A Literary Review of the films “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri and “Brick Lane” by Monica Ali

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The Modern Diaspora:
A Literary Review of the films “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri and “Brick Lane” by Monica Ali
In the 21st century, migration is very evident, and this can either be forced or voluntary. Given that there is newness in their identities as they travel away from their place of origin, several struggles would come to play that will either make or break these people. Cultural translation is an effect of being within the bounds of newness (Bhabha, 109). In the context of the required films, as well as the required readings, the author of this paper aims to illustrate a central reconciled thematic symbolism that these four literary works try to present. Also, the author of this paper seeks to enumerate specific issues that migrants in today’s time would tend to experience, based on the literary works required.
The literary works provided have presented the main idea that migration experiences identity crisis and struggles. Carrying with them through their journey into the new world is their cultural identities, which they perceived to be unacceptable to the society that they will soon thrive in. The hybridization of identities seems to be evident in these migrants, losing the authenticity of their real nature. Them being, in between, calls for a shift in their identities as they seek to renew their pasts and to seek interventions to their statuses of being in between (Bhabha 109). Gogol from the film The Namesake (Lahiri) proves that forgery of identity may be possible for migrants in such a way that he has changed his name into Nikhil, which for him is more acceptable than the original one. Also, Moushumi was reluctant to bring her cultural identity into life, allowing her to reinvent herself by adopting the culture of a country where she does not have any cultural relations. The couple perfectly exemplifies how one immigrant tends to reinvent themselves in the hopes of being able to be acceptable to the society that they currently live in, and this is done by denying the past with a continuous alteration of their real identities (Kral 70-71). These alterations and revisions to what is existing allow them to be more confident with themselves, but this sense of heightened self-esteem shows to be of short-term effect only. In the film, Brick Lane (Ali) proves the same argument as well; however, with a different way of representation. Nazneen has migrated to London because of an arranged marriage. This makes the migra...