The Namesake Essay

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Sample Response | | |Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake is about belonging and not belonging simultaneously. Lahiri points out clearly what ‘the | |characters must struggle and come to terms with what it means to live here’ (America). Gogol/Nikhil the protagonist as | |well as other characters (Sonia, Moushumi) highlights this idea. | | | |Gogol clearly has very deep problems with his sense of belonging. Not only is he torn between his Bengali heritage and | |his parent’s expectations and those of the American culture, he also has the problem with his name, combined with | |relationship issues. Lahiri reinforces the idea that he can never quite find his place in the world and this causes him| |a constant sense of alienation, challenges and isolation from both cultures and a sense of not belonging to either. | | | |Like an awkward thing sticks, so does his name. Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor | |American, nor even really a first name. Gogol’s name is given at birth by his father because the letter from India | |bearing his name never arrives. Ashoke (Gogol’s father) chooses the name ‘Gogol’ for his son after his favourite | |Russian author, Gogol. | | | |Gogol has a chance to change his

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