Gogol and Moushumi Commonalities in The Namesake

As Gogol copes with the death of his father and the termination of his relationship with Maxine, he continues on his journey toward finding the right girl, and he finally manages in the eighth chapter. Surprisingly, it’s his mother who sets him up with the right girl, and he and Moushumi click because they have a lot in common.

What Gogol and Moushumi have in common goes way back into their childhoods. As children, they would go with their parents and attend the same parties, eating the same food, talking to the same people, and enjoying the same company yet never actually speaking to each other. On their very first date Gogol thinks that “their contact until tonight has been artificial, imposed, something like his relationship to his cousins in India but lacking even the justification of blood ties… He decides that it is her very familiarity that makes him curious about her” (199). Gogol appreciates that he has history with Moushumi, and he accumulates the curiosity to pursue his relationship with her while he recalls all of the things they share.

In another example, Gogol continues to reminisce about his past with Moushumi, and he “struggles but fails to recall her presence at Pemberton Road; still, he is secretly pleased that she has seen those rooms, tasted his mother’s cooking, washed her hands in the bathroom, however long ago” (200). I find it unusual that Gogol previously spends so much energy trying to avoid what he finds so appealing in Moushumi. He tries to run from his name, his family traditions, and his mother’s attempts to set him up, yet he likes most about Moushumi how she connects to his past and has a general knowledge of his character before his name change.

Gogol and Moushumi have things in common not only in their personal histories but also while they date. While on a date, “they talk about how they are both routinely assumed to be Greek, Egyptian, Mexican – even in this misrendering they are joined” (212). Both Gogol and Moushumi harbor uncertainty about their heritages and the influence of Bengali culture in their lives, and they bond over this uncertain commonality between them.

Personally, I find it fascinating that both Gogol and Moushumi reject the influence of Bengali culture in their lives – with Gogol trying desperately to become completely American and only dating American women prior to Moushumi and with Moushumi making a pact with friends never to marry Bengali men – and they still end up together, in accordance with their parents’ wishes.

Gogol's Resentment Toward his Parents in The Namesake

After reading chapters five and six of The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, I noticed the prevalent theme of Gogol’s chronic and unnecessary resentment toward his parents. Even while in his later twenties, after experiencing the great freedom of going off to college, and in spite of his parents’ obvious passion and care for him and his wellbeing, Gogol still desires complete detachment from his parents and feels restricted when in contact with them and their customs.

First, throughout chapter five, Lahiri provides some reasoning for Gogol’s resentment toward his parents, highlighting his irritation with their ways of pressuring him and their unending anxiety and discomfort with their surroundings.  While having dinner with Max’s family, “there is none of the exasperation [Gogol] feels with his own parents. No sense of obligation. Unlike his parents, [Max’s parents] pressure her to do nothing, and yet she lives faithfully, happily, at their side” (138). While Gogol observes Max’s parents, he reflects upon the pressure his parents have always put on him, and the pressure is probably a big reason that Gogol doesn’t appreciate them. Also, when visiting his parents before vacationing in New Hampshire, Gogol offers to move their rental car at his father’s request, “irritated by his parents’ perpetual fear of disaster” (148). When Gogol compares his parent’s nervous lifestyle to the casual and carefree lifestyle of Max and her parents, he does not appreciate how his own family cannot relax.

Next, Lahiri makes clear how Gogol’s parents greatly care for their son and only have his best interests in mind. When Gogol lives in New York and doesn’t make much money, for example, “occasionally his father sends him checks in the mail to help him with his rent, his credit card bills” (126). This kind gesture suggests that his parents continue to look after him, even throughout adulthood. Also, throughout the chapter, Gogol’s parents constantly make an effort to connect with him; they call Gogol at his apartment, meticulously prepare lunch for him and Max, wish to celebrate Gogol’s birthday with him, and request a call confirming his safe arrival in New Hampshire.

Unfortunately, Gogol lies to his parents over the phone, dislikes the effort his mother put into the lunch she cooks for him and Max, and he neglects to call his parents at all in New Hampshire. At the very end of the chapter, Gogol realizes that “he has not given [his parents] the number, and the Ratliffs are unlisted… in this cloistered wilderness, he is free” (158). Gogol's reaction to his realization implies that he wants absolutely nothing to do with his parents, regardless of their thoughtfulness, and he feels happier without them in his life. In my opinion, Gogol should recognize and appreciate his parents, as their actions suggest a truly deep care for his wellbeing.

Cultural Convergence in The Namesake

While reading the first two chapters of The Namesake, I became fascinated with the different facets and intricacies of Indian culture and how the fictional Ganguli family tries to assimilate with American culture after emigrating from Calcutta. As Ashoke works toward his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ashima explicitly feels uncomfortable in America yet she also appreciates some of its cultural elements and the Indian and American cultures occasionally converge. 

In the very beginning of the novel, Ashima concocts an eclectic mixture of Rice Krispies, Planters peanuts, red onion, and spices to satisfy a craving for a snack sold all over Calcutta, and when she tastes her concoction, “she frowns; as usual, there’s something missing” (1). Her disappointment in the snack she makes to emulate Indian food reveals her longing to return to India, and feeling like her life in America lacks validity and wholeness becomes a major theme throughout the first few chapters. After giving birth to Gogol, Ashima thinks that, “without a single grandparent or parent or uncle or aunt at her side, the baby’s birth, like most everything else in America, feels somehow haphazard, only half true” (25). From this belief Ashima clearly feels uncomfortable and unfulfilled in her existence in the United States. 

Next, when Ashima writes letters to her family in India, “she writes… of the powerful cooking gas that flares up at any time of day or night from four burners on the stove, and the hot tap water fierce enough to scald her skin, and the cold water safe enough to drink” (30). From her letters, she clearly appreciates some elements of American culture such as all the accessible resources in American homes. When the Ganguli family celebrates Gogol’s rice ceremony, Gogol eats payesh, “a warm rice pudding Ashima will prepare for him to eat on each of his birthdays as a child, as an adult even, alongside a slice of bakery cake” (39). In this description of how Gogol will grow up, the combination of the Indian custom of rice pudding and the American custom of birthday cake represents the coming together of the Indian and American cultures.

I’m interested to read about how Gogol will mix and exude both his Indian and American backgrounds. From what I can tell so far, The Namesake accurately describes the classic story of immigration and cultural assimilation over time.