The Interrelationship Between The Overcoat And Gogol

It is a name that can not have its own nickname; it “resists mutation” (Lahiri 76). Gogol’s name causes him to desire what is normal and common in America, nicknames. He believes names are an important aspect when first meeting someone, however, that is not that case. Even Gogol himself realizes that “the only person who tormented him, the only person chronically aware of and afflicted by the embarrassment of his name, the only person who constantly questioned it and wished it were otherwise, was Gogol” (Lahiri 100). Gogol realizing that he was the one bringing conflicts on himself, blocking himself to find his personal self. Gradually, Gogol becomes aware that his name does not determine his identity. For instance, near the end of the novel, Gogol realizes that “without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will, once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist. Yet the thought of this eventual demise provides no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all.” (Lahiri 289). After the death of his father and his mother moving away, Gogol becomes conscious that his birth name will eventually never be uttered or remembered again. Gogol finally realizes after losing his loved ones, it was not his name that shaped his life, but the family and relationships

The reader is convinced that Gogol has had many experiences of his name being said with hesitation and lack of ease that normal American names are pronounced with. Gogol must often compare himself to his peers via how teachers and other authorities handle his unique name. Furthermore, Gogol himself is consumed with doubt in regards to his name, what it means, and how it ties him to his heritage in a way he in unsure how to accept. However pleased Gogol may have been with Mr. Lawson’s approach, everything changes when the class reads “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol. “With growing dread and a feeling of slight nausea, he watches as Mr. Lawson distributes the books...the sight of it [“Gogol”] printed in capital letters on the crinkly page upsets him viscerally” (89). Gogol wants nothing to do with his name at this point, even the book it is printed in is “particularly battered, the corner blunted, the cover spotted as if by a whitish mold,” (89). The confusion Gogol associates with his own name infects him and things around him, just like the “warmth [that] spreads from the back of Gogol’s neck to his cheeks and his ears,” (91). The rest of his classmates, “begin to moan in unison,” (92), and Gogol “feels betrayed,” (91). Gogol takes the class’s negative reaction to the Russian author’s biographical information as a personal assault. It reinforces his rejection to his own name as “each time the name

Change can be painful. This is true especially when it comes to a human’s journey of growing up and forming one’s own identity. In The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, the novel follows the protagonist, Gogol, as he grows up and struggles with balancing his Bengali identity with Western culture. The reader discovers that on his path to developing independence he chooses to push his family away, which ends up having negative effects, but he believes that he is doing the right thing. Therefore, in The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri uses irony to argue that it is human nature to want to separate oneself from one’s family and childhood in order to establish a

The makeup of our everyday lives is influenced immensely by the culture we are a part of. In Bengali culture, a person is usually given two names, a pet name and a proper name. Families who move from Calcutta often struggle to assimilate to American life and maintain their cultural heritage. In the novel, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol’s changing of his name along with his romantic relationships with Ruth and Maxine show his initial rejection of Bengali identity and culture. This essay will give an explanation into the ways in which Gogol rejected his culture, first by changing his name, but also through his close relationships with American girls.

After his divorce, which is a second difficult experience in his life, Gogol spends time with his family, specifically at a party his mother is hosting before she leaves for India, which again influences him to accept his Bengali culture. At this party, Gogol explores his old house and finds the copy of The Overcoat that his father once gave to him, which makes him realize that “without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will, once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist” (Lahiri 433). In college and when he was Maxine, going by Nikhil gives Gogol a newfound perspective in his life, one where being shameful of his name does not really exist. However, after going through both his father’s death and his divorce, Gogol feels upset when thinking about how he changed his name, which “provides no solace at all” (433). With most of his family and Moushumi gone, few people are left to call him Gogol, reminding him who he once was. Gogol’s sadness shows how he has become comfortable with his birth name, which he originally hated. Through his reading of The Overcoat and his reflection on the possible nonexistence of his life as Gogol, Gogol accepts both his name and his culture, which ultimately shows how he becomes comfortable with

In this research, I plan to understand the persona’s voice and their period. Due to both author’s creativeness, I hope to find a few symbolisms and ideals that are still being implemented today. Both stories’ personas try to identify themselves as someone worthy of improvement, in social aspects. However, we might be concern that they might not pursue their known agenda and instead used all wordiness as an excuse for their actions

Names, being a primary method of identity, have always had a bearing on the interactions among individuals. In most societies the choice of a name is a choice laden with thoughtful consideration. Varying ethnic groups more often than not have distinctively identifiable names. There has been a raging debate on whether these ethnic names adversely affect the social and economic prospects of those who bear them. This paper will, through an evaluation of opinions and studies by three different authors, investigate the demerits of having an ethnic name, and also by extension give reasons why the use of ethnic names should be toned down.

While Gogol deals with his origin, and conflicts with his American and Indian cultures. These characters are in the hands of fate and its forgiveness. “The Secret

He first clings to enchanting white women, hoping to adopt their identities so he can escape the perplexity of his own, but the cultural clashes pervade both relationships. While dating Maxine, a wealthy New Yorker, Gogol notes, “She has the gift of accepting her life…he realizes that she never wished she were anyone other than her herself…This, in his opinion, is the biggest difference between them,” highlighting his personal struggle with accepting his heritage (138). Gogol’s glamorous romance with Maxine is juxtaposed to the humiliation he feels for his family to stress his longing to cast-off his Bengali identity. Judith Ceaser observes, “[Gogol and Maxine’s relationship] is a lovely, expensive, comfortable identity, given to him as a love-token…to him it seems a rejection of [his parents] …He hasn’t yet realized that instead of being an identity imposed on him from outside, they are a part of the pattern of key relationships in his life through which he can define himself,” provoking the idea that Gogol’s stubborn naïveté is the source of his unhappiness (Ceasar). When Maxine’s unwillingness to adapt to Bengali culture drives them apart, Gogol searches for a more ordinary love. Moushimi, the daughter of Bengali family friends, should be mundane and comfortable to Gogol, yet their relationship is plagued by complexities. Both view each other as

As identity becomes the core issue, Gogol’s name becomes quite significant. As a child, Gogol is used to the name Gogol so that when his parents ask his good name ‘Nikhil’ to be his official name when he starts schooling, he is reluctant to accept the new name. Lahiri states that “he

The “superfluous men” is a concept in Russian literature meaning characters’ behavior or philosophy of values in the society that go against existing social norms. They alienated from the surrounding environment, struggle to hold their own beliefs, and duel with conflicts of society or within the self. The intent of this paper, therefore, is to analyze three characters who are described in the three stories, which can be termed as “superfluous men,” regarding both psychological and physical dueling.

On one hand, Gogol discusses the seemingly meaningless life and death of a government employee in 19th century Russia as he purchases and loses an overcoat, while on the other Kafka’s protagonist deals with surrealism as he attempts to adapt to his mysteriously transformed body. However, both authors use their protagonists’ personalities and their relationships with the people around them to portray how their economic situations shape their lives. More specifically, both Gogol and Kafka argue that money provides the characters with confidence, power, and masculinity. By examining Akaky’s transformation as he purchases his new overcoat, how Gregor makes decisions as a human, and how both characters treat fictional women, one can see that examining these two stories together allows one to see how the above characteristic traits pervade all aspects of life.

Allusions to Nikolai V. Gogol and his short story "The Overcoat" permeate Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake, beginning with Gogol's being the name the protagonist is called through most of the book. Yet few of the reviewers of the novel mentioned Nikolai Gogol at all in their discussions of the novel, except to describe the protagonist Gogol's loathing of his name, or to quote without comment or explanation Dostoevski's famous line, "We all came out of Gogol's Overcoat." So far, no one has looked beyond the surfaces to examine the significance of the allusions to Gogol that are so much a part of the fabric of Lahiri's novel.

see a short story about a poor man wishing to survive in a cruel world. However,

For Ashima, books are carriers of names and records of past connections with friends and family. Later in the novel, Gogol’s wife Moushumi ends up rekindling an old romance with a man named Dimitri in a blatant act of infidelity, after discovering his name on a resume in her colleague’s office and rediscovering his name scrawled inside a book on her shelf at home. Both the resume and book are fraught with meaning as they bear his name and remind her of their previous connection. Literature is central to Lahiri’s depiction of past connections because reading is a method for validating human experience, while teaching empathy for separate human experiences: reading connects people.