Psychosocial Crises in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

ABSTRACT

Literature expresses human’s life. It is written not only for enjoyment but also social reflection because it really reflects events which happen in the real life which is written based on human’s mind and imagination. In this case, the researcher takes one of the works of literature, it is The Namesake written by one of immigrants, she is Jhumpa Lahiri. The Namesake is a story about the life of immigrants who live in USA, they experience all mental up and down, psychology mainly. The Namesake presents the identity of psychosocial crises of the main character. The story shows the main character’s feeling of crises because of his strange name.

This research has three statements of problem, they are (1) What kinds of psychosocial crises does Gogol undergo dealing with his strange name in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake? (2) What are the maladaptations and malignancies of those psychosocial crises on Gogol dealing with his strange name in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake? (3) What are the psychosocial virtues of those psychosocial crises on Gogol dealing with his strange name in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake? In this research, the researcher analyzes the The Namesake novel to achieve the objectives of the study.

For achieving those objectives of study, this study is categorized as literary criticism since this study is emphasized on the analysis of a literary work, including description, analysis, and interpretation of a literary work, namely the novel of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. This primary data of this study are collected from Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. The researcher applies a psychological approach especially Erik Erikson’s theory which are talking about the psychosocial crises of Gogol based on his strange name.

From this research, three findings can be stated as the answer of the statements of problem. The first is the kinds of Gogol’s psychosocial crises; they are identity versus identity confusion and intimacy versus isolation. The second is the maladaptations and malignancies of Gogol’s psychosocial crises dealing with his strange name, the first maladaptations and malignancies is when Gogol experiences identity confusion, he got malignancy which Erikson called by repudiation. When his name changes, he become braver, loss of control, he breaks the rules of his parents governed and separated himself with his family. In short, changing name makes Gogol became a bad boy, the disobedient child, and his life become more glamour such American people in common. Another maladaptations and malignancies is when Gogol successfully got his intimacy after he changed his name. In this stage, Gogol gets maladaptive which Erikson called by promiscuity. The third finding is related to the psychosocial virtues, Erikson said that if one successfully negotiates this stage, one will get the virtue or psychosocial strength in the rest of one life which Erikson calls love. Gogol successfully got his love through go steady in several times until he got marriage, although his marriage was arranged by his mother. Actually, love here doesn’t mean love just in the good marriage, but love between friends, family, neighbors, and co-worker.