The title The Namesake reflects the struggle of Gogol Ganguli‚ son of Ashoke and Ashima‚ Indian immigrants to the U.S.A. to get identity in the culture where he is born and brought up with his unusual name. Names do have some meaning in India. A lot of practice is done when a child is named in India. An Indian child generally carries two names‚ a pet name and an official one. Pet names are for the family and neighbours and acquaintances. They carry or may not carry meaning. But official names are
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The Ganguli family in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake has a problem. The mother and father are traditional Bengalese from Calcutta‚ and they are not particularly interested in assimilating into the United States‚ their adopted home. Gogol‚ their son‚ however‚ was born in the United States and is somewhat embarrassed by his parents Bengalese practices. Gogol is also uncomfortable with his name. It is neither a Bengalese nor an American name. No one he knows has a name like his. In school‚ kids make fun
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Introduction In The Namesake‚ Jhumpa Lahiri provides an account of the Ganguli family‚ an Indian American family of educated‚ middle-class Bengali immigrants. Torn between two cultures and two worlds‚ the Ganguli ’s live in Suburban Massachusetts. Ashoke and Ashimi Ganguli have two children‚ Gogol and Sonia. The caste system in India impacts the lives of Ashoke and Ashimi‚ whose marriage is arranged‚ but in suburban Massachusetts such distinctions are undermined through the common ties of class
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BELONGING The concept of Belonging is a multi-layered concept‚ particularly in the novel "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri‚ the news article "Burqas and Fries" by Erika Hayasaki and the play "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. A person’s sense of belonging is determined by the relationships they share with themselves and other people. Whether it’s family‚ friends or society in general‚ humans have a desire to belong and be an important part of something greater than themselves. The ideology
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The Namesake is a novel that was written by Lahiri in 2003. “Though substitute teachers at school always pause‚ looking apologetic when they arrive at his name on the roster‚ forcing Gogol to call out‚ before even being summoned‚ “That’s me‚” teachers in the school system not to give it a second thought. After a year or two‚ the students no longer tease….p.66-67” that shows the difficulties that Gogol face with his name at the school and how his teachers and his classmates found that pronouncing
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“Some people claim that a person’s cultural identity is the foundation or groundwork on which every other aspect of their being is built” (No Bullying). That describes exactly what Gogol in the novel‚ The Namesake‚ by Jhumpa Lahiri is trying to discover about himself through his name. Almost every aspect of this novel have to do with Gogol and his journey with his companions and family to find his sense of belonging through his culture. Lahiri uses the manipulation of time in this novel in order
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In Juhmpa Lahiri’s novel‚ The Namesake‚ the reader is thrust into the daily life of Gogol Ganguli. Gogol is a promising young man from a Bengali family‚ which the reader gets the pleasure of knowing since his birth. Ever since Gogol’s childhood all he ever wanted was to find a place where he could truly fit in‚ whether it be in his own culture‚ or in the American one in which he lives. During his life‚ Gogol searches everywhere to find out who he is and where he belongs. During his long search‚ young
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Gogol as the Perfect Namesake In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake‚ Indian parents bestow a Russian name to their first born baby boy; the name is Gogol Ganguli which is after the famous Russian writer‚ Nikolai V. Gogol. In Lahiri’s novel‚ the main character fights an identity crisis because of his highly unusual name. Gogol carries uncertainty about himself throughout the novel because of his name‚ “He hates his name . . . that is has nothing to do with who he is‚ that it is neither Indian nor
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Wallace English III 2nd Period Mrs. Kaplan The Namesake The Namesake‚ written by Jhumpa Lahiri‚ has been dubbed one of The New York Times Bestellers and a follow-up of Lahiri’s Pulitzer Prize debut‚ Interpreter of Maladies. Lahiri’s specific style towards Gogol’s life makes it easy for an audience to understand the troubles of being raised in an Indian household surrounded by an American society. However‚ would The Namesake still be on The New York Times Bestseller list if it
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Journal #1 The Namesake begins with Ashima cooking in the kitchen when she starts having contractions; Ashima and her husband Ashok take a taxi to the hospital to deliver the baby. Ashok has to leave his wife surrounded by nurses so he could go to work. A nice nurse named Patty brought her lunch and took her on a walk around the hospital to help with the pregnancy. This walk reminded Ashima of the day she and Ashok were introduced by their parents. She remembers slipping her feet into his shoes
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