The Namesake Identity
ENG 101
Professor Fisher
04/26/12
Space & Identity The story The Namesake, which was quickly made into a movie, consists of challenges that every character faces through their surroundings and their ability to adapt unto change. Each character in The Namesake obtains challenges from inhabiting or the desire to inhabit spaces, which define them by how they react to these situations. This paper will describe the characters actions and identities and their surroundings unto change as well as Gogol’s ambition to be an architect which works with domestic interiors. One of the characters that obtain multiple identities is Ashoke: “He was born twice in India and a third in America. Three lives by thirty.” (Page 21) This implies that from his near death experience as the first time when Ashoke was on the train, the end of his second into his third life is when he moves to America. These three ‘lives’ are not implied as Ashoke does not deserve to live. It merely states that when he left to America the drastic change in lifestyle as if he lives a completely different life then how he did in India. …show more content…
“I’m scared, I’ve never seen them like this before” states Sonia after seeing Ashima and Ashoke embracing the Taj Mahal while on their vacation. Sonia states that she has never seen her parents act this way, as if they are more comfortable with the life they live in India than in America. Here you can see how the characters Ashoke and Ashima both have a positive and vibrant impact on the environment they inhabit back in India, as compared to how they live their lives in America. In addition, the book makes clear that when the family moved to America, they only spoke to and associated themselves with other Bengali families, which shows their unwillingness to adapt to change. It also states in the book, whenever they drove somewhere, they never stopped. They never took a break from the road to enjoy the weather, never stopped by in the city to see the architecture; they only drove to where they were going and nowhere else. It is obvious that Ashoke and Ashima choose not to inhabit the American lifestyle just by secluding themselves from their neighbors and co-workers. Some of the examples of space in the book that represent Ashoke are things such as his death. Ashoke took Gogol by the waterside, and told him “you and me made this journey when there was nowhere else to go.” Ashoke tries to not only show the actualization of life to Gogol, but the understanding of there being a soul without a person; he sugest that you do not have to physically be there, in order to actually be there. This was Ashoke’s space; the open. Everywhere you look, whether it would be a park or a cemetery, Ashoke tried to make Gogol understand that he will always be around, no matter how far away he is. Another example of space is when Gogol goes to the old room where his father once lived, to collect his things. Ashima was a character with no choice. She had an arranged marriage through the Indian lifestyle, which then led her to America to give birth and raise her two children. Ashima seems quite stubborn in the story, by not adapting to change, and by not adapting this new ‘American’ identity. There were times when she was in America trying to make Indian food to cure her home sickness, unfortunately it did not help. Ashima refused this second life she lived in America, and towards the end of the book, she begins to adapt slowly but surely. Ashima as a character in the end of the book is driving a car and she is a librarian, whom she did not wish to drive and never adapted to the social and work life in America, she has ended up making some American friends and adapting the American culture. At first she does not do well with inhabiting the American environment, and it takes her some time before she begins to try out this new thing for her. Ashima was a character that was given a strong portion of space in the book. One example of space is when the Gonguli family first moves into the college town of Boston, and she is left alone in the house when Ashoke leaves to work. She has no Bengali friends in her part of town, therefore, at the time she feels secluded and alienated. When Ashima is pregnant with Sonia, Ashoke and Gogol often ate just them two at the dinner table, while Ashima was upstairs in the bedroom. When the Gonguli family moves into the suburbs and while Ashima is pregnant, you can see that she feels alienated due to the amount of space she has between her Bengali friends and her own family. Gogol is another character that has multiple identities. First is the Indian life, the way his family knows him, the person his mother and father know him to be. Then there is Nikhil, which brings out a more confident Gogol (or Nikhil) in which his American friends and college life knows him by. “He even hates signing his name… He hates that his name is both absurd and obscure and that it is neither Indian nor American but of all things Russian.” Everybody that knew Gogol did not have a problem with him at all, “the only person who didn’t take Gogol seriously, the only person who tormented him…was Gogol…”
Chapter 3 also shows how Gogol reacts to an Identity change. Gogol starts Pre-Kindergarten with his parents influencing Gogol to go by the name ‘Nikhil’ when in school, and as Gogol for when he is home. This startled Gogol as a child, not wanting to be something he is not, and of something he does not know of. His parents give him this false sense of a new name that eventually brings a new identity.
At a college party, Gogol is unwilling to introduce himself to the girl Kim as ‘Gogol’ so he gives his other name Nikhil.
It brings him the confidence to kiss her: "It hadn't been Gogol who had kissed Kim... Gogol had nothing to do with it." Here you can see how the name Nikhil had been used to become something he usually is not, this reflects in a positive way because it benefited him by gaining more confidence to get what he wanted. Another example of a challenge that was faced by identity was when Gogol went to court. Gogol is at court changing his name and part of the application states ‘Explain a reason for the change in name’ in which Gogol could not specify any. He was stuck, had no thought exactly of why he chose to change his name, he froze. Gogol had no true reason as to why he wanted his name changed; all he knew is that he did not like his name at
all.
Some examples of space within the character Gogol is with his marriage. Gogol feels alienated sometimes in his marriage to Moushumi. When he finds fragments of her life with a man she once has been with named Graham; these items were found around the apartment they now share together. When Gogol and Moushmi go to Paris together, he wishes it were her first time there, too, so he didn't feel so out of place while she feels comfortable. This brings space between Moushimi and Gogol because it is the life that she has wanted and have studied, and learned to speak in; yet this is practically a new world for Gogol because this is all new to him. Gogol does not only have space in his relationship, but also with his family. Gogol moves down to New York, and gets a job to work as an architect. "He prefers New York, a place which his parents do not know well, whose beauty they are blind to, which they fear." Gogol uses this place they do not know of to his advantage, and ignores his mother’s phone calls from time to time. He uses this city as a sense of space geographically, and mentally; away from his parents, and away from stress. When back home he has to deal with the stress of living to lives and having two names, in New York City he lives one life, one name. The last character that has a double identity is Moushimi, or ‘Mouse’. Moushimi struggles with her parents not allowing her to study French, which she secretly declares a second major of, behind their backs. She ends up moving to Paris to study French literature and she falls in love. She adapts to the lifestyle in Paris as if it is her own backyard. She is fluent in French, she loves everything that it offers her, and it begins to replace her life in America. Some examples of space from Moushimi’s side of the story, is their first wedding. On their first wedding anniversary with Gogol, she has planned dinner at a restaurant recommended to her by her friends Astrid and Donald. She wears the dress she had worn on the first day they slept together, when she had burned the dinner she meant to cook for him; he doesn't remember the dress and where it originated from, and this upsets Moushimi. Gogol not being able to relate the dress to a memory brings a sense of space in their relationship, which distances them further apart. Another example of space is when Gogol and Moushimi go to visit Moushimi’s friends, Astrid and Donald. They are at Donald’s Townhouse and Moushimi drinks and takes advice from her friends. It is not the drinking that disturbs Gogol, it is the relationship that she shares with Astrid and Donald, Gogol feels as if she wanted their relationship to be like that. Therefore this brings a sense of distance between them in their relationship. Whether it would be from Gogol changing his name with an American girl at a party, to Ashimi not adapting to the American lifestyle, the Namesake consists of challenges that every character faces through their surroundings and their ability to adapt unto change. The Namesake obtains challenges from inhabiting or the desire to inhabit spaces such as Moushimi making a new life in Paris, and Ashoke building a new life for his family in America. The book The Namesake does not convey conflicts of an immigrant family, yet shows people solutions to an immigrant family that faces hardships.
Professor Fisher
04/26/12
Space & Identity The story The Namesake, which was quickly made into a movie, consists of challenges that every character faces through their surroundings and their ability to adapt unto change. Each character in The Namesake obtains challenges from inhabiting or the desire to inhabit spaces, which define them by how they react to these situations. This paper will describe the characters actions and identities and their surroundings unto change as well as Gogol’s ambition to be an architect which works with domestic interiors. One of the characters that obtain multiple identities is Ashoke: “He was born twice in India and a third in America. Three lives by thirty.” (Page 21) This implies that from his near death experience as the first time when Ashoke was on the train, the end of his second into his third life is when he moves to America. These three ‘lives’ are not implied as Ashoke does not deserve to live. It merely states that when he left to America the drastic change in lifestyle as if he lives a completely different life then how he did in India. …show more content…
“I’m scared, I’ve never seen them like this before” states Sonia after seeing Ashima and Ashoke embracing the Taj Mahal while on their vacation. Sonia states that she has never seen her parents act this way, as if they are more comfortable with the life they live in India than in America. Here you can see how the characters Ashoke and Ashima both have a positive and vibrant impact on the environment they inhabit back in India, as compared to how they live their lives in America. In addition, the book makes clear that when the family moved to America, they only spoke to and associated themselves with other Bengali families, which shows their unwillingness to adapt to change. It also states in the book, whenever they drove somewhere, they never stopped. They never took a break from the road to enjoy the weather, never stopped by in the city to see the architecture; they only drove to where they were going and nowhere else. It is obvious that Ashoke and Ashima choose not to inhabit the American lifestyle just by secluding themselves from their neighbors and co-workers. Some of the examples of space in the book that represent Ashoke are things such as his death. Ashoke took Gogol by the waterside, and told him “you and me made this journey when there was nowhere else to go.” Ashoke tries to not only show the actualization of life to Gogol, but the understanding of there being a soul without a person; he sugest that you do not have to physically be there, in order to actually be there. This was Ashoke’s space; the open. Everywhere you look, whether it would be a park or a cemetery, Ashoke tried to make Gogol understand that he will always be around, no matter how far away he is. Another example of space is when Gogol goes to the old room where his father once lived, to collect his things. Ashima was a character with no choice. She had an arranged marriage through the Indian lifestyle, which then led her to America to give birth and raise her two children. Ashima seems quite stubborn in the story, by not adapting to change, and by not adapting this new ‘American’ identity. There were times when she was in America trying to make Indian food to cure her home sickness, unfortunately it did not help. Ashima refused this second life she lived in America, and towards the end of the book, she begins to adapt slowly but surely. Ashima as a character in the end of the book is driving a car and she is a librarian, whom she did not wish to drive and never adapted to the social and work life in America, she has ended up making some American friends and adapting the American culture. At first she does not do well with inhabiting the American environment, and it takes her some time before she begins to try out this new thing for her. Ashima was a character that was given a strong portion of space in the book. One example of space is when the Gonguli family first moves into the college town of Boston, and she is left alone in the house when Ashoke leaves to work. She has no Bengali friends in her part of town, therefore, at the time she feels secluded and alienated. When Ashima is pregnant with Sonia, Ashoke and Gogol often ate just them two at the dinner table, while Ashima was upstairs in the bedroom. When the Gonguli family moves into the suburbs and while Ashima is pregnant, you can see that she feels alienated due to the amount of space she has between her Bengali friends and her own family. Gogol is another character that has multiple identities. First is the Indian life, the way his family knows him, the person his mother and father know him to be. Then there is Nikhil, which brings out a more confident Gogol (or Nikhil) in which his American friends and college life knows him by. “He even hates signing his name… He hates that his name is both absurd and obscure and that it is neither Indian nor American but of all things Russian.” Everybody that knew Gogol did not have a problem with him at all, “the only person who didn’t take Gogol seriously, the only person who tormented him…was Gogol…”
Chapter 3 also shows how Gogol reacts to an Identity change. Gogol starts Pre-Kindergarten with his parents influencing Gogol to go by the name ‘Nikhil’ when in school, and as Gogol for when he is home. This startled Gogol as a child, not wanting to be something he is not, and of something he does not know of. His parents give him this false sense of a new name that eventually brings a new identity.
At a college party, Gogol is unwilling to introduce himself to the girl Kim as ‘Gogol’ so he gives his other name Nikhil.
It brings him the confidence to kiss her: "It hadn't been Gogol who had kissed Kim... Gogol had nothing to do with it." Here you can see how the name Nikhil had been used to become something he usually is not, this reflects in a positive way because it benefited him by gaining more confidence to get what he wanted. Another example of a challenge that was faced by identity was when Gogol went to court. Gogol is at court changing his name and part of the application states ‘Explain a reason for the change in name’ in which Gogol could not specify any. He was stuck, had no thought exactly of why he chose to change his name, he froze. Gogol had no true reason as to why he wanted his name changed; all he knew is that he did not like his name at
all.
Some examples of space within the character Gogol is with his marriage. Gogol feels alienated sometimes in his marriage to Moushumi. When he finds fragments of her life with a man she once has been with named Graham; these items were found around the apartment they now share together. When Gogol and Moushmi go to Paris together, he wishes it were her first time there, too, so he didn't feel so out of place while she feels comfortable. This brings space between Moushimi and Gogol because it is the life that she has wanted and have studied, and learned to speak in; yet this is practically a new world for Gogol because this is all new to him. Gogol does not only have space in his relationship, but also with his family. Gogol moves down to New York, and gets a job to work as an architect. "He prefers New York, a place which his parents do not know well, whose beauty they are blind to, which they fear." Gogol uses this place they do not know of to his advantage, and ignores his mother’s phone calls from time to time. He uses this city as a sense of space geographically, and mentally; away from his parents, and away from stress. When back home he has to deal with the stress of living to lives and having two names, in New York City he lives one life, one name. The last character that has a double identity is Moushimi, or ‘Mouse’. Moushimi struggles with her parents not allowing her to study French, which she secretly declares a second major of, behind their backs. She ends up moving to Paris to study French literature and she falls in love. She adapts to the lifestyle in Paris as if it is her own backyard. She is fluent in French, she loves everything that it offers her, and it begins to replace her life in America. Some examples of space from Moushimi’s side of the story, is their first wedding. On their first wedding anniversary with Gogol, she has planned dinner at a restaurant recommended to her by her friends Astrid and Donald. She wears the dress she had worn on the first day they slept together, when she had burned the dinner she meant to cook for him; he doesn't remember the dress and where it originated from, and this upsets Moushimi. Gogol not being able to relate the dress to a memory brings a sense of space in their relationship, which distances them further apart. Another example of space is when Gogol and Moushimi go to visit Moushimi’s friends, Astrid and Donald. They are at Donald’s Townhouse and Moushimi drinks and takes advice from her friends. It is not the drinking that disturbs Gogol, it is the relationship that she shares with Astrid and Donald, Gogol feels as if she wanted their relationship to be like that. Therefore this brings a sense of distance between them in their relationship. Whether it would be from Gogol changing his name with an American girl at a party, to Ashimi not adapting to the American lifestyle, the Namesake consists of challenges that every character faces through their surroundings and their ability to adapt unto change. The Namesake obtains challenges from inhabiting or the desire to inhabit spaces such as Moushimi making a new life in Paris, and Ashoke building a new life for his family in America. The book The Namesake does not convey conflicts of an immigrant family, yet shows people solutions to an immigrant family that faces hardships.