The Namesake Book Vs Movie

Diaspora all around the world face hardships when they first emigrate to their new home countries, but one such difficulty that is significant to their lives is their name. At first, a name appears to be no more than a simple way of identifying oneself. However, names can have great impacts on people’s lives due to their unseen importance and purpose, as shown in both the novel and film, The Namesake. Both adaptations follow the story of an Indian couple after their immigration to the United States, and the difficulties their son faces due to his unique name. The Namesake beautifully portrays the difficulties faced due to the disparities between Bengali and American cultures, namely through its analogies based on love and relationships. Gogol

Being an Indian couple, Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli have a very platonic relationship since physical affection is something that is looked down upon in Indian culture. But despite the lack of such physical gestures, their relationship and the love between them is shown by analogies that compare physical acts to the emotional gesture that they do. During an early part of the novel, when Ashima tries to call out to Ashoke, the novel states “Like a kiss or caress in a Hindi movie, a husband's name is something intimate and therefore unspoken, cleverly patched over” (Lahiri 2). This simple statement expresses the importance and significance of two elements in Bengali culture, physical affection and names specifically. Lahiri beautifully compares the act of kissing and caressing, physical gestures, to the essence of a name. Ashima does not see the word Ashoke as her husband’s name, but rather a word that is close to her heart, and something she dearly cares for. For these reasons, women in Bengali culture refuse to call their husbands out by their name. In comparison, American culture greatly contrasts in both ways. Not only do spouses freely call their loves ones by their name, but different manners of physical affection are a very common occurrences in their everyday lives. This contrast shows what both sides, Indian and American societies, see as important and significant regarding relationships. While Indian culture emphasizes love by driving great importance on a name to the point where it is rarely said, American societies believe physical affection to be a vital part of having a healthy and loving relationship. Even today, Indians in general look down upon physical gestures, while Americans gladly accept it. Ashima and Ashoke’s relationship allows a deeper understanding of Bengali and