Citizen Without States:A Cosmopolitanism Study On The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri is a well renowned contemporary Indian American writer. She has published three novels among which the first one Interpreter of Maladies and the third one Unaccustomed Earth are short story collection while the second one The Namesake is her first full-length novel. The Namesake has been translated into more than twenty languages and has been distributed across the world. The identity crisis during post-colonial age has drawn widespread attention of the literary field. The novel has been adapted into a film.The Namesake is a story about an Indian couple and their children, especially their son, Gogol. The novel is concerned with the cultural conflicts, identity crisis and emotional struggle of the first generation immigrants and their children. The first generation immigrants goes through the struggling period, resisting the assimilation of American culture period and admitting American culture and redefining their identity period. They start their new life in this new continent. Their immigrant experience is a reflection of the lost and struggle experienced by contemporary immigrants.The thesis has five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction which focuses on the life experience and literary achievements of Jhumpa Lahiri. The second chapter is the theoretical frame of the thesis. It has discussed the historical development, definition, methodology and significance of post-colonialism. It has mentioned cosmopolitanism as a branch of post-colonialism. The third and fourth chapter are the core of the thesis. Chapter three is a discussion on how Gogol tries to break away from Indian culture from the perspective of family and culture. In Chapter four, through three major romantic relationships, Gogol realizes that he cannot get rid of Indian culture as he is influenced by both Indian and American culture. The first generation and second generation immigrants are adapting themselves to the cosmopolitan life. Chapter five sums up all the points discussed above and draws the conclusion that the second generation immigrants are becoming cosmopolitans or citizens of the world without any fixed nationality.