Value Of Belonging In Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake

Jhumpa Lahiri is an accomplished American born, Bengali author who wrote many well-known successful short stories. She began to admire books and writing at a young age, but was not privileged enough to have her own collection. As we explore Jhumpa Lahiri's works, "Trading Stories" and the novel "The Namesake" which is now a motion picture, Lahiri's core values are displayed. Her value of belonging is what drives her to be a writer. This value is displayed in “The Namesake” as Gogol strives to locate a sense of belonging. Family is another one of Lahiri’s values. In the movie, the significance of Ashoke’s gift to Gogol represents a strong family bond. Education was another aspect of her core values. Through the film of “The Namesake”, it can be observed that Gogol’s father taught him the value of education. Jhumpa Lahiri’s …show more content…
Jonathan’s Paragraph

In her essay “Trading stories” Jhumpa Lahiri talks about her struggle to find where she belongs. The events in “The Namesake” further support this and make it clear that she values finding where you belong as an important part of life and that this value is reflected in her work. Lahiri’s value of belonging can be seen at the end of her essay “Trading Stories” when she states “I belong to my work, to my characters, and in order to create new ones I leave the old ones behind.” (Jhumpa Lahiri) When Lahiri started writing it was the moment she finally found the place she could feel a sense of belonging. She felt she belonged in her stories with her characters and that was special to her and is what drives her to continue writing. Another way Lahiri’s value of belonging is reflected is in the movie when Gogol’ father Ashoke dies. When this happens Gogol returns home to his family to comfort them and grieve with them. Because of the shared loss they are feeling Gogol is given a sense of belonging then with his family and afterwards he