Human Existence, Migration Has Been

¶ … human existence, migration has been a fact of life. The reasons for leaving one's location are many. In ancient times, the most immediate cause for migration was sustenance and weather conditions. As humanity developed, the reasons for moving and going as far emigrating have also become increasingly. Today, emigration is mainly the result of social, intellectual, or other types of hardship, in addition to survival issues such as poverty or food shortages. Generally, the aim of the emigrant is to find a better life or at least better living conditions for his or her family. In other cases, those who emigrate might have specific professional ambitions that can only be realized in the target country. In either case, the aim is towards improving life by leaving the home country.

The theme of immigration is central to Jhumpa Lahiri's story, "The Namesake," which has been used as the basis for a Sooni Taraporevala movie of the same name. Both the film and the story address the problems and challenges faced by those who make the decision to emigrate. To illustrate these, the central characters in the film are an Indian family headed by Gogol (or Nikhil), who came to the United States to study as a young man. He meets and falls in love with a Bengali girl, Ashima, and moves with her to New York, where they expand their family with two children.

The move depicts many obstacles that the family face as they attempt to adjust to their life in the United States, and secondarily to their life as a family. Being immigrants, Gogol and his wife face both the challenge of becoming American as well as being a family. Children also compound the responsibilities and challenges that add to the stress of these adjustments. Indeed, in the film there are numerous misunderstandings between the two sides in the family constituted by the parental couple and the children. The children experience the normal difficulties of growing up, which necessarily entails conflict with their parents. However, they also face the challenge of being labeled as foreigners in their country of birth, being second-generation immigrants.

The specific example of Gogol/Nikhil's family can be applied to many families and individuals who are immigrants in the United States. They face similar challenges and difficulties in their lives; both on a personal and a social level. On a social level specifically, the challenge is to adjust to a culture that is completely different from one's own. For Gogol's family, this becomes even more challenging when they have children. The children regard themselves as Americans, although their social circle does not necessarily see them the same way. In addition, the parents have their own personal issues in terms of the dichotomy between their original and their new cultures. One of the reasons for Ashima's immigration is for example the fact that she wants to escape her traditionally imposed fate to become a "good Bengali wife." In her view, marrying Gogol is precisely what seals this fate for her. When she realizes this, she promptly leaves him.

As an immigrant myself, I can easily identify with these struggles and issues of identity. Being very far from my own country and traditions, I feel lonely and strange among people who are completely different from me. Their behavior and language appear as foreign to me as mine does to them. It is an interesting and painful experience. I can therefore relate to Gogol's reasons for changing his name, although I was also angry at him for doing this.

The name change in the film is a very significant theme in terms of identity and social acceptance. As Gogol, the main character experiences a conflict between the traditions represented by his parents and those he adopts by living in the United States. In his social circle, he finds his name being ridiculed and he needs to explain repeatedly to others what the name means. He does not feel as foreign as the name depicts him to be. Hence the decision to change his name to Nikhil. By doing this, he metaphorically embraces change while abandoning the traditions of his parents. In fact, he embraces his new identity by referring to himself by a name that those in his social settings can more easily understand. In this way, he acclimatizes to the foreign environment, rather than maintaining the identity that he was born and raised with.

In my view, Gogol's first name change was a sign of a central weakness and uncertainty within his personality. He was not strong enough to maintain pride in his heritage. Changing his name was the final and strongest manifestation of this central weakness. He wanted to abandon his Indian identity and with it his very heritage. One might go as far as saying that he did not have enough confidence to live as Gogol.