Identity In The Namesake
Nothing has as profound influence on one’s identity as name. That is, one is constantly recognized by the people and by oneself with his name, and the name consciously and unconsciously keeps influencing one's identity as the name directly relates to how one perceives the world and oneself. In a novel, The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, this power of name is well depicted through the identity crisis of the son of an Indian immigrants family, the Ganguli. Gogol Ganguli, the son of Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli, struggles with his dual identity due to two different cultures in his life and, more importantly, his name. Named after his father’s beloved Russian author, he sees no identity in his name, which is neither Indian nor American nor even Russian
…show more content…
It is Gogol’s senior year of college, on his way home from the station where Ashoke picks up Gogol, that Ashoke finally reveals Gogol's true namesake. Stunned and ashamed, Gogol feels that “the sound of his pet name, uttered by his father as he has been accustomed to hearing it all his life, means something completely new.”(Ch.5, P. 124) Gogol is stunned because he has never imagined the accident in which his father almost died and what his name truly signifies, and he is ashamed for not knowing the story until the moment and for changing his name without knowing its true meaning. At this moment, he finally sees his identity in his pet name because it turns out that his name represents his father’s rescue as well as all the events that followed the accidents, the happiness and difficulties his family went through in the U.S.. This becomes the turning point at which Gogol comes to accept his name consciously and willingly. And yet, his attitude toward his pet name seems to be enhanced as he grows older. As his mother Ashima decides to move to her home country for six month and to sell her house, Gogol comes back home to clean his room. Upon finding the book his father gave him on his fourteenth birthday, Gogol reveals his thought, “without people in the world to call
It is Gogol’s senior year of college, on his way home from the station where Ashoke picks up Gogol, that Ashoke finally reveals Gogol's true namesake. Stunned and ashamed, Gogol feels that “the sound of his pet name, uttered by his father as he has been accustomed to hearing it all his life, means something completely new.”(Ch.5, P. 124) Gogol is stunned because he has never imagined the accident in which his father almost died and what his name truly signifies, and he is ashamed for not knowing the story until the moment and for changing his name without knowing its true meaning. At this moment, he finally sees his identity in his pet name because it turns out that his name represents his father’s rescue as well as all the events that followed the accidents, the happiness and difficulties his family went through in the U.S.. This becomes the turning point at which Gogol comes to accept his name consciously and willingly. And yet, his attitude toward his pet name seems to be enhanced as he grows older. As his mother Ashima decides to move to her home country for six month and to sell her house, Gogol comes back home to clean his room. Upon finding the book his father gave him on his fourteenth birthday, Gogol reveals his thought, “without people in the world to call