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Gogol's Identity In The Book 'Namesake'

447 Words2 Pages

In the book, “Namesake,” the author explains how identity reflects who you are and how different characteristics make you unique. It also shows that culture is the system of shared values, beliefs, and behaviors, which makes up society’s way of life. Different cultures and identities can cause several problems in people’s lives. In the book, the main character, Gogol, associated his identity with his heritage and interprets it into his lifestyle. Similarly in life, identity takes a huge role in society. Gogol becomes involved in the American way of life, although it is opposite to his family’s culture. Although it was hard at times to adjusts to both cultures, he was able to balance the two out and be content with life. For instance, Gogol’s family wants him to adapt to certain elements of their culture including marriage arrangements, Indian food, and the grandparent’s right to name newborns. However, some of their values interfere with American values. For example, in America, the parents of …show more content…

He wants to be free from his parents lifestyle and adjusts to the American way of life, because he was born in America. Some of the American values seems very appealing to him. For instance, Americans do not accept parents to get involved in their relationships. This was one value that caused Gogol to stay away from his family. He wants to be on his own and get his own freedom. In the book, when Gogol met Maxime, he felt more comfortable and was finally adjusting to the American way of life. Maxime exposed him to this lifestyle and gave him the possibility to be apart of it. For example, when he was invited to have dinner with Maxine’s family, he had the opportunity to drink red wine, something he was not able to do with his family. Now that he has the freedom to explore, he was able to balance the two cultures. As a result, he was able to form his identity, using the many values from

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Gogol’s relationship with his family, as previously mentioned, was a rocky one. Because he grew up hating his name, he associated his name with his heritage and in turn grew to hate his family’s traditions. When he grows up, he tries to separate himself from these traditions by avoiding the Bengali themed parties his parents throw and immerses himself in American traditions. “He didn't want to go home on the weekends, to go with them to pujos and Bengali parties, to remain unquestionably in their world,” (Lahiri 126). This active rebellion of Gogol’s peaked at the time that he was dating his girlfriend, Maxine, and also when he changed his first name to Nikhil.

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He feels as if he can only fully embrace one culture, so he pushes his Bengali culture as far back as he can and welcomes the American dream. Nikhil represents his American acceptance, whereas Gogol represents his past, which he cannot shake no matter how hard he tries. In the end, he finally embraces and mixes both American and Bengali culture. Despite the cultural and assimilation struggles Gogol faced, he eventually found a way to discover his identity as a Bengali living in

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