Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” What is the central, universal question Jhumpa Lahiri raises in The Namesake? (If you had to write an EQ for The Namesake, what would it be?) How does her portrayal of Gogol/Nikhil provide an answer to this question?
Please type a response of 250-300 words.
The central question Lahiri raises in her book, The Namesake, is how negative changes affect people’s lives. Referring to Gogol, specifically his love life, he has had many girlfriends including two significant ones who are Ruth and Maxine. They are both White and the typical idea of what American girlfriends would be. The first one, Ruth, was a woman who he fell in love with when he was going to Yale. Their relationship was good until she had to move to Cambridge to further pursue her studies. This separation causes them to grow distant from each other and they eventually break up. His next girlfriend is Maxine and Gogol does so wonderfully with her, that he moves into her parent’s house with her. However, since his father died, Gogol became emotionally repressed and it was revealed that Gogol is actually embarrassed to have Maxine around his family due to her unfamiliarity with them and this causes them to break up. Yet, all these negative changes do not ruin Gogol, but push him to keep pursuing his next relationship, one with Moushumi. With this person, Gogol finally feels happy because not only is she familiar with his heritage, but they also get married and share the same past negative changes. I think Lahiri conveys through this book is that negative changes in one’s love life cause them to go on a hunt to find someone who they can relate most with and feel the most familiar with. This point is further exemplified when Gogol finds attraction from Moushumi when people mistake them from siblings and that they are also looked at by typical American society the exact same way with the same misconceptions about their identities. The only people who truly know who they in the streets are themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe Namesakes major question seems to be related to accepting the origin any feature regarding someone, in this case the character’s birth name. So, something like: do we disregard the history of our strongest traits to blend back in? And when is it that we’ve gone too far? The book, being called The Namesake, is about Gogol/Nikhil as he struggles to cope with have two names in his childhood, one of which not even being of his ethnicity. So, he got it legally changed so something closer to home without even knowing the origin of his birth name, which he would soon discover to be more heartbreaking than it was just a bad decision. A couple chapters ago (chapter five or six), Gogol was finally told about the origin of his name, the name he had been hiding for most of his adult life. In the book currently, his father has passed away and he is only left with something similar to the feeling of guilt as he had been so upset about his name for so long, and now his father is dead and can’t experience any kind of apology in relation to that. Along the lines of the second question I proposed uptop, Gogol seems to have gone to far, if only because that name had so much meaning behind it and now it is no longer his name, more like a nickname. It was supposed to be a nickname, the name he was only called at home, but was unfortunately the one written on the birth certificate because his parents were pressed for time. Gogol, even in his childhood, disliked his name. When his English teacher assigned Nikolai Gogol’s work in class, he was not in any way excited. His near-hatred of his name resulted in him acting out in ways most people would usually avoid.
ReplyDeleteIn the Namesake by Lahiri, the central question that is raised in this book is how there is conflict between the name and identity of someone. In Gogol’s case, he never got a formal name suggestion from Ashima’s grandmother because she passed away. During the start of his education, his parents wanted him to use the name Nikhil, but Gogol refused to accept it because he feared the identity of Nikhil. He did not want to become “someone else” since the names are different. In one instance in middle school he goes on a trip to learn about the Russian Author, Gogol's but eventually comes to despise the name. Most evidently was during his fourteenth birthday. In his party, he comes to dislike his name and in college he changes his name to Nikhil. This change in name was due to the atmosphere in the party and this gave him “courage” to kiss Kim.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore in the Indian culture, there is two types of names: Daknam and bhalonam. Daknam is the “Bengali close family name whereas bhalo naam is to be used in formal events like school or work. In the start of chapter one name and identity causes conflict and separates the relationship between Ashima and Ashoke. Ashmia couldn’t call her husband by the first name since “it’s not the type of thing Bengali wives do”. She also adds that it is an “intimate” phrase. This concept of Bengali tradition is interesting because Gogul Daknam turned into Bhalo Naam and his last name turns into his first name. This seems to cause a conflict with the tradition itself because the order of his name is jumbled along with his attachment to the culture.
It can be seen that Gogul struggles with his name and identity through through his adulthood. He resent being called Gogol and insists on being called Nikhil. The only one that can use “Gogol” freely are his family members. Even his love interests still call him Nikhil and through this it is evident that the conflict between the names and identity can create rifts in relationships and culture.
Essentially, Jhumpa Lahiri wishes for readers to question how one’s surroundings can shape an individual. Gogol is a primary example of an alien to his own homeland. From his very birth, he does not accept his own culture quite literally by not choosing an object for his rice ceremony, and his coincidentally his grandmother dies before she can name him,. Even his own Bengali name, “Nikhil,” does not resonate well him and he feels it to be foreign. Ironically however, he feels more comfortable with being called “Gogol” an actual foreign Russian name belonging to another culture. He truly resents his Bengali name, his parents’ Bengali traditions, but embraces American culture. Gogol further develops this identity crisis by legally changing his name, graduating from majorly rich white schools, and partaking in several love affairs with women of other ethnicities, where he eventually settles down. Finally, he has a place where he belongs. However, Gogol realizes that by accepting American culture, he has ultimately rejected his own, leading to his father’s death. Overwhelmed with guilt, he stays with his family more and eventually marries a fellow Bengali girl whom he previously ignored. His happiness however, is short lived after he discovers of his soulmate’s affairs. By the end of the novel, Gogol is left with nothing but his true family, and finally begins to read his father’s Russian book. With Lahiri’s depiction of Gogol, who remorses far too late of his neglectance, she relays to the message that people should not accept who they truly are.
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