Intercultural Communication in Fiction: Hofstede’s Dimensions and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

Abstract

Geert Hofstede’s Cultures and Organisations: Software of the Mind is a book on intercultural communication in a business context. This paper uses Hofstede’s theory and tries to apply it to Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake. This study applies the Individualism and Collectivism, Power Distance, Long- and Short-Term Orientation, and Indulgence Versus Restraint dimensions to passages of the novel. The study concludes that the first-generation immigrants of the novel keep strong ties with the culture of their motherland, India, and that the second-generation immigrants better adapted to the host country. Though also the second- generation immigrant’s linkage to India was noticeable, proving their multicultural identity.