Analysis Of Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake'

Register to read the introduction… Gogol refuses to return to Massachusetts because he doesn’t want to be in a city that his parents know; he’d rather be in a city where he can be fully independent and where his parents are complete strangers -- a good tactic to keep his parents away. Soon after, Lahiri says, “[Gogol] prefers New York, a place which his parents do not know well, whose beauty they are blind to” (126). This further proves that he prefers the safeness of a city foreign to his parents. Finally, around the middle of the novel, while filling in her address book, Ashima is reminded of the number of homes and apartments her children have inhabited, and compares the number of homes she’s lived in, “In her own life Ashima has lived in only five houses: her parents’ flat in Calcutta, her in-laws’ house for one month, the house they rented in Cambridge, living below the Montgomerys, the faculty apartment on campus, and, lastly, the one they own now. One hand, five homes. A lifetime in a fist” (167). The contrast of the profusion of homes between Ashima and her children is significant; Ashima has only lived in five houses her entire life, while Gogol is in his late twenties and has already lived in more than five …show more content…
These insights allow both Gogol and Ashima to reach the end of their evolution in their views of home; Gogol into loyalty to his family, and Ashima into independency. Ashima’s overall evolution is symbolic of the development of her independence. It’s the day before Christmas and Ashima is preparing for the celebrations to come. Lahiri informs the reader of Ashima’s new plans, “Ashima has decided to spend six months of her life in India, six months in the state” (275). These changes of plans are important because instead of doing what the reader would assume she’d do – move back to India for the rest of her life, Ashima takes an unexpected route and chooses to spend a good amount of time in America. After living as a widow for a while, Ashima has finally developed into an independent woman who doesn’t have to rely solely on her children’s help. This development is caused by her husband’s death because it pushed her to She is no longer the foreign Bengali woman confused in the sea of Americans, and she is no longer strictly traditional as seen when Lahiri states, “The prospect no longer terrifies her. She has learned to do things on her own, and though she still wears saris, still puts her long hair in a bun, she is not the same Ashima who had once lived in Calcutta” (276). Ashima has advanced into being able to do things on her own, and even though some traditional Indian culture is still integrated into her daily lifestyle, she is now capable of independence and has become slightly Americanized, despite her original refusals. A little later, Gogol has now arrived to his hometown