Schematizing a missing void: Analysing “loss” in The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Name of Author : Abhilash Kaushik

Abstract: of the state of loneliness. Jhumpa Lahiri and Kiran Desai are two towering colossus in the field of Indian English writing who have blatantly depicted the idea of longing for the identity of an individuals through their fictions. Talking about their fiction, none better can describe the pain of the loss of home than the two respective magnum opus The Inheritance of Loss and The Namesake. These two novels are the vivid pen-pictures of the utter sense of the awareness of one?s belongingness. The characters of the novels are always seen to be struggling with their very identity and all the chaotic situations seem to stem out from the schematic thought of “home.” This paper is an attempt in order to portray the very sense of belongingness of an individual. It also critically investigates the idea of shattered-identity of an individual experiencing cultural clash. The hypothesis that the paper argues is that there is always an unfulfilled „void? once a person leaves his own place.

Keywords : culture, diaspora, home, identity, individual

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