Diasporic Identity and Cultural Alienation in Jhumpa Lahiri’s the Namesake

Abstract

This paper looks into the predicament of identity and belongingness of the characters of the Indian origin and immigrants in the U.S.A in The Namesake, the novel written by Jhumpa Lahiri. The Namesake discusses about the life of first and second generation immigrants and their cultural disaster. Ashima Ganguly, who find herself bewildered in between the native culture and host culture. This lack of certainty diverted the culture of next generation and gave a cultural break. The fact that Jhumpa Lahiri is the child of Indian immigrants when she migrates from England to America makes her both a migrant and Diaspora writer. She has written on the Indian Diaspora and narrated stories that reveal the inconsistency of the concept of identity and cultural difference in the space of Diaspora in her works.