Demographics of Cultural Hybridization and Ectopic Identity in Jhumpha Lahiri’s Namesake

Abstract

This paper tries to foreground major and unexplored areas in Jhumpha Lahiri’s Namesake (2003) like cultural dilemma, fixed identity, and diasporic consciousness. It is an attempt to visualize the identity, traumas, dilemmas, sufferings and finally assimilation of immigrants. Since Lahiri’s fiction relates to the women immigrants of a new age, it enables to understand their psyche. This paper is of utmost importance as her protagonists present the true picture of the issues concerned with them in routine life such as cultural conflicts, marginalization, family relations, customs, rituals, lack of belonging, transformation, and adaptation.