“Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri

The narrative surrounds on Gogol because is the central character of the short stories.   The narrative took the focus on Gogol for many reasons; one being when Ashima gave birth to him did not get the name from them ancestors on how he will be called. Gogol was a boy and was his father was the one who proposed for that particular name.  Ashoke remembered the name because it was the name of author of ""Overcoat book"" which was reading when the trained crashed and almost died.   The narrative could not focus on Ashima, mother of Gogol but has reflected his relationship between Ashima and her son Gogol.  If the story focused on the Sonia then it could have taken different directions and the author will have seen have no interest to explain on the train crush.

The education is very crucial in this novel because is trough education Gogol was able to interact with many people. He was able to move to various places which included United States and India. Education enables people to explore different places and helps one to get income when in a particular occupations. For instance, Moushumi Mazoomdar was a teacher and wife of Gogol before they divorced.  Maxine friend of Gogol was students. These characters reveals that educations helps in exposure and interactions has is evidenced in having birthday ceremonies parties.

In this narrative Lahiri has used protagonists in different occurrences. For instance, Gogol in his dating did not succeed and this helps us to understand the flow of the story. He first dates Maxine and she leaves Him and at the same dates Moushumi and later divorces her. This shows that according to the tradition there are must some of the reasons behind it. Another Protagonist occurs when parents of Ashoke die and mother of Ashima dies gets the information by call when they are living from their own people.  Protagonist is used when Ashoke dies and his son is not around.  Protagonist is there when Gogol is born and parents of Ashima and fails to turn up to give the boy name. All this protagonists are used to ensure that there is effective flow of the novel story.

Gogol feels nostalgic when his mother and Sonia come to the train station to see him off. He remembers that the whole family would see him off every time he returned to Yale as a college student. Gogol begins to feel more and more nostalgic as his marriage with Moushumi progresses. In Paris, he wishes he could stay in bed with Moushumi for hours, the way they used to, rather than having to sightsee by himself while she prepares for her presentation. During the dinner party at the home of Astrid and Donald, Gogol becomes nostalgic for when he and Moushumi were first dating, and they spent an entire afternoon designing their ideal house. It is evidenced when Ashima prepares for the last Christmas party she will ever host at the house on Pemberton Road.  And it reminds her that Sonia and Gogol are little children

According to the novel Gogol is insure has evidenced on experiences of losing her partners. Gogol is insecure because he did get initiated in the Bengali tradition.  His name is not a Bengali tradition and for this reason he likely not to inherit the properties from his parents.  The relationship between him and his parents tells us that he not secure because most of the things do not participate in. He marries Moushumi but after sometimes she goes with another man and divorces her. Therefore, according to the experiences of the Gogol on his life it means that he not secure. His father Ashoke wanted to explain something about the origin of his name but did not understand it.

Cite this page