The Namesake Symbolism

The Namesake showcases a boy named Gogol who culturally different from the rest of society, and undergoes numerous life changing situations. A namesake is a person named after another. The namesake in this novel being Gogol and the author of the Overcoat, Nikolai Gogol but to why his father chose this name and this namesake is a mystery to Gogol Ganguli. Symbolism, something used quite commonly throughout the novel, in which it shows two major symbols. These being the name “Gogol” and trains, all corresponding to the meaning of true identity. The name Gogol highlights the overall meaning of the book The Namesake, as Ashoke named Gogol after the author Nikolai Gogol because that name has meaning to Ashoke. The start of Gogol's namesake began