The Namesake Perspective

          The Namesake is written by Jhumpa Lahiri and is set in 1968. An Indian family consisting of a husband and wife, Ashoke Ganguli and Ashima Ganguli, are soon going to have a child and are struggling through pregnancy and labor. The interesting writing style caught my eye when I noticed that Lahiri wrote the entire first two chapters (and most likely the whole novel) in third person. Ashoke, Ashima and even their baby, Gogol, are refered to by their names from an outside perspective of the situation. This point of view doesn’t allow the reader to become emotionally attached to anyone of the characters as easily as a first person perspective would.

          On the other hand, Lahiri writes in a way that allows the reader to understand the strife and emotions of the main characters while still seeing them and reading them in the third person point of view. The way Lahiri shows me the conscience and emotions of Ashoke and Ashima, yet still allows me to watch the events in the novel unfold with no character’s bias, blows my mind. I can’t even describe how the writing gives me a feeling that I’m watching the novel as an invisible spectator, but still gives me a feeling that I can feel and think along with the characters. Lahiri’s writing has given me a mixture of third and first person perspective seemlessly.