The Namesake Human Condition

Great works of literature often teach readers about the human condition, or the nature of humans and how they live their lives. Characters are like real people dealing with real and relatable situations. Literature describes how these characters handle these situations and the emotions they have towards them. Essentially, the human condition in literature is a reflection of how we live our lives. In The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the characters are faced with the challenge of feeling alienated or alone in the world. Through this, the reader can learn how humans deal with a situation where they do not feel as if they fit in. In the beginning of the novel, Ashima voices her concerns about raising a child in a foreign country. She feels isolated from her family, especially since they can not be there to see her give birth to her first child. The novel states, “it was happening so far from home, unmonitored and unobserved by those she loved, had made it more miraculous still. But she is terrified to raise a child in a country where she is related to no one, where she knows so little, where life seems so tentative and spare,” (Lahiri 6). Ashima’s feelings reflect any person new to a country where they know very little, and her concerns

For the characters in the story, they struggle to feel part of American culture. Ashima worries about how her child will grow up in a foreign land with a mother who barely knows anything about it. For Gogol, he has grown up with the culture, but due to his heritage, he is not completely seen as an American. These struggles the characters face perfectly reflect how other humans like them have to deal with these situations. By detailing their struggles in a work of literature, the reader can better understand the emotions and hardships people with the same conditions must