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The Namesake Relationships

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In the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri there are many relationships portrayed throughout the story. Ashoke and Ashima’s relationship doesn’t show their affection for each other. Gogol had three serious relationships with Ruth, Maxine and Moushumi one of which he ended up marrying. His relationship with Maxine was strong because he was very close with her and her family. Gogol’s relationship with Moushumi was based on secrets and their way of not being more open with each other. Gogol’s serious relationships began after he legally changed his name to Nikhil. The significance of relationships and marriage in the novel is purely based on intimacy and defining one’s identity.
Gogol’s relationship with Ruth was his first real relationship. They …show more content…

Their relationship is based on an arranged marriage because of their Bengali culture. Before Ashima married Ashoke, she didn’t know his name (Lahiri 9). When Ashima is in the hospital, she overhears a couple where the name says “I love you, sweetheart” and she realizes that those words will never be heard “from her own husband” (Lahiri 3). Their relationship seems as if they don’t really love each other. Their relationship doesn’t include any passion in it. When Ashima calls Ashoke, “instead of saying Ashoke’s name, she utters the interrogative that has come to replace it, which translates roughly as ‘Are you listening to me?’” (Lahiri 2). Ashima never called Ashoke by his name, even when she found out what his name was. As their relationship progressed, they began to love each other as husband and wife. When Ashima found out that her husband Ashoke had died from a heart attack, she was devastated (Lahiri 168). After Ashoke’s death, Ashima began to mourn her husband because she had lost someone she had loved. Ashoke’s death was a tragic time for Ashima. Lahiri shares that “Ashima feels lonely suddenly, horribly, permanently alone, and briefly, turned away from the mirror, she sobs for her husband” (278). Ashoke’s death has made Ashima feel alone and shows how much she misses her husband. Ashima realized how much she cared for her husband. Ashoke and Ashima didn’t show affection during their relationship and that’s why their relationship wasn’t based on

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