Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli moved to a small town in America shortly after they became husband and wife. Not only was the move a culture shock to Ashima but the idea of assimilating into the American culture was about as foreign as she was. Throughout her novel Lahiri paints the picture of what it was like for a Bengali foreigner to try and hold onto their culture in America. Along with trying to raise a Bengali family surrounded by ever pressing American influence. In the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the author explores the theme seed of cultural dissonance by showcasing how each member of the Ganguli family struggles to find balance between the conflicting cultures of America and India.
Cultural Dissonance is when someone experiences an uncomfortable feeling of confusion and conflict in the middle of changing or trying to change their cultural environment. Throughout the novel the idea of cultural dissonance is greatly explored by the author. As almost perfectly explained by Heller McAlpin in her article Exiled by Choice, shaped by chance; The Namesake: A Novel, Jhumpa Lahiri: “Lahiri's novel covers the major passages and rites in Bengali life and tracks the slow but steady incursion of American customs. Ashima and Ashoke travel from a marriage arranged by their parents in Calcutta to an antiseptic, lonely American hospital birth 8,000 miles away. Gogol's annaprasan, or rice ceremony, in which he is fed his first solid food by Bengali friends stepping in as uncles, is followed by Christmas trees, college and graduate school, several love affairs, jobs, family deaths …show more content…
Towards the end of the novel both characters began to overcome cultural dissonance that plagued them at the start of the novel through their experiences in both India and America
Cultural Dissonance is when someone experiences an uncomfortable feeling of confusion and conflict in the middle of changing or trying to change their cultural environment. Throughout the novel the idea of cultural dissonance is greatly explored by the author. As almost perfectly explained by Heller McAlpin in her article Exiled by Choice, shaped by chance; The Namesake: A Novel, Jhumpa Lahiri: “Lahiri's novel covers the major passages and rites in Bengali life and tracks the slow but steady incursion of American customs. Ashima and Ashoke travel from a marriage arranged by their parents in Calcutta to an antiseptic, lonely American hospital birth 8,000 miles away. Gogol's annaprasan, or rice ceremony, in which he is fed his first solid food by Bengali friends stepping in as uncles, is followed by Christmas trees, college and graduate school, several love affairs, jobs, family deaths …show more content…
Towards the end of the novel both characters began to overcome cultural dissonance that plagued them at the start of the novel through their experiences in both India and America