Two identities, one person. Gogol is the son of two first generation immigrants from a different culture who have moved to America. There, Gogol is born and is surrounded by his parents’ culture and the American culture. Gogol finds his parents’ cultural traditions to be funny and does not understand them and chooses to partake more in American cultural traditions at times. He is torn and constantly having to choose between two different cultures. In The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol Ganguli struggles to figure out his self-identity as he is confronted and surrounded by two different cultures.
In America, names are something that are passed on, from one person in a family to the next, as a “sign of respect,” (Lahiri, 28). It is a tradition
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In America “they appl[y] lipstick to their corpses and bur[y] them in silk lined boxes,” (Lahiri, 188). This tradition of burying someone in a casket is something that Americans use as a method to help them grieve. In India, they would find this tradition to be morbid and grotesque. They believe in ceremoniously burning the dead body in burning ghats and spreading the “ashes in the Ganges,” (Lahiri, 188). As a child and an adult in his twenties, Gogol never really understood ceremonies like that and never understood why his dad had shaved his head when his paternal grandfather died. “Years later Gogol had learned the significance, that it was a Bengali son’s duty to shave his head in the wake of a parent’s death. But at the time Gogol was too young to understand; when the bathroom door opened he had laughed at the sight of his hairless, grief-stricken father,” (Lahiri, 179). This quote shows how Gogol did not understand the significance of his parent’s Bengali traditions and just brushed them off as a waste of time. This helped form a kind of resentment towards his parents as he was always forced to participate in Bengali traditions that he found to be boring as he did not understand them and the significance behind them. These traditions pushed him away and towards more American traditions, leading him to try and incorporate himself into American relationships and barricade himself as much as he could …show more content…
“But fortunately they have not considered it their duty to stay married, as the Bengalis of Ashoke and Ashima’s generation do,” (Lahiri, 276). More traditional Bengali’s do not believe in getting divorced and instead stay together even if they are unhappy or do not love their partner. In America, people tend to get divorced if they are not happy in their marriage. “They are not willing to accept, to adjust, to settle for something less than their ideal of happiness,” (Lahiri, 276). The American dream is to be happy and healthy and live prosperously and to own your own land. Part of that American dream is being happy in their marriage. So when American’s are not happy in their marriages they get divorced and marry someone else. Gogol has come to adopt this view rather than the cultural view of his parents’ generation. When Moushumi cheated on him, he did the American thing and divorced her. He wanted to make his parents happy which is why he married Moushumi. “They marry within a year… It’s not the type of wedding either of them really wants… Gogol and Moushumi agree that it’s better to give in to those expectations than to put up a fight,” (Lahiri, 219). Neither of them really wanted the wedding they had. Their whole marriage was for their parents and to make their parents happy. Moushumi was never really happy from the start of the marriage. And they married way too quickly, it is evident 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 him no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all…
In the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the main character Gogol struggles with a religious cultural collision. Gogol battled between his parents Indian traditions and the American culture he grows up in this leaves him puzzled. His reaction to the cultural collision is relevant to the novel because every character in this novel struggles with accepting who he is.
“We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ones who wanted a better life” said former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Since its establishment, the United States has grown through immigration, lending to a multicultural society. However, immigration and its government policies have become of great public interest due to illegal immigration at the Mexican border and violent events in the Middle East. For this reason it seems sensible to investigate the lives of immigrants so that U.S. citizens may take a stance on this disputed topic. Regardless of their origins, whether they are from Latin America, Asia, or anywhere else, immigrants seem to encounter similar endeavors. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, the author depicts the immigration of Indian citizens to the United States. Noting various matters ranging from motives to the cultural identity crisis, Lahiri exposes the struggles and ramifications of American immigration. The collection elucidates the lives of first and second generation
...ecause of what it says about the parents of the child. The final thing they noticed is that when a name becomes popular among the wealthy in about a decade it will no longer be popular among wealthy but popular among the middle-class and middle class names move down to lower class names. All in all the authors determine that the name doesn’t really matter that much.
Gogol’s struggle with his identity is the focus for the novel. Jhumpa Lahiri narrates us a story of this young man, Gogol, who is caught between two worlds, through her novel The Namesake. Through the progress of the novel, Gogol comes to terms with his multicultural and complicated identity. Gogol grows up never understanding the significance of his name and grows up hating it. By choosing one name over the other, Gogol decides to define himself under a different self. And last but not least, the narrative depicts Gogol's fractured identity as he tries to disassociate himself from both his family and his cultural heritage to forge his own self. A person’s identity is the most valuable possession one could have.
There he makes this identity of himself to try to totally forget his parents’ cultural identity. He changes his name to Nikhil and later ends up moving to New York with a girl by the name of Maxine. “He is overly aware that they are not used to passing things around the table, or to chewing food with their mouths completely closed. They avert their eyes when Maxine accidentally leans over to run her hand through her hair” (Lahiri 277). This quote is describing Maxine and Gogol having a meal with his parents. This whole scene is very awkward for both because Gogol’s parents aren’t used to doing things the American way. When the two are leaving his parents’ house Gogol’s father says to him “Drive safely, Gogol” (Lahiri 279). This confuses Maxine because she is not familiar with his real name. He doesn’t want to be reminded of who he was before. By chapter 8 Maxine and Gogol are no longer together due to
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 culture, he is still bonded to his roots as the person he ethnically is.
There are still families that are respected because of their legacy. For instance, the Kennedy’s were already a prominent family in society before John F Kennedy became president. Other prominent family names include Hilton, Gates, Booth, and Pinckney because of the histories and wealth associated with these families. This way, people are still born with a certain level of honor and prestige based on the family name they carry. Even on a local level, families carry reputations of having certain traits. Before meeting a Falls, one may expect to encounter a calm, reserved, intelligent person because those are traits associated with the Falls name. On a personal level, a person’s name still holds keys to a story. Public records are kept on everyone. A skilled researcher could uncover a person 's past simply by researching a name because that name carries a story. Anything a person does, whether good or bad, is associated with a name. Sometimes people to form opinions on someone based on a person’s name because the name alone tells a story. Modern cultures may view names casually, but they still carry power
Over the course of the novel, The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol is constantly moving, and by the time he is in his late twenties, he has already lived in five different homes, while his mother, Ashima has lived in only five houses her entire life. Each time Gogol moves, he travels farther away from his childhood home on Pemberton Road, symbolizing his search for identity and his desire to further himself from his family and Bengali culture. Alternatively, Ashima’s change of homes happens in order to become closer to family, representing her kinship with Bengali culture. Ashima has always had difficulty with doing things on her own, but by the end of the story she ultimately decides to travel around both India and the States without a real home as a result of the evolution of her independence and the breaking of her boundaries; in contrast, Gogol finally realizes that he has always stayed close to home, despite his yearning for escape, and settles into his newly discovered identity - the one that he possessed all along.
Gogol is not completely cut off from his roots and identity. He tries to reject his past, but it makes him stranger to himself. He fears to be discovered. With the rejection of Gogol’s name, Lahiri rejects the immigrant identity maintained by his parents. But this outward change fails to give him inner satisfaction.
In today’s society we all want to know who we are and where our names originated from. Our names are what give each of us our own style and individuality, the importance of style and individuality can be related back to our original surnames. Our surnames have come from all areas of the world, each with specific meanings to our family. Surnames or last names have an important meaning to all of us, they give us identity through our family’s history. Looking back into history our names have changed drastically, keeping some people from knowing how their surnames really originated. Surnames originated early in history and did so for many reasons.
Now knowing what his actions would lead to, he would go out of his way to familiarize himself with the American traditions leaving his upbringing in the past. A new dislike for his name arises as he “hates signing his name at the bottom...Nothing to do with who he is (76).” Feeling emerge and suddenly Gogol feels as if he has no connections to his name. Only to make these feelings worse he feels humiliated by his classmates for having the name he has but in reality his name isn’t a topic of discussion to his peers. Through this phase the author emphasizes how other people 's opinion are more important to Gogol than what he thinks of himself. The opinions of others have consumed his thoughts so horribly that Gogol becomes viewing himself through the eyes of others. At this point in Gogol’s life it would be a great time for his father to tell him why he chose to give him his birth name but his dad decides to simply give his son the book that at one point saved his life. Not even remotely interested in what he now has in his possession Gogol, “puts the book away on his shelve (77).” On this shelve the book lingers for years to come. As an independent individual Gogol makes little to no effort to remain in contact with his family. Never does he question the book given to him nor does he attempt making small talk with his father about why the book was so important to him and how it influenced him to name his son after the
I have read an account called " 'What's in a Name? " ", which is composed by Henry Louis Gates. This account demonstrates to us a youth experience of the creator that happened amid the mid-1950s. In the article, Gates alludes to an occurrence when a white man, Mr. Wilson, who was well disposed with his dad, called his dad "George", a name which was a prominent method for alluding to African Americans in those circumstances. In any case, Gates' dad needed to acknowledge this separation and couldn't make a move around then. By utilizing sentiment to bring out individuals' enthusiastic reaction, and utilizing suggestion, Gates effectively communicates his claim that name shapes individuals' discernments
This Blessed House by Jhumpa Lahiri is a short story that follows a small period of time in the two characters’ lives. Having known one another for only four months, newlyweds Sanjeev and Tanima, called Twinkle, are finding it difficult to adjust to married life. Both have very different personalities, a theme that Lahiri continuously points to throughout the story,. Their conflict comes to a head when Twinkle begins finding Christian relics all over the house. Sanjeev wants to throw the relics away, but Twinkle collects them on the mantle and shows them off at every opportunity. As a character, Sanjeev is unadventurous and exacting, while Twinkle is free-spirited and does not care for the fine details. The root of the conflict between Jhumpa Lahiri’s characters Sanjeev and Twinkle in “This Blessed House” is the clashing of their two very different personalities in a situation that forces them together.
In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, the protagonist, Gogol, struggles with his cultural identity. He is an American-born Bengali struggling to define himself. He wants to fit into the typical American-lifestyle, a lifestyle his parents do not understand. This causes him tension through his adolescence and adult life, he has trouble finding a balance between America and Bengali culture. This is exemplified with his romantic relationships. These relationships directly reflect where he is in his life, what he is going through and his relationship with his parents. Each woman indicates a particular moment in time where he is trying to figure out his cultural identity. Ruth represents an initial break away from Bengali culture; Maxine represents