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ANUM MIRZA
PH.D. RESEARCH SCHOLAR
MIRZA.ANUM123@GMAIL.COM
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
PUNJAB, INDIA.

CONFLICTS OF ASSIMILATION IN JHUMPA LAHIRI’S THE

NAMESAKE

Abstract:

The Namesake, a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri offers a deep insight into the daily life of a
family, who come up to the United States of America but always try to settle, detached from
the American ethnicity and traditions. While going through the novel, one gets a deep insight
into the predicament of immigrants facing multiple repercussions like mental dilemma,
impediments, life oppositions and its disagreements. The aim of this article is the presentation
of selected conflicts of assimilation processes among Indian immigrants that appeared in the
United States of America in the 1960s, as represented in Jhumpa Lahiri’s most practical, work
of fiction The Namesake, with a particular attention on the differences between the first and
second age group migrants. The existence stories of Lahiri’s characters, American Bengalis,
like Gogol, Sonia, Ashima, and Moushumi illustrate several such conflicts of assimilation.

Key words: The Namesake, assimilation, acculturation, nostalgia, immigrant, alienation.

Nilanjana Sudeshna “Jhumpa” Lahiri daughter of Bengali Indian emigrants from the
state of West-Bengal, is a renowned Indian-American author of the English language. While
talking about her origin, she once states “ I wasn’t born here, but I might as well have been”.
In year 2000, Jhumpa received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, for her work ‘Interpreter of

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Maladies’. The New York Times appreciated Lahiri as "a writer of uncommon elegance and
poise”.
Lahiri published The Namesake as her first novel, in the year 2003. This novel deals
with the bitter immigrant experiences of the Gangulis. This famous work sold over 15 million
copies worldwide and became an international bestseller The Namesake was available in
Bengali by Ananda Publishers in Calcutta, India, by the given name Samanami. Different
characteristics, problems and challenges of immigration are discussed and explored in the novel
The Namesake. Through this novel, Lahiri successfully throws light upon the vast cultural gap
between the East and the West, lack of morality in the western world, alienation and many
more. The Namesake is a very well-tuned, close, and intensely felt work of fiction of
individuality. This work of fiction describes the hardships of a Bengali pair who immigrate to
the USA to structure an existence outer of all they are familiar to. “The immigrant experience
is complicated as a sensitive immigrant finds himself or herself perpetually at a transit station
fraught with memories of the original home which are struggling with the realities of the new
world (Dubey,22)”.
People often migrate to finer places, especially towards the West, in search of getting
better job opportunities, for social and economic reasons, educational reasons, and many more.
And, in their process of settlement, they try to assimilate into the mainstream culture, so that
they won’t find themselves being considered as ‘Other’ in the foreign land. Mostly, contrary
to their wishes, not assimilation but acculturation takes its place. The narrative begins as
Ashoke and Ashima depart Calcutta, India and stay in Central Square, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. During the sequence of actions, Gogol becomes the chief character's official
birth name, an occasion that will form numerous aspects of his life in days to come. All the
way through the story, Gogol fights an inner clash to discover himself. He struggles to balance
between American versus Indian civilization and appreciating companionship more than
relatives. Constantly in the work of fiction the writer, Lahiri, uses diverse appeals of quarrel to
show the person who reads that family should always be appreciated and loved, and help the
person who reads attach with the narrative. Sadness forces the reader to connect sensitively
with the tale, particularly of how Gogol's name came about and Ashoke's dreadful mishap.
Readers generally relate different literary works to their author’s biography. Holding
this information in light, let’s have a look about the author’s personal experiences. Jhumpa
Lahiri once while talking about her parent’s immigrant experiences in the U.S.A, said “Each
boat wants to pull them in a separate direction, and my parents are always torn between the
two. They are always hovering literally straddling two worlds” (source).
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Preferably, the works shouldn’t be related to the biography of their writers, is a concept
put forth by Roland Barthes in his essay “Death of the Author” in 1967. This essay opposes the
established trend of society where literary works are analyzed within the biographical and
personal context of the author. Roland Barthes in his essay ‘Death of the Author’ says “ The
author still rules in manuals of literary history, in biographies of writers...; the image of
literature to be found in contemporary culture is tyrannically centered on the author, his person,
his history, his tastes, his passion…..”(P.2: line 25).
The Namesake gave an instant success to Jhumpa Lahiri. The novel reflects, that state
of trance, where immigrants find themselves almost lost, having no identity of their own. The
novel The Namesake takes the Ganguli family unit from their custom-bound life in Calcutta
through their burdened alteration into Americans. On the heels of their set marriage, Ashoke
and Ashima Ganguli stay jointly in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ashoke adapts far less carefully
than his wife, who refuses to accept all American things and continuously sulk for her relations
back in Calcutta, India. Ashoke and Ashima never considered non-Bengalese companions.
When their child, a baby boy is born, the job of naming him betrays the annoyed results of
bringing mature ways to the fresh world. Named for a Russian author by his Indian parents in
recollection of a disaster years ago, Gogol knows only that he undergoes the load of his
inheritance as well as his strange antic name. Lahiri brings great understanding to Gogol as he
staggers along the first-age band path, scattered with conflicting loyalties, and twisted love
relationships. With piercing insight, she exposes not only the crucial power of the names and
hopes bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the resources by which we gradually,
sometimes agonizingly come to describe ourselves.
It is the month of August, 1968, when the story begins. Both Ashoke and Ashima
(Bengali couple) are staying in an apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ashima is making
her favorite Indian snack, when she suddenly starts to go into labor. In the morning, this Bengali
couple welcomed their new son into the world. Because hospitals in America won’t discharge
without assigning a proper name for the new born baby, so couple spent a few days in hospital
waiting for the arrival of letter from granny (who is supposed to give a name to their child), in
India. But, still no reply. Ultimately, Ashoke named his child to be called as ‘Gogol’, in honor
of the famous Russian author Nikolai Gogol.
The elements of conflicted assimilation, can be seen at the very outset of the novel,
where Ashima says to Ashoke “ I’m saying I don’t want to raise Gogol alone in this country.
It’s not right. I want to go back” (Lahiri 2003:33). Ashima while, spending an American life,
was always craving for her homeland. We find multiple conflicts of assimilation in the novel,
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due to the wide gap between Indian and American lifestyle. In the Bengali tradition, a very
warm, homely care, is given to the pregnant ladies, with family members swarming around to
give even more intense protection to them. In contrast to this, Ashima’s pregnancy period was
full of loneliness and pain. Ashima suffers a lot: “Having been deprived of the company of her
own parents upon moving to America, her children’s independence, their need to keep their
distance from her, is something she will never understand” (Macwan 122). In this alien land,
Ashima was bothered about how she is going to raise her son, and says that “a country where
she is related to no one, where she knows so little, and where life seems so tentative and space”
(Lahiri 2003: 6).
In order to keep their tradition alive in the U.S.A, they celebrated Gogol’s annaprasan
(rice ceremony), at which a baby is fed rice for the first time and they never forgot to celebrate
Durga Puja, as well. Alongside, they even started to celebrate Christmas, giving initial signs of
assimilation, but it was done only to keep their children and friends happy, can be called a kind
of forced assimilation. Immigrants in the U.S.A are expected to assimilate into the American
mainstream. In this foreign land, an ethnic group is encouraged to forget its culture, language,
religious practices, all values and norms and many more. So they have to forego one thing for
the sake of another. Holistically, in such a situation a person no longer remains an Indian, and
is never accepted as an American, enters into a state of ‘hybridity’ - mixture of two cultures (a
concept in post-colonial discourse; principal theorist Homi Bhabha).
Like, typical Indian wives Ashima never complained about her loneliness in an alien
land. In her heart, she neither appreciated nor accepted American way of life. In the midst of
the Western culture, Ashima wears saree, puts a bindi on her forehead, cooks Bengali dishes
etc. The process of Assimilation for Ashima, in the foreign land is forced rather than
intentional. Ashima and Ashoke waited for a letter from grandmother in order to assign a name
to the new born baby. At last, when nothing happened, they were forced to follow the country
rules and regulations. Here, we can say that, acts of assimilating foreign culture is not voluntary
all times, and we do find conflicts of assimilation of culture in the host country.
Unlike Ashima, Gogol liked American culture, the most. He picks up American
lifestyle very soon, started dating multiple girls, and even loses his virginity. Gogol has seen
how the natives treat his parents with great contempt and distrust. That’s why he never wishes
to be recognized by an Indian identity; an outsider. Because of his such perspective, he very
easily fell in love with Maxine, which seems like a great catch for him. He hates his name and
was perturbed for his identity, often considered himself an ABCD (American Born Confused
Deshis). Gogol started neglecting his own family, in trying to adopt American standards, more
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and more. When Ashoke was about to leave for his research fellowship in Ohio, Ashima asked
Gogol to visit home, before his father finally leaves for Ohio. Gogol replied in negative, but
later agrees to visit them, on their way up to New Hampshire to visit Maxine’s parents. In spite
of Gogol’s birth in the United States of America, Americans never embraced this identity of
him and often makes annoying comments about his Indian background. When Ashoke died,
Gogol visited Ohio to make arrangements for his father’s cremation. He moves into his father’s
apartment, gone nostalgic, feeling a great sense of guilt for showing no mark of respect towards
him (father), when alive. On his way back to home, he decided to shave his head- a Bengali
ritual performed by Bengali sons at the time of their father’s death. Maxine visited Gangulis,
on the eleventh day of mourning. On meeting Gogol, she complained to him, about spending
much time with his family, and invited him to accompany her, to New Hampshire. From now
onwards, we find multiple elements, showing conflicts of assimilation in Gogol’s character.
He replied to Maxine in negative and says “I don’t want to get away” (Gogol, page 182), thus
denying American perspective of life, where individuality is preferred over family bonding. He
is a changed man now, understanding his responsibilities well towards his family, and dumps
Maxine. Gogol now realizes “identity as a production, which is never complete, always in
process, and always constituted within, not outside representation” (Hall, 10).
Prior to this, knowingly or unknowingly both Gogol and Sonia, challenge their Indian
identity. They prefer American things over Indian like they prefer pizzas, hamburgers, etc. over
Bengali dishes. They show scanty interest in Bengali lifestyle. Gogol sleeps with multiple girls
and does everything that his parents wouldn’t even think of. Gogol, who was a candid and
carefree man in the beginning, suddenly changed and took up the responsibility being an elder
son of the family. He can neither deny his Indian identity, nor can he completely assimilate
into the American standard, thus we find conflict of assimilation in his predicament. Ashima
was never bothered about Gogol’s relation with English girls, but she wishes that Gogol should
marry only to a Bengali girl. Gogol, on his mother’s advice agrees to date Moushumi
Mazoomdar, an Indian- American girl. About these different cultures Said writes:
Culture is a concept that includes a refining and elevating element, each
society’s reservoir of the best that has been known and thought,…. In time
culture comes to be associated, often aggressively, with the nation or the nation
or the state, this differentiates ‘us from them’ almost always with some degree
of identity, and a rather combative one at that….(xii) (Said:1993).
Gogol and Moushumi dressed traditionally during their marriage ceremony. Gogol
wears his father’s Punjabi top; Moushumi wears a red Banarasi gown. Moushumi and her
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former fiancé, decided to marry according to Hindu mythology in New Jersey. These acts of
Moushumi to get married according to her religious beliefs express her great love and respect,
towards her customs and traditions. On visiting India, Graham made dark comments about
Moushumi’s family life in Calcutta. In her fit of rage, she threw his diamond ring; Graham
gave her as a token of love. Thus, she called the wedding off. This incident put forth
Moushumi’s love for her native land and her conflicted assimilation.
The western world is always painted in bright colours and so American Dream shines
in the eyes of every other person. But, despite of this, love for one’s homeland never fades
away. While journeying from Calcutta, Ghosh (Bengali businessman) told Ashoke “Do
yourself a favor. Before it’s too late, without thinking too much about it first, pack a pillow and
a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will never regret it. One day it will be
too late” (page16).
The nervousness between the system in the United States of America and the way things
are in India is obvious in the personality of Mrs. Jones, the elderly desk whom Ashoke shares
with other associates of his division at the institution of higher education. Mrs. Jones lives
unaccompanied and observes her kids and grandchildren infrequently. As the Ganguli kids
mature as Americans, their parents give in no doubt American ethnicity. Intended for his
fourteenth birthday, Gogol has two partying: one that is characteristically American and the
other is Bengali. The subject of the United States of America in opposition to India is obvious
during the marriage between Gogol and Moushumi. Their parents sketch the whole thing,
inviting populace neither of them has met and engaging in customs neither of them knows.
They don't have the kind of close, private marriage their American acquaintances would have
planned. The dissimilarity between American and Bengali approaches to matrimony is lucid in
Ashima's assessment of Gogol's split from his wife Moushumi. In her vision, the stress to
resolve for less than their model of cheerfulness has given means to American common sense.
Astonishingly, Ashima is contented with this ending as opposed to a sad but obedient wedding
for her son.
Bharati Mukherjee’s novel “Wife” published in 1975, is also based on the theme of
alienation and loneliness, one suffers in the foreign land. In this novel, she talks about a
fictional character Dimple Dasgupta married to an engineer named as Amit. They move to the
U.S.A, where she suffers acute loneliness and depression. As a result of which she killed her
yet to born baby, in the womb itself; skipping rope one night. Ultimaltely reaching a stage,
finds unable to handle her pathetic plight any further, she murdered her innocent husband, to
our great surprise.
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Mostly, immigrant experiences are full of harsh and bitter realities as people forgot
moral lessons of holy books, where in the Bible, in the book of Leviticus chapter 19, verses 33
and 34, where the Lord authorited Moses to state publicly to the populace of Israel as follows:
“Do not take advantage of foreigners (immigrants) in your land; do not wrong them. They must
be treated like any other citizen; love them as yourself, for remember that you too were
foreigners (immigrants) in the land of Egypt” (The Living Bible 89). Both Ashima and Ashoke
in order to preserve their Indianess arranged two celebrations for Gogol’s fourteenth birthday:
one was typically American (For Gogol’s school friends) and the other was Indian in nature
(for their Bengali friends). It was during the time of Indian celebration, that Gogol eats his
favorite things “Lamb curry with lots of potatoes, luchis, thick chana dal with swollen brown
raisins, pineapple chutney, sandeshes molded out of saffron tinted ricotta cheese” (Lahiri 2003:
72).
Also, when Gogol was in the third grade “they send him to Bengali language and culture
lessons every other Saturday. In Bengali class, Gogol is taught to read and write his ancestral
alphabet, and together with other children he reads ‘handouts written in English about the
Bengali Renaissance” (Lahiri 2003:66).
The novel can be a record of the harsh experiences of the people who immigrate to the
USA to structure an existence outer of all they are familiar to. The Gangulis moved towards
the West in search of better quality of life, tried to thoroughly assimilate into the new culture,
but even then they couldn’t resist themselves from the warm memories of their homeland,
especially Ashima. Also, the parents desire that their offsprings would preserve their Bengali
inheritance but Gogol and Sonia are unenthusiastic to do so. They are American, is what they
claim all time. While staying at home, the children are respectful but only slightly and never
follow their parents completely. On the other hand, Gogol also failed to deny his Indian identity
and became a changed man towards the end of the novel.

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Works Cited

Dubey, Ashutosh. “Immigrant Experiences in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of

Maladies”. Journal of Indian Writing in English, vol.30, no.2, 2002, pp. 22-26.
Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”. Contemporary Postcolonial Theory: A Reader.
Oxford University Press, 2009.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. Harper Collins, 2003.
Macwan, Hiral. “A Study of Diasporic Sensibility and acculturation in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The
Namesake”. International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities,
vol. II, no.VII, 2014, pp.110-127.
Mukherjee, Bharati. Wife. Hyperion, 1976.
Said, Edward W. “Reflections of an Exile”. Biblio: A Review of Books, Volume IV, Number
11 & 12 ed., Arvind N. Das. Brinda Datta, 1999.
The Living Bible. Tyndale House Publisher, 1976.

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