The author provides some small themes throughout the whole story, but the is one that seems to stick out most is that you should never forget who you are and you should not try and be someone else. As for Gogol, the young man in this story, he has trouble finding the meaning of his name. As a child of two immigrants Gogol would have it rough because there are many cultural differences. He was given a “daknam” and a “bhalonam” which basically translates to “pet name” and “good name”. For Gogol at the age of 5 he could not accept being called by his bhalonam so the name Gogol stuck with him forever. As he aged he did not like not knowing the meaning and he wished he was named something easier to pronounce. HE ended up changing his name and found
