Construction Of The Third Space In Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake

Published in 2003,The Namesake is Jhumpa Lahiri's debut novel.In it,Lahiri presents the different plights of the first and the second generation of immigrants in the context of East-West cultural conflict,through which she conveys the importance of building an inclusive Third Space where cultures are hybrid.The Third Space is one of the important concepts in Homi K.Bhabha's post-colonial theory.In The Location of Culture,in consideration of the contradiction between the colonial and the colonized cultures,Bhabha puts forward a series of postcolonial concepts including cultural translation,mimicry,hybridity and the Third Space.With reference to Homi K.Bhabha's postcolonial theory,this thesis analyzes the process of constructing the Third Space under cultural conflict in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.The construction of the Third Space is in fact the process of negotiation between Eastern and Western cultures from cultural conflict to cultural communication and cultural hybridity.Because of the great cultural differences between the East and the West,the first generation of immigrants resist American culture when they first come to America.However,the second generation of immigrants,who grow up in American environment,embrace American culture and reject Indian culture.The single cultural identity and the cultural opposition place Indian immigrants and Indian culture in a marginal position.Cultural differences and conflicts accordingly make cultural translation necessary.In order to get rid of their marginalization,Indian immigrants gradually rethink and relocate their cultural position.They begin to accept their hybrid identity and become the translators between Eastern and Western cultures.Because of their changed attitude,the cultural border between the East and the West blurs and cultural integration is achieved.Indian immigrants try to perform Western culture,but they always mix it with Indian characteristics,which breaks the purity of Western culture and destroys its authority from inside.At the same time,due to the intervention of Western elements,Indian customs cannot be performed in their original way.As a result,Eastern culture and Western culture coexist in the form of hybridity.In this way,the Third Space is constructed.