Gogol Overcoat

It is enervating message for him to continue in the footsteps of his father and his “Namesake”. The party progresses Overcoat’. Which runs like a leitmotif throughout the novel, However, the episode of the corpse of the protagonist in “The Overcoat” does not fit suitably in the case of Lahiri’s Gogol in search of his identity in between his Bengali past and American present.
The novel, however, ends in Gogol’s coping with his pangs to live a new life in. The dynamics of relationships continue to puzzle Lahiri as the characters in their multiplicity of relationships, be it from the west or the east, remain universally the same. However, culture remains central concerns in the daunting novel as she interprets various maladies that Gogol suffered and the way he seeks remedial measures.
Gogol is caught between two opposite forces, of alienation and integration. The feeling of alienation in him is due to his strong desire to merge with the life of the adopted land, and his inability to do so for his cultural past, because of his family’s clinging to their tradition and custom. He turns into a rebel due to clash between generations over their attitudes, approaches to the way of life and outlook of the host country. This creates a sordid conflict between him and his parents and aggravates, here we see the views of Bhabha from his book

The ‘tension of difference, the difference of the historical and geographical past and parent.’13-21

So one- day after obtaining necessary permission from the family Court he changes his name to Nikhil, without his parents’ knowledge. And since then he feels emancipated, feels a drastic coming over to him.
The intergeneration friction is more pronounced in the novel in their respect...

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...own unless they are remembered, until they are brought back into waking life and understood by the individual as memories, separated from the present. “Thus they lead one to cultural travel, to reminisce the culture of origin, the displaced space and time. They help soothe the pains of loneliness, thereby giving succor to survive in an alien land. Secondly, to survive in the foreign land the expatriates create an ambience there by establishing their own ghetto, celebrating their festivals, dining together or holding community feasts, sharing cultural markers, frequenting to the house of their colour and little socializing with the dominant group. Thus they create an ‘alternative world’ in their present world. These expatriates ignore the subtle desire to merge among the majority, oppose the willingness of their children to a just to and accept the dominate culture.