An Exposition of Immigrant Struggles in The Namesake

The Namesake, written by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a novel about an Indian family who have just moved to the United States. The novel shows two generations of the Gangulis and their struggles with the move. In the first generations, there's Ashoke and Ashima who were both born in India. They deal with excretion from the move since they are new to the country.The second generation is Gogol and Sonia who are Ashoke and Ashima’s kids. Although born in the United States, they also go through some exertion. However, Gogol’s character struggles the most throughout the novel, not intellectually, but socially and emotionally. He never ends up making peace with his identity and goes through many hardships, leading him to mature too fast.

Gogol, although born in America has always been confused with his identity. Whether its not knowing which culture to follow, to what his name is, he fails to realize. He starts of with the name Gogol, which is his pet name. When he starts school, his parents try to make him change his name to Nikhil, however he refuses to. “He is afraid to be Nikhil, someone he doesn't know. Who doesn't know him […] It's a part of growing up, they tell him, of being a Bengali.” (Lahiri 19). When he does start school, the uniqueness of his name causes him to be embarrassed and he stops liking his name, not knowing the significance of it. So, when he starts college, he legally changed his name to Nikhil. This shows maturation and it shows how its an attempt to find his new self in college. He starts to think that changing his name is like becoming another person. So, as his life goes on, its like hes a different person in different situations. In college, when he’s with Ruth,after college, with Maxine, with Moushimi, and with his family, he’s dissimilar with each. His constant name changing causes him to have an identity struggle. But, his name isn't the only thing he struggles with. Choosing his culture is also something Gogol has to deal with. His parents at home try to push his Bengali culture on him, however, Gogol is definitely more Americanized from the beginning. He struggles incessantly to find his identity, while also trying to mold to his family expectations and the expectations of American society. He is in a constant fight trying to stay loyal to both worlds.