A Literary Analysis Of The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

“The Namesake” Literary Analysis Erik Erikson once stated, “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” This quote is very strong because it is very true. An individual can’t live life to the fullest if they don’t truly know who they are and self-identity is extremely important. In “The Namesake,” Jhumpa Lahiri develops the theme of acceptance of identity through Gogol’s thoughts, the setting of the story, and through the plot of the story. Self-identity is so important because it adds to an individual’s self-confidence if they are able to find themselves and Lahiri develops the theme of self-identity very well in his story. Jhumpa Lahiri develops the theme of acceptance of identity …show more content…
First and foremost, the story begins in the school that Gogol attends in Massachusetts. The story explains how people who don’t know Gogol personally or who have not known him for a long period of time have a hard time adapting to the peculiarity of his name. The story goes on to explain how substitute teachers are startled when they reach Gogol’s name on roll call for class rosters. Gogol has to adapt as well as other students and teachers. Gogol just accepts the fact that his name is strange in American culture, but kids in his class no longer tease him for his name. Adding to that, Gogol’s class takes a field- trip to many historical places in the Northeastern United States based upon a story that his class has just finished reading. This is when he first starts to realize how different his name truly is and the strangeness is becoming apparent. Gogol’s sixth grade class then rounds up their field-trip at the graveyard where the author of the story had been buried. The class is looking around and they are spotting common American last names such as Smith, Collins, and Wood. Gogol realizes that his name isn’t common in American society. He finds a name in the graveyard that is very peculiar and similar to his name. In addition to the first two examples, one of the chaperones on the field-trip approaches Gogol on the bus ride back to school and talks about some of his findings on the field-trip. One of the key lessons that Gogol takes out of the trip is that names don’t matter and that like people, they perish over time. The chaperone explains to Gogol that the names that he discovered were some unusual findings kind of like his name wasn’t considered normal in America. Gogol holds on to his drawings because he is intrigued about how names can be different from all over the world. The plot of the story really helps teach lessons about staying true to whom an individual

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A Literary Analysis Of The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

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