The Namesake Reduction By Jhumpa Lahiri Essay

Throughout the novel The Namesake you see the similarities and the differences between Gogol and Ashoke. Ashoke is born in India and he has made himself an educated man, he has also worked hard for his family to provide for them and show them how to succeed in America. Gogol is Ashoke’s son, Gogol has some hard times trying to figure out who he is as a person and who he wants to be. Both father and son seem to be so different on the surface when really, deep down they are so much alike.

Everyone all experience a period of questioning their identity at some degree, whether it be as long as a life time or just a few years. In the The Namesake, Gogol, the main character, experiences identity crisis while struggling to fit between two different cultures. Throughout reading The Namesake, readers understand, yet question, Gogol’s desire to rebel against the the world of his Indian self. One world, his Bengali heritage, is unique compared to the majority of American people. The other offers a “normal” American life in the United States, requiring Gogol’s efforts to assimilate. As a result of the conflicts between them, Gogol lives a life of pushing and pulling between these two worlds as opposed to accepting his nationality. Unlike

Once an individual realizes that life is giving him a second chance, he transforms into a new breed of a man; there is an innovation of ideas that arise in him as he realizes that there is no correlation between being safe and staying alive. Ashoke Ganguli becomes a new man after miraculously surviving a train accident on his way to visit his recently blinded grandfather, who was awaiting for his grandchild to give him more books, his getaways from the real world. Moreover, the train accident became the defining moment of Ashoke Ganguli as his love for fiction books became nothing more than a former hobby. The train accident stirred the callow man’s dormant dreams, as he realized that his life is not secured. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The

Gogol grapples with his name throughout the majority of the novel, yet this tension was in the makings even before his birth. Ashoke and Ashima being immigrants set Gogol up to live in two different cultures, American and Bengali. Many children of immigrants may feel like Gogol, having one foot in each world. Gogol framed his struggle with cultural identity through something tangible, his name. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, Gogol’s struggle with cultural identity is exposed most greatly by the name others call him and his reaction to it.

to America with grace and compassion. This story by Jhumpa Lahiri, is an allegory establishing an identity with using symbolic meaning between two cultures that intersect. The themes throughout the story refer to immigrant experiences, the conflict of cultures, the contrast of assimilation and the connection between generations. The Namesake, opens the worlds of emotions Ashima experiences, while straddling her two worlds. This story of identity allows readers to travel with Ashima on an intimate journey through her life as an immigrant.

After the initial rejection of his name at a party, Gogol has decided to legally change his name. This change is driven by the character’s disgust at the name his parents had given him, although it is he that had rejected being called Nikhil in kindergarten. The name Gogol comes to represent two very different things to his father Ashoke, and Gogol. To Ashoke, the name represents his life being saved the fateful night of the train derailment. As Caesar writes, “To Ashoke, the name Gogol is...a reminder of the way in which the reading of [Nikolai] Gogol’s short story saved his life…” (108). To Gogol Ganguli, the name simply reminds him of a strange and sad writer he learned about in English class, with no meaningful representation in his own life. Gogol is frustrated that his parents named him something so silly, especially since it is not even a Bengali name. As Gogol stands before the judge, he is asked why he wishes to change his name, to which he responds, “I hate the name Gogol...I’ve always hated it ” (Lahiri 102) His rejection of the name Gogol allows him to escape the identity placed upon him by his parents. Although Nikhil is an Indian name, it enables him to try on a new and more sophisticated identity. The one by which he has his first kiss, his admissions to college, and subsequently the relationships that

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

Jhumpa Lahiri in The Namesake illustrates the assimilation of Gogol as a second generation American immigrant, where Gogol faces the assimilation of becoming an American. Throughout the novel, Gogol has been struggling with his name. From kindergarten to college, Gogol has questioned the reason why he was called Nikhil when he was a child, to the reason why he was called Gogol when he was in college. Having a Russian name, Gogol often encounters questions from people around him, asking the reason of his name. Gogol was not given an Indian name from his Indian family or an American name from the fact that he was born in America, to emphasize that how hard an individual try to assimilate into a different

For some people finding out who they are is not exactly the hardest thing to do in the world, some know it from the moment they are born. There are, however, also other people who have to struggle and search for their identities. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is the story of a boy who does just that. It focuses on the Ganguli’s, a Bengali family, who, after moving homes from India to the United States, struggle to uphold a delicate balance between honoring the traditions of their heritage and assimilating into the American culture. Although Ashoke and Ashima’s parents are proud of the sacrifices they have made to provide their children with as many opportunities as they could, their son, Gogol, strives to create his own identity without leaving his heritage behind. In the novel Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Gogol faces many struggles while searching for his identity.

Intergenerational conflicts mainly involves in the process of searching identity in a new country. In The Namesake, it seems like the major part of the book is about Gogol’s identity formation and confusion. In fact, Ashima is also part of the process of forming American identity. One of the significant incident is the name-changing process of Gogol. At first, we can see how Gangulis’ parents Ashima and Ashoke are “still proudly and deeply entrenched in their Indian heritage” (Bhattacharyya 77), when they were asked to name their baby after themselves or one of the ancestors. They think “This tradition doesn’t exist for Bengalis, naming a son after father or grandfather, a daughter after mother or grandmother. This sign of respect in America and Europe, this symbol of heritage and lineage, would be ridiculed in India” (The Namesake 28). But later when Gogol ask to change the name, his parents agrees either because becomes accepting individualism or doesn’t want to explain why they name Gogol at the very first place. This explains how much Gogol wants to possess a new identity beyond his parents’ traditional norms.

The novel The Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri writes about the struggle and hardships of a Bengali couple who immigrate to the US from India to create a lifestyle outside of everything they have known all their lives. The story begins as Ashoke marries Ashima and brings her to the Massachusetts. Their first child’s name is Gogol, which they didn’t intend on naming initially but because of different mistakes, Gogol has officially become his name. This book/film gave a pleasant insight into identity

In the Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri, America is often referred to as the land of opportunity despite how foreign immigrants are still being treated as second class citizens such as an outcast. Throughout the novel The Namesake the parents of Gogol, Ashoke Ganguli and Ashima Ganguli brought their family to America to find their opportunity despite their strong beliefs in their Bengali culture. Going against their Bengali belief, Ashok and Ashima settled in america with their baby boy Gogol and their baby girl Sonia. Throughout the novel The Namesake Gogol has been struggling to find himself and make peace. Gradually throughout the story Gogol begins to wonder why his parents made the decision to come to america, Despite their strong Bengali beliefs to stay in india. Gogol’s crisis to finding himself slowly deteriorates when he finds himself come to peace with who he is. The author, Jhumpa Lahiri shows Gogol improving and developing as a mature character intellectually, socially, and emotionally despite all the hardships that Gogol had faced.

Gogol’s Parents, Ashima and Ashoke, gave him a name to add meaning and purpose to his life. The meaning is shown through Ashoke giving his son a name that represents hope for a better life and second chances yet it also represents tragedy. Nikolai Gogol, at the scene of Ashoke’s train wreck has passed away and this has a connection with Gogol’s life. When looking at his life it seems to be filled with confusion, disappointments, and dead-ends (Such as?) as he struggles to figure out whom he is and where he believes the curse of his namesake will lead him next.

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.

The immigrant experience affects families in a unique manner wherein ethnicity, and therefore, identity becomes something continuously negotiated. Jhumpa Lahiri’s contemporary novel, “The Namesake,” beautifully illustrates the complexities of generational culture clashes and the process of self-individualization over the course of this experience. Lahiri challenges the often-one-dimensional approach to ethnic identity by allowing readers an intimate and omnipresent look into the internal struggles of the Gangulis, a first-and-second-generation Bengali family, following their relocation to America. The novel incorporates a heavy presence of reading, and the abundant representation of books and documents throughout it are vital to its