Cultural Delineation and Identity Crisis in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

Cultural alienation and deracination experienced by the immigrant diaspora has always been a constant source of contemplation, of people who get torn between two lands, cultures and languages. The paper uses the lens of Jhumpa Lahiri‟s „The Namesake‟, a modernist novel that strives to build an emotional cross connect with the above mentioned ideas through the story of two generations of a Bengali family settled in America. The paper lapses critically by analysing the novel especially in context of the cultural alienation and identity crisis faced by the protagonist. It seeks to map the cultural miasma and second generation moral conflicts in an ever evolving cultural space. The paper also analyses the usage of food as a narrative trope to enhance the cultural dichotomy. The paper also seeks to view and analyse the autobiographical baritones of the novel. The paper discusses in general the cultural dillusionment and in specific, the identity crisis of second generation immigrants.