Symbolism In The Gogol's Heart

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The heart is one of the most important organs in the body and represents what the character loves the most. Gogol Ganguli’s heart represents his character development throughout the story using placement, colors, and symbols. The left side of his heart is outside of his body and a rich shade of red-orange. By placing the left side of the heart outside of his body, it is symbolizing that for the first part of his life he was trying to blend in, be someone he is not. The red-orange color indicates desire, sexual passion, and thirst for action which are all traits that represent Gogol within the first half of his life. The right half of his heart is inside of his body where the human heart normally is located, in the chest. This shows that in …show more content…

Gogol’s desires and aspirations are constantly evolving throughout his life. At the beginning, he was just confused with the conflicting cultures that were surrounding him at home and at school, so the bottom part is riddled with question marks. The middle section of the spine is decorated with lipstick marks to represent the period in his life where he was romantically involved with Maxine. Finally, the top part of the spine includes the colors of the Indian flag and the word family in Bangla to represent the shift in his life where he focuses more on family relationships rather than romantic …show more content…

Gogol is holding hands with people that represent each culture he feels connected to. In his right hand is a hand that represents American culture, because he’s not just connected with the culture, but also the people within that culture. His left is holding onto a hand with the colors of the Indian flag to represent the cultural practices and people of his family and relatives. On his left hand ring finger there is a broken wedding ring to symbolize his divorce, showing that even cultural similarities don’t guarantee a flawless relationship. Altogether this shows that Gogol feels a strong connection to both of these ways of life and is trying to blend them together to combine the things that are important to