Amanda Macias
Spring 2015
CORE 3101 Literature, Ethnicity and Immigration
Midterm Paper
The Namesake
Introduction:
In The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri she talks about her Indian heritage and her Indian American immigrant parents, how they dealt with being torn by both worlds of being Indian and immigrating to America. In this novel the author demonstrates her own struggles of being Indian American with a fictional character named Gogol Ganguli who is named after a Russian writer Nikolai Gogol and goes through an identity crisis. Gogol is a troubled teenager; his name bothers him as he grows up and becomes confused with who he is and which culture he should embrace. He sees his name as part of the confusion as he is caught between the Bengali heritage of his parents and the American culture he lives in. The Namesake was published in 2003 which was a success. Since it was successful it became a major motion picture starring Kal Penn in 2006.
Summary
The Indian American couple Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli brought a new born baby boy into the world. They both have to decide on a name to place on the birth certificate and Ashoke decides to name their son Gogol, after the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. Nikolai Gogol’s books have helped and have saved Ashoke’s life when he was injured in a train crash in India. The Ganguli’s lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts which is where they raised Gogol and his little sister Sonali. As Gogol grows up he understands that his name is very unusual and he doesn’t appreciate his Bengali heritage and customs of his parents. Gogol appreciates and embraces the American pop culture and he tries to Americanize his whole life. Although his family had Bengali customs they were still slightly Americanized and soon enough the Ganguli’s started to fit into American culture. They even started to celebrate Christmas but still kept Bengali traditions. Before he leaves off to college at Yale, he changes his name to Nikhil and shortens it to Nick because he said he wouldn’t get opportunities once people read his resume with the name Gogol. Therefore, everyone excluding his family calls him Nick. He finally graduates from Yale and Columbia, and gets a job as an architect at a New York City firm. He settles to live the American dream and becomes wealthy. He begins to date a Caucasian woman named Maxine and he feels that he is part of her family because they spend a lot of time together and vacation together. However, while spending time with his girlfriend’s family he chooses to ignore his family and decides to adapt to her lifestyle. He neglects his mother’s phone calls, family gatherings, birthdays etc. However, his mother invites him to a family gathering before his father leaves for a research fellowship in Ohio since he is a professor. Gogol brings his girlfriend and he learns why he was named Gogol. After leaving he still hasn’t completely embraced his Bengali traditions. His mother Ashima is home alone between Thanksgiving and Christmas and Ashoke visits Boston from Ohio every three weeks to help her with chores and pay bills. Ashoke calls his wife to tell her that he is having problems with his stomach and that he will promise to call her back after the hospital visit. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to make his promise and she finds out that her husband died. During the time Gogol neglects his family he also finds out that his father died. He flies out to see his family for his father’s cremation ceremony and while on the plane he remembered that his father shaved his head when Gogol’s grandfather died. It is a ritual that Bengali sons do when their parents die. He shaves his head but Gogol feels guilty about neglecting his whole family and ends his relationship with Maxine because of her complaining that he was spending too much time with his family and begins to embrace his family’s traditions.
After the death of his father, Gogol reconnects with a childhood Indian friend that he
