• Summi Jan

Jhumpa Lahiri, originally known as Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri, is an English-born American novelist and a short-story writer. She is a versatile and influential author, occupying a prominent place in the list of contemporary diasporic writers. Her works include Interpreter of Maladies (1999), The Namesake (2003), Unaccustomed Earth (2008), and The Lowland (2013). The Namesake, Lahiri’s first novel, is an immigration tale delineating the diasporic experiences and cultural dilemma of the first- and second-generation migrants in a foreign land. The novel explores the intricacies of diaspora and migration through cultural dislocation, lack of belonging, feelings of displacement, existential turmoil, and nostalgia experienced by Indian immigrants in America. Although the novel figures both male and female migrants, the paper attempts to delve into the women’s experience of migration through Ashima Ganguly, a first-generation woman immigrant. It attempts to examine the problems faced by women immigrants in the host country. The paper tries to explore how, apart from being subject to hardships of migration, women migrants suffer because of their subordinate positions in their respective families. The experience of migration proves to be more challenging for women because, apart from facing difficulties in integrating into the multicultural society of the adopted country, they suffer because of their additional responsibilities. Despite having exposure to the liberal culture of the host country, the principal woman migrant in the novel under study sticks to her assigned gender role. Like a traditional Indian woman, her life revolves around her husband and children, and she sacrifices it for the sake of her family. The broader theoretical study for the study is provided by diaspora studies.

diaspora, women, alienation, gender, oppression

"The Immigrant Woman in Jhumpa Lahiri`s The Namesake: A Critical Study", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no.299-303, January-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901I39.pdf

"The Immigrant Woman in Jhumpa Lahiri`s The Namesake: A Critical Study", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no. pp299-303, January-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901I39.pdf