The three most important aspects of The Namesake: The first important aspect of The Namesake is its exploration of Bengali American identity. Major Symbols: trains Christmas traditions Indian foods made with American ingredients The Short Stories of Nikolai Gogol Major Thematic Topics: cultural identity the power of names and naming the immigrant experience love and commitment memory Main Characters: Ashima (Bhaduri) Ganguli Ashoke Ganguli Gogol/Nikhil Ganguli Sonali “Sonia” Ganguli Moushumi Mazoomdar Maxine Ratliff Settings (secondary): New York City Calcutta, India New Haven, Connecticut This final loss forces Gogol to come to grips not only with his multiple names but also with his multiple identities. Their marriage lasts only a few years before Moushumi, also rebelling against her Bengali heritage, has an affair with a white man. Gogol then marries a fellow Bengali American named Moushumi. However, Gogol is pulled back to his Bengali heritage after his father dies of a heart attack. Now as “Nikhil,” he begins dating a woman named Maxine, living with her family and adopting their culture while ignoring his own. As he grows, Gogol comes to hate his name and decides to change it, hoping to leave both his former name and his Bengali heritage behind. A twist of fate keeps them from naming the boy according to Bengali traditions, so they give him the name “Gogol” instead. Shortly after the move, he enters an arranged marriage with Ashima, and they give birth to a son. When Ashoke Ganguli survives a catastrophic train accident in India thanks to a book of short stories written by Nikolai Gogol, he decides to move to America. Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake tells the story of the Gangulis, a Bengali American family grappling with love, loss, and identity in the final thirty years of the 20th Century.
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