Comparative Analysis: The Namesake & Perfume
Analysis of Perfume by Patrick Suskind and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Both texts are post-modern writings that either directly or indirectly focus on the identity of its central characters in the first two chapters. Lahiri being a diasporic writer reflects her diaspora in her work through her characters key features or conflicts. Süskind bases his story in the Victorian era; it is however, influenced heavily by the industrial revolution as well, along with remnants in both, of the authors’ personal experiences.
Both stories begin with characters that form the essential core of the novels. Ashima from ‘The Namesake’ is portrayed as symbolic of India(Allegory), serving essentially as a token of India, taken back by her husband Ashoke with him to America. This change in culture and habitat thus causes Ashima to reform her character and her identity to fit into this new land. Hence, this serves as sort of a …show more content…
When Ashima is at the hospital, Ashoke says, “I’ll be back” in Bengali, a language only they understand, and shuts the curtain. This curtain can be seen as the metaphorical barrier between the Gangulis and the other Americans in the hospital, it could also be interpreted as the distance Ashima must maintain between her and Ashoke, to not be too intimate and be a good “Bengali wife”, again an archaic chain of culture tying them down from becoming western in nature. On the other hand, in “Perfume”, Grenouille’s lack of any odor or smell sets him apart from the rest, almost alienating him and causing others to fear him, as exclaimed by the wet nurse in the second paragraph “He’s possessed by the devil.” This evidence is used later to explain his incessant killing spree and hunt for identity, or in other words his
Analysis of Perfume by Patrick Suskind and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Both texts are post-modern writings that either directly or indirectly focus on the identity of its central characters in the first two chapters. Lahiri being a diasporic writer reflects her diaspora in her work through her characters key features or conflicts. Süskind bases his story in the Victorian era; it is however, influenced heavily by the industrial revolution as well, along with remnants in both, of the authors’ personal experiences.
Both stories begin with characters that form the essential core of the novels. Ashima from ‘The Namesake’ is portrayed as symbolic of India(Allegory), serving essentially as a token of India, taken back by her husband Ashoke with him to America. This change in culture and habitat thus causes Ashima to reform her character and her identity to fit into this new land. Hence, this serves as sort of a …show more content…
When Ashima is at the hospital, Ashoke says, “I’ll be back” in Bengali, a language only they understand, and shuts the curtain. This curtain can be seen as the metaphorical barrier between the Gangulis and the other Americans in the hospital, it could also be interpreted as the distance Ashima must maintain between her and Ashoke, to not be too intimate and be a good “Bengali wife”, again an archaic chain of culture tying them down from becoming western in nature. On the other hand, in “Perfume”, Grenouille’s lack of any odor or smell sets him apart from the rest, almost alienating him and causing others to fear him, as exclaimed by the wet nurse in the second paragraph “He’s possessed by the devil.” This evidence is used later to explain his incessant killing spree and hunt for identity, or in other words his