The Namesake

I loved The Namesake. This is my second time reading it, but every word felt new and undiscovered. The book cover boils down the book's themes to: "the immigrant experience, the cash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations." I think the concept that unites these themes is liminality. Throughout the book, the this feeling of in-betweenness is manifest, both spatially and identity-wise (and obviously those are linked). I found some examples. The family upon returning from a trip to India: "Though the are home they are disconcerted by the space, by the uncompromising silence that surrounds them. They still feel somehow in transit, still discunnected from their lives, bound up in an alterate schedule, an intimacy only the four of them share" (87). The literal transition of space and travel leads to a liminal identity as well. This out-of-place-ness characterizes Gogol's experience as an Other and as an adolescent. "At times he feels as if he's cast himself in a play, acting the part of twins, indistinguishable to the naked eye yet fundamentally different." (105). This isn't exactly an example of liminality but I love this quote, finding it similar to DuBois's double consciousness. Additionally, I saw Mira Nair's film adaption of the book. It is different from Lahiri's text, focusing more on Ashima than Gogol, which is an interesting perspective as well. Happy reading guys!