The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The tension that many Americans with hyphenated identities feel is shown in Jhumpa Lahriri’s The Namesake. The story follows the oldest son of a Bengali-American family. Due to a mix up with his names, the son, Gogol, is given a pet name as his legal name. He despises this name because it’s different from both his American friends and Bengali family. When he turns 18, he changes his name to Nikhil, a name his parents had given him when he was in kindergarten but he rejected. However, he is unable to put the name Gogol behind him and the name Gogol continues to follow him, causing him stress and resentment until the end of the book when he accepts himself and both of his names. The more that Gogol accepts his names, the more he fully comes of age.  

     Although it may seem that when Gogol changes his name to Nikhil he is shedding the burdens of childhood and becoming his true self, he is really just rejecting an essential part of himself. He rejects lots of support from his parents and instead lives fairly separate from them. Only when his life falls apart and he has a major blow in his relationship does he realize how much he needs his family. However, he must learn who he is without his family to fully appreciate who he is with them. Although Gogol is almost 40 when he fully comes of age, it sometimes takes longer. He had to come to terms with his life and the expectations he felt. The two names represent the two parts of Gogol- Bengali and American- and without accepting both he cannot truly accept himself.

Comments

  1. RowanFebruary 3, 2021 at 8:01 AM

    The symbolism of these different names makes a lot of sense to me the way that you have explained it here. I would be interested to know how his story ends and whether he ends up choosing one name over the other or not and how that reflects his growth as a character--what coming of age looks like for him I guess. I also think it's cool that his coming of age is so delayed and it's not just about youth or adolescence but real emotional adulthood rather than any particular landmark.

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  2. ArianaFebruary 9, 2021 at 11:42 AM

    It's cool how you tie both names to intersectionality and then tie intersectionality to his coming of age. Perhaps his acceptance of both his childhood name and his adult name also shows his reconciliation between adulthood and childhood?

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  3. EllaFebruary 11, 2021 at 2:09 PM

    I think it's really interesting how you're able to see his coming-of-age journey just through names. Having that recurring theme that shows us clearly different pivotal points in his story is unique and you analyze it very well. I also think it's interesting how his acceptance is extended over a long period of time. He first denies the name Nikhil in kindergarten, then denies the name Gogol when he's 18. It's clear that coming-of-age isn't always a quick process.

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  4. Katya S.February 14, 2021 at 7:11 PM

    This sounds like a very interesting read. I think it's very interesting that this coming-of-age story follows Gogol's acceptance of his two names because I think names are a big part of people's identities that are often underestimated. While it may seem trivial that Gogol accepts both names, it really shows how accepts the part of himself associated with the name Gogol and the part of himself named Nikhil.

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