Table of Contents
What is the message of namesake?
The central theme of The Namesake is the importance of names. The Bengali tradition of naming includes the development of a daknam, a pet name or nickname, and a bhalonam, a good name, used in public life and on official documents.
Why did The Namesake of his son become so important for Ashok?
Ashoke tells his son this when he gives him the collected stories of Nikolai Gogol for his 14th birthday, which includes “The Overcoat.” He chose to name his son Gogol because his son represented the second miracle in his life, the first miracle being that he survived the accident.
What is the role of Ashima in The Namesake?
In The Namesake Ashima Ganguli is Ashoke’s wife and the mother of Gogol and Sonia. She is hit with culture shock as she and her husband start a new life in America. Ashima is proud of her Indian roots and seems baffled by her children’s easement in America. It takes her a long time to settle into her new life.
How do Maxine’s parents differ from Gogol’s?
Maxine’s upbringing is about as different from Gogol’s as possible. Her parents are not, like Gogol’s parents, immigrants to the United States. They are urbane New Yorkers, well-versed in the latest museum shows, political scandals, and matters of literary interest.
Why did Gogol resent his name?
“Gogol” makes Gogol feel like a child. Thus Gogol changes his name, officially, not to change how the world sees him, but to help change how he sees himself. He changes his name as part of a larger process of personal transformation and growth.
What is Ashima’s attitude towards marriage?
For Ashima and Ashoke, marriage was not an exercise in independence or forming identity, but was instead another step in the traditional Indian path in life, and one that led toward companionship and the growth of a family.
What is Ashima’s attitude toward marriage?
How do Gogol’s parents try to convince him?
Answer: Gogol’s parents tell him that having a new name is a part of growing up. They teach him to write his new name so that he gets used to it. They promise him that they will always call him Gogol at home.
What explanation does Gogol give to his college roommates about why he wants them to call him Nikhil?
The summer before he begins college at Yale, Gogol tells his parents that he wants to change his name to “Nikhil”; they object that it is too late. He blames them for giving him a pet name instead of a real name, a name that is Russian instead of Bengali, a name that he thinks cannot be taken seriously.
Why is Gogol afraid of anyone?
Answer: Gogol didn’t want himself to be called as Nikhil. He is afraid to be Nikhil – someone he doesn’t know him and who doesn’t know him. It shows that in Gogol’s mind, a new name is a new person different from him. He did not want to look himself as stranger.
What are the dominant themes of The Namesake?
The Namesake Themes
- The Indian Immigrant Experience.
- Family, Tradition, and Ritual.
- Independence, Rebellion, and Growing Up.
- Identity and Naming.
- Love and Marriage.
Why doesn’t Ashima call her husband Ashoke?
Ashima notes that she does not use Ashoke’s given name, because that name, in Bengali, has a special, almost sacred resonance. Both Ashima and Ashoke are lovers of literature, Ashima of English poets, Ashoke of Russian authors, especially Gogol.
What is Jhumpa Lahiri’s experience in the namesake?
As a second-generation Indian immigrant, the author, Jhumpa Lahiri, draws on her own experiences in The Namesake, a novel about balancing multiculturalism as an immigrant. The questions in this asset will guide classroom discussions about this novel. In this section, there are questions related to Gogol’s childhood.
Who is the author of the namesake?
Kerry has been a teacher and an administrator for more than twenty years. She has a Master of Education degree. ‘The Namesake’ is a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri about an Indian immigrant that feels caught between his family’s Bengali heritage and American culture. This asset contains classroom discussion questions about this story.
Does Jhumpa Lahiri have a degree in education?
She has a Master of Education degree. ‘The Namesake’ is a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri about an Indian immigrant that feels caught between his family’s Bengali heritage and American culture. This asset contains classroom discussion questions about this story.
What does Lahiri say about America in the namesake?
Jhumpa Lahiri has said of The Namesake, “America is a real presence in the book; the characters must struggle and come to terms with what it means to live here, to be brought up here, to belong and not belong here.” Did The Namesake allow you to think of America in a new way?