The Namesake

Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New York: Mariner, 2004. Print.

“The Namesake” is a story of the struggle and hardship of a Bengali couple who immigrated to the United States living a life outside everything they knew. The story began with Ashoke and Ashima departing Calcutta, India, the only home they have ever known, and settling into Massachusetts. Shortly after, they name their first born son in honor of the Russian author Nikolai Gogol whose magnificent contributions in literature miraculously saves Ashoke from a fatal train accident years back. Although the name was temporary, a series of errors official-ized Gogol’s name. As the parents continue to live in their silent struggle between their homesickness and their new lives “the Namesake” focuses on Gogol’s struggle to understand and accept his heritage despite his American upbringing. Throughout his childhood and part of his adult life Gogol tries to escape his Bengali heritage, trying to find an identity for himself as well as find solace in his many failed relationships. It is after his father’s death that Gogol stops escaping his heritage and actually embraces it. Along with that he yields to his mother, and his society’s, expectation of marrying a Bengali woman – a relationship that ends up in divorce a little over a year later. Gogol then turns to the man that gave him his name, Nikolai Gogol, and reads “the Overcoat.” Meanwhile, his mother, learns that her home is no longer the place where she was born, but, is too the place where her and her husband have build their lives.

Gogol Ganugulie’s journey is symbolic of the struggle of many individuals who have been born into a bicultural world. The struggle they face in trying to find themselves and their identity amid the clash of cultures.