Gogol as the Perfect Namesake
Gogol as the Perfect Namesake In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake, Indian parents bestow a Russian name to their first born baby boy; the name is Gogol Ganguli which is after the famous Russian writer, Nikolai V. Gogol. In Lahiri’s novel, the main character fights an identity crisis because of his highly unusual name. Gogol carries uncertainty about himself throughout the novel because of his name, “He hates his name . . . that is has nothing to do with who he is, that it is neither Indian nor American but of all things Russian” (Lahiri 76). He constantly thinks the name Gogol does not correlate with his own personality. However, upon exploration of his namesake, a person finds the name Gogol to be the ideal name for him based on the main character Akaky Akakyvitch in Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat; Gogol Ganguli and Akaky Akakyvitch match perfectly because each display a similar identity crisis that originates from their names.
At first, it seems that the main character in The Overcoat Akaky Akakyvitch has nothing in common with the bright and handsome Gogol Ganguli of Lahiri’s novel. “One character is set in a Russian nineteenth century short story while the other is a realistic novel about a twentieth century Indian-American family,” that searches for identity in America (Caesar 103). However, The Overcoat, like the novel, pertains to an identity crisis involving names. In The Overcoat “The protagonist name, Akaky Akakyvitch, suggests a contradictory identity itself being a saint’s name and yet sounding like a Russian . . . word for feces,” (Caesar 104). Akaky’s namesake forces him to face an identity crisis; Akaky does not know where he belongs in the Russian world with a name that signifies a saint yet sounds like feces. This contradictory name is similar to Gogol who “hates having constantly to explain [his name]. He hates having to tell people it means nothing in Indian” (Lahiri 76). Both Gogol and Akaky struggle with an identity crisis based on their
At first, it seems that the main character in The Overcoat Akaky Akakyvitch has nothing in common with the bright and handsome Gogol Ganguli of Lahiri’s novel. “One character is set in a Russian nineteenth century short story while the other is a realistic novel about a twentieth century Indian-American family,” that searches for identity in America (Caesar 103). However, The Overcoat, like the novel, pertains to an identity crisis involving names. In The Overcoat “The protagonist name, Akaky Akakyvitch, suggests a contradictory identity itself being a saint’s name and yet sounding like a Russian . . . word for feces,” (Caesar 104). Akaky’s namesake forces him to face an identity crisis; Akaky does not know where he belongs in the Russian world with a name that signifies a saint yet sounds like feces. This contradictory name is similar to Gogol who “hates having constantly to explain [his name]. He hates having to tell people it means nothing in Indian” (Lahiri 76). Both Gogol and Akaky struggle with an identity crisis based on their
Cited: Caesar, Judith. “Gogol’s Namesake: Identity and Relationships in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Namesake.” Atenea 27.1 (2007): 103-119. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 7 May 2010. Gogol, Nikolai. The Overcoat and Other Tales of Good and Evil. Tr. David Magarshack New York: Norton, 1965. Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Proffittt, Edward. “Gogol’s Perfectly True Tale: The Overcoat and its Mode of Closure.” Studies in Short Fiction 14.1 (1977): 35-42. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web 10 May 2010. Shariff, Farha. “Straddling the Cultural Divide: Second Generation South Asian Identity and The Namesake.” Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education. 15.4 (2008): 457-466. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 May 2010.