persons individuality becomes a burden for him. It does not give him an identity but puts him in a dilemma about his original identity. He is traumatized because he takes his Russian name for his identity. His name becomes a tool which speaks of his fragmented identity. Gogol, is given a name which he finds misfit on his personality, somehow disgusting, meaningless and shapeless. In the course of

changing his name he looses his identity. As Gogol grows up in America, he realizes that his identity is an imposed one. He thinks that a Russian name has nothing Indian about it, he finds it very suffocating that the name is neither American, nor Indian, mere irrelevant, ludicrous, lacking dignity, and gravity. When he turns fourteen, this identity crisis becomes apparent (Joshi, Namesake: Account of a Name 91). For by now hes come to hate questions pertaining to his name, hates having constantly to explaining. He hates having to tell people that it doesnt mean anything in Indian. He hates that is name is both absurd and obscure, that it has nothing to do with what he is, that it is neither Indian nor American but of all things Russian. He hates having to live with it, with a pet name turned good name, day after day, second after second (Lahiri, The Namesake 75-76). He feels that his personality is neither rooted in America nor in India. His name becomes a factor that distorts his personality into a confused state and his mind into an ambiguous anonymity. He changes his name from Gogol to Nikhil. Sense of alienation does not cease even after changing the name. Perhaps he is more confused with his dual identity as Gogol for family, and Nikhil for outer world. The new name comes with its dilemma and conflicts; with it he feels nowhere. All his complications and troubles are due to his dual personality, eventually, he tries to erase the former, and becomes detached with his family and home (Joshi, The Namesake: Account of Namesake 93). Gogols affinity has been towards American culture. Ignoring his roots, he indulges in several misbegotten relationships. Cultural divide separates him and his girlfriends. Gogols free life makes him rootless and displaced. As he grows up, Gogol is more in search of a new home rather than spending enough time with his parents and sister at his home. After the demise of Ashoke, Ashima finds the daughter of a Bengali for his son, fulfilling a collective, deep-seated desire on the part of their families. Moushumi, like Gogol, is at odds with the Indian- American world she inhabits. Her secret, illegitimate affair breaks their marital relationship. Gogol becomes totally lost. His

great American dream is shattered. Now he is an ABCD (American born confused deshi in the words of Jhumpa Lahiri) (Nair, Compromise and Confrontation?: Dislocted Self 179). Gogols love life becomes disastrous because he is not confident about the assertion of his identity. His relationship with everybody muddles because he could not get hold of any one fraction of his identity (Joshi, The Namesake: Account of a Name 93). He makes sporadic efforts to unite himself into any relation, but his attempts are doomed. Until the climatic scene at the end, shorn off an emotional connection, Gogol is looking for a meaning in life. In the end he recognizes his roots, starts his spiritual journey to explore life (Joshi, The Namesake: Account of a Name 108). At each step of life and throughout the journey of self-realization, he is reminded of his dangling and sandwiched identity as a misplaced Bengali- American boy.

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