The Namesake: Gogol's Reveals His Views

Eventually what she felt inside caused her to betray Gogol and his trust by having an affair with a man named Dmitri, whom she met years ago. The strong urge to revolt against what she was told diminished her relationship with Gogol. For instance Lahiri says, “This is what upsets her most to admit: that the affair causes her to feel strangely at peace. The complication of it calming her”(Lahiri 266). The fact that Nikhil was also Bengali intimidated her. She need a way to feel like she wasn’t listening to what her parents were telling her to do. Dmitri, unfortunately for their marriage, became the solution for her.

For starters, Ashoke and Gogol were different because they didn’t really have the same culture even though both of them are Indian. Ashoke was born and raised in India, unlike Gogol who was born and raised in America. Ashoke felt as if he was living in a foreign land because even though he had lived in America for many years, it was not a part of his culture. When they move back to Calcutta for eight months Ashoke felt alive and he felt like he could enjoy life because he wasn’t being judged by others. On the other hand, Gogol was born and raised in America and he had adopted the American culture. Gogol hated leaving The United States to move to Calcutta for eight months. In addition, he felt like an outsider because even though he was Indian he had never been around that culture so he didn’t really see the Indian culture as being a part of him. Gogol was more American than he was Indian, because he had been raised in America rather than India.

“Without communication there is no relationship” - Unknown. In The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the main character Gogol is not very good at communicating . Although Ruth, Maxine, and Moushumi were right for him at the time, they didn’t end up working out. Gogol was looking for the missing pieces of himself in all three of his relationships.

I agree Ashoke and Gogol had nothing in common. Gogol was disappointed with the gift from his father even though Ashoke did the necessary to get a hard copy for Gogol. This book was very important for Ashoke because he waited four months just to arrive. I think the book has a sentimental affection once you read it.

They have never been on a date in their lives and therefore they see no reason to encourage Gogol, certainly not at his age." Both of Gogol's parents grew up learning the Bengali culture. They know that living in another country may change some of their traditions, but they still want to withhold the culture as much as possible. Nevertheless, Gogol doesn't so much care for his Bengali culture because it is now affecting his life. Gogol's relationships have been affected by his cultural collision, "His relationship with her is one accomplishment in his life about which they are not in the least bit proud or pleased... He wishes his parents could simply accept her as her family accepts him, without pressure of any kind." Both Gogol and his parents have been brought up differently about things. Because they don't see eye to eye their relationship isn't like it used to be. Now that Gogol is growing up, his diverse traditions are affecting his life with his girlfriend and his family. All of Gogol's life is not being afflicted because Gogol has stopped continuing the Bengali culture. It is just grasping the American culture more than he did in the past.

Ashoke teaches Gogol how to eat cultural food with his hands and speak Bengali. He also shows Gogol what it was like to live in India. One example of this is soon after Ashima learns she is pregnant with Sonia, Ashoke and Gogol are eating dinner together. Acting as a typical five year old, Gogol does not desire to finish his food and instead begins playing with it. “Ashoke shakes his head at Gogol, disapproving, unyielding. Each day Ashoke is pained by the half eaten sandwiches people toss into garbage cans on campus, apples abandoned after one or two bites. ‘Finish it, Gogol. At your age I ate tin.”(Lahin, 55). This exchange teaches Gogol about the poverty his relatives face in India. Ashoke also brings his family on frequent trips to Calcutta to visit their extended family. These trips show Gogol a different culture then the one he is used to. Gogol lives in a very in-between state, he does not consider himself completely Indian, nor does he consider himself a true American. This conflict, caused in part by his father, causes Gogol many grievances throughout his

In the novel, The Namesake, Gogol’s “American dream”, is to live a life completely engorged in American culture and to let go of his Bengali culture as a tormented past of his; which is much of what other children with immigrant families want. All is life Gogol has run into barriers stopping him from achieving his dream. Gogol always felt like he was trapped and being held back because of his identity and culture. He always felt as if his culture made people look down upon him making him feel vulnerable. For instance Bilik states that, “Conflict occurs at a much deeper level than simply a clash of two cultures; rather, it becomes a conflict between Bengali culture and the individual desire for a freedom attainable outside of the enclosed private

“Assured by his indifference to girls, his parents don’t suspect Gogol … of smoking pot…,driving to a neighborhood town to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or into Boston to see bands in Kenmore Square” (93). All of his parents hopes and dreams for Gogol are centered fully on academic achievement. At this point, having an active social life, or even healthy relationships with the opposite sex, is completely out of the question. Gogol fulfills all their scholastic expectations so they do not have any reasons to doubt his intentions. On a weekend where he was supposed to practice for the SATs, he and his friends ended up driving to a college party at the university his father taught at in Cambridge. It was there that he had his first kiss with a girl. The trip, and the elation he felt after the kiss, represents a victory for his Americanized view of relationships and a further distancing from his Indian perspective. Having physical contact with a member of the opposite sex is limited only to your significant other in Bengali culture. A kiss with a person he just met would be unimaginable to his parents. It would be breaking one of the major mores of Indian society.

After finishing reading the book and seeing that Gogol has reconnected with his Bengali roots, it seems to me that he will visit his mother often in Calcutta and will keep in touch with the Bengali friends that, for so long, have been like family to him. I imagine him becoming a renowned architect and an associate in the New York architecture firm he works at. Although his name, Nikkhil, will be included in the firm’s name, he will no longer reject the name Gogol, but will miss it since being called like that will remind him of his father. I imagine Gogol travelling the world, learning about other cultures and, eventually, meeting a girl that will make him happy.

During his time with these two different women, he tried to fit into the norm of their lives. He is integrated into the lives of these American women. The things these women and their families do sometimes puzzles Gogol. On several different occasions, he thinks that his family and the women’s families are completely different. He marries a Bangali girl.

Imagine living your life smack dab in the middle of two different lives, two different cultures, and two different identities. As a person who really hasn’t had any issues with her identity, I don’t really know how to relate to Gogol that well. Throughout out Gogol’s life, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, Gogol’s view of his home changes many times.

When Gogol is five years old, Ashima becomes pregnant with their daughter, Sonali. Gogol’s parents enroll him in kindergarten and his first day sets the scene for the struggle that Gogol will face for many years to come. His parents tell the principal, Mrs. Lapidus, that the teachers should call Gogol by his more formal name, Nikhil; however, Gogol wants no part in that. Mrs. Lapidus asks Gogol what he would like to be called, and when he responds with “Gogol,” it sticks. “They've learned their lesson after Gogol. They've learned that schools in America will ignore parents' instructions and register a child under his pet name.” (Lahiri Chapter 3) As Gogol gets older, he begins to realize how unique his name truly is. When he is 11, his sixth grade class takes a field trip to the cemetery to visit the resting place of a famous author. During the trip, the students are instructed to make rubbings of the gravestones and Gogol proceeds to make rubbings of all the unusual names he can find, since he relates to their oddity. By the time Gogol is a teenager, he is much less comfortable with his name and begins to question who he is as an individual. When Gogol’s fourteenth birthday comes around, his parents throw him a birthday party in which he is the oldest kid there. The only other person close in age is a girl named Moushumi, who is also Bengali. Later that night, Ashoke gives Gogol

He feels sandwiched between the country (India) of his parents and the country (U.S.A.) of his birth. His father has migrated to the U.S.A. to make a career at MIT and in due course he had settled there. He had always tried to follow the Indian traditions, customs in America and had found Indian, Bengali friends. The parents tried to maintain ties with their home country and tried hard to inculcate the values of the home country in their children. Gogol is fascinated more of the life style and society of the country of his birth. But the country of his birth also does not accept him entirely and he keeps struggling for cultural identity which sways between two countries.

Secondly, when she inquires for Gogol’s language and speaking. She wants to know if Gogol can speak English or not. Ashoke hides that Gogol knows Bengali language. He replies her proudly “Of course he follows.’’ Ashoke says. “My son is perfectly bilingual” (39). Thirdly, he tries to prove that his son can speak fluent English. He talks in English with Gogol, which he never done before. He is so agitated due to shifting in past and present, and this situation leaves him confused and weird. He behaves so strangely in front of Mrs. Lapidus.

This is shown when Gogol’s family move to Calcutta for eight months and how the describe the first night, “sleeping under mosquito net, bathing by pouring tin cups of water over their heads…hoping to keep with cross-country training, it is impossible, on these cracked, congested, chock-a-block streets, to run… It’s easier to surrender to confinement.” (Lahiri, 83). This shows that American life is different from Bengali life by describing life in Calcutta showing that sleeping in mosquito nets, bathing is hard, and he cannot get out of the house too much, because the roads are too confusing. This shows the conflict between cultures because the setting shows how poor life is in Calcutta, which us conflicting against an American life style which is shown when they move because Gogol has to drop what he is used to do when he is living in Calcutta. Setting is also showed when Gogol visits Maxine’s house “ the biggest difference between them, a thing far more foreign than the beautiful house she’d grown up in, her education at private schools…Gerald’s head resting on Lydia’s shoulder, Gogol is reminded that all his life he has never witnessed a single moment of physical affection between his parents.” (Lahiri, 138). This shows that the setting of life in Maxine’s house hold is very different from his own by Maxine’s life style and Gerald and Lydia love, because