| Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake' is the story of a young American Indian , Gogol.Gogol hates the name given to him by his parents , his 'good name' as they call it. He particularly hates the comparison to his namesake , Nikolai Gogol and is embarrassed by it . Gogol grows to be a handsome young architect , falls in love with an American girl and is happy for a while living with her and her family.Later,Gogol meets an Indian girl and marries her but feels lonely in the relationship.
Gogol is not proud of his origins , in fact he has been shown to hate them .He is shown growing more sensitive to his family , particularly his mother as time passes . His reactions to his father's death are especially touching . Jhuma Lahiri has managed to portray beautifully how Gogol's mother Ashima adjusts to her life in a foreign country , how she evolves from being a homesick housewife to a confident woman comfortable in her surroundings.. The narrative is simple and lucid, a lot of attention as been paid to the details. The novel manages to highlight the confusion, the homesickness and the loneliness of the first generation Indians in a foreign country.The triumph of the novel is when Ashima ,who misses India all her life comes to think of Boston as home. | ||
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Plot & Themes Ethnic/Regional/Religion Other aspects: Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - none Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 7 () United States Yes Writing Style Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog |
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