What do names symbolize in The Namesake?
In The Namesake, names symbolize the relationships and bonds between characters. For example, when Ashoke and Ashima return to Calcutta on family vacations, they become Mithu and Monu. With these new nicknames, they are transformed into more confident versions of themselves. Names also provide descriptions of identity.
What does Gogol’s name symbolize in The Namesake?
When Gogol asks his father, when he is college, whether the name Gogol reminds Ashoke of nearly dying, Ashoke counters that Gogol is for him a name of hope, of joyof life.
What does food symbolize in The Namesake?
In The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri conveys a character’s preservation of culture through her use of food as a motif. In the novel, food is used as an indication of a character’s connection to their culture.
What do trains symbolize in The Namesake?
Trains Symbol Analysis The presence of trains in the novel seems to be a reminder of the constant and inevitable forward motion of life, which advances and accumulates outside of anyone’s control, as Gogol reflects at the end of the novel.
What does Ashima’s name mean in the namesake?
she who is limitless, without borders
Why doesn’t Ashima call her husband by his first name?
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 Gogol’s sister’s name and what is the significance of her name?
Sonali Sonia Ganguli Sonia is Gogol’s younger sister, born five years and nine months after Gogol. Because of their challenges with Gogol’s name, Ashoke and Ashima plan Sonia’s name well in advance of her birth, only giving her a good name and avoiding the pet name that caused them so much trouble with Gogol.
What does food symbolize in the namesake?
In The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri conveys a character’s preservation of culture through her use of food as a motif. In the novel, food is used as an indication of a character’s connection to their culture.
What role does Gogol’s name play in his understanding of his own identity?
Sonali Sonia Ganguli Sonia is Gogol’s younger sister, born five years and nine months after Gogol. Because of their challenges with Gogol’s name, Ashoke and Ashima plan Sonia’s name well in advance of her birth, only giving her a good name and avoiding the pet name that caused them so much trouble with Gogol.
What is the significance of names in the namesake?
The answer is overwhelming to Gogol, as he discovers that his name was not given to him superficially. In actuality, it is a reminder for his father of the miracle that every day has been for him since. Through his name, Gogol is able to bond with the people around him, able to find love and able to identify who he is.
Why does Gogol change his name in the namesake?
As its title suggests, at its core The Namesake tackles the question of forming one’s own identity, and explores the power that a name can carry. Gogol’s decision to change his name to Nikhil before leaving home for college demonstrates his desire to take control over his own identity.
What is Ashima making meat croquettes for before selling her house?
In The Namesake, names symbolize the relationships and bonds between characters. For example, when Ashoke and Ashima return to Calcutta on family vacations, they become Mithu and Monu. With these new nicknames, they are transformed into more confident versions of themselves. Names also provide descriptions of identity.
What does the overcoat symbolize in The Namesake?
At the start of this chapter, Ashima is home alone on Christmas Eve, preparing mincemeat croquettes for a party she is throwing that evening. This will be the last party that she hosts at this house, which she has decided to sell. She plans on living in India for six months out of the year, at her brother’s home.
What does the train represent in the namesake?
The train represents the proximity between Gogol’s mature life and the Bengali-American context in which he was raised. Although his life with Moushumi in New York broadens, and includes people from different cultural circles, the train always connects him to Boston, and to his childhood home on Pemberton Road.
How is the train accident a turning point in Ashokes life?
Ashoke’s life turns on the train accident that nearly kills him. After the accident, he resolves to travel, to see the world as Ghosh has urged him to do. The Gogol he is reading in the train leads to his son’s pet name. Although Ashoke is a man of few words, he is a dreamer, a romantic.
When Ashoke was in a train wreck where was he going?
Ashoke Ganguli Timeline and Summary On October 20, 1961, Ashoke was in a train accident between Calcutta and Jamshedpur. Thank goodness he was reading a book by Gogol, because when the rescuers saw a page from the book, they were able to pull him out of the wreckage.
What is the significance of the shopping bags Ashima leaves on the train?
One day Ashima goes shopping for gifts for her relatives in India and accidentally leaves her shopping bags on the train. She miraculously recovers them the next day
Why does the letter from Ashima’s grandmother never arrive?
As its title suggests, at its core The Namesake tackles the question of forming one’s own identity, and explores the power that a name can carry. Gogol’s decision to change his name to Nikhil before leaving home for college demonstrates his desire to take control over his own identity.
What is Gogol’s sisters name and what is the significance of her name?
When the letter from Ashima’s grandmother doesn’t arrive, they are forced to put Gogol on his birth certificate in order to leave the hospital. If they had been in Calcutta, no birth certificate or passport would have been necessary. They could have left Gogol’s name undetermined for years.
How did Gogol get his name in the namesake?
Maxine Ratliff Maxine represents, for Gogol, a life very different from his own. She lives with her parents downtown, in a beautiful townhouse, and shares their intellectual, cosmopolitan life. Maxine does not always understand Gogol’s family’s traditions, but she tries to, and seems to care genuinely for him.
Why doesn’t Ashima say her husband’s name and what does this reveal about her include evidence from the text in your answer?
Ashima never thinks of her husband’s name when she thinks of her husband, even though she knows perfectly well what it is. She has adopted his surname but refuses, for propriety’s sake, to utter his first. It’s not the type of thing Bengali wives do. It’s a part of growing up, they tell him, of being a Bengali.
Why don t Ashima and Ashoke name their son after their father or grandfather?
She and Ashoke don’t immediately name him because they are waiting for a letter from Ashima’s grandmother, in which she will divulge his name. They decide to give their son the pet name Gogol in honor of Nikolai Gogol until they receive Ashima’s grandmother’s letter to determine his formal name.
Why does moushumi keep her last name?
Moushumi had wanted to avoid registering for gifts again, after the disaster of her first wedding. The checks are addressed to them both, some referring to him as Nikhil and some as Gogol. Although the cards say Moushumi Ganguli, she has chosen to keep her own last name, to Gogol’s slight regret.
Why is the naming of the child so important for Ashima and Ashoke?
Why is the naming of the child so important for Ashima and Ashoke? The good name is for the world outside the family, more of a formal name for documents. It doesnt represent Bengali culture or American culture so his name is missplaced in the cultures as he feels missplaced within himself.
What is Gogol’s sisters name in the namesake?
Maxine Ratliff Maxine represents, for Gogol, a life very different from his own. She lives with her parents downtown, in a beautiful townhouse, and shares their intellectual, cosmopolitan life. Maxine does not always understand Gogol’s family’s traditions, but she tries to, and seems to care genuinely for him.
