Exploring Performativity in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake: A Study of Ashima's Metamorphosed Mannerism

The literary world is intrigued by the portrayal of women in diasporic novels because of its content and contemporary context. Women novelists are depicting women in a plethora of ways. Recent years have seen a significant shift in how women are portrayed in literature. Some of the many essential elements cited by numerous women writers include the portrayal of women either as an individual against the suppression and oppression of the patriarchy or is subtly represented as a transformation from traditional gender performances. However, the role of culture in shaping gender identity cannot be denied because it plays a vital role in shaping the gender construct of any society. Most of the accomplished female writers have paved the way for a significant shift in how women and gender themes are portrayed in literature. This paper attempts to study the transformation of Ashima's notion of gender identity and performance in light of Judith Butler's theory of Performativity.The purportedly simple transformation of Ashima in The Namesake from Indian culture to the new one is challenging but simultaneously opens up for her new horizons of metamorphosed identity. Butler's theories of Gender Performativity emphasize that our gender identities are performed or played out by and for the inhabited society. Performativity can be defined as gender performances by bodies performing in certain ways that are exhibited by clothing, mannerisms, speech, and language, that have been uniquely male or female. The aim of the present study is to investigate Ashima's transformed mannerism as a part of her metamorphosed gender identity.