Throughout life, people often reinvent themselves to get away from something that has bothered them in the past. This could include a multitude of actions such as changing one’s name, changing how one dresses, or even changing the people with whom one associates. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, she describes how many characters try to reinvent themselves to escape a haunting past. One character in particular who struggles with such change is the protagonist, Gogol Ganguli, who finds his name embarrasing, and therefore tries to change it. Growing up in America, Gogol realizes that the world in which his parents grew up in significantly differed from his. Having no understanding of the circumstances that resulted in his name being Gogol,
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After the death of his father, Gogol faces his past more often, realizing that there was nothing to run away from, and reinventing himself was never the answer. This realization hits him when he is in Pemberton Road for the final time, reading the book his father had given to him on his fourteenth birthday, “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol. As he is beginning to read the book, he sees the note his father had left him saying, “The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name” (Lahiri, 288). Upon reading this quote his father had left him, he feels guilty and realizes that pretty soon there will never be a time when he will be called Gogol again as it will soon fade away; “Without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist. Yet the thought of this eventual demise provides no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all” (Lahiri, 289). Throughout the story Gogol had made sure that he would reinvent himself into a different person to obtain victory, whether it had been from changing his name, or immersing himself in the American culture with Maxine, and not listening to his parents. Yet when it finally hits him that he will never be called Gogol again, he starts to regret the decision of changing his name in the first place. Even if he did not like the name, it signified his past. With people from his past starting to go on their separate journeys, he cannot help but feel saddened by how his own past, an essential part of who he is, will
After the death of his father, Gogol faces his past more often, realizing that there was nothing to run away from, and reinventing himself was never the answer. This realization hits him when he is in Pemberton Road for the final time, reading the book his father had given to him on his fourteenth birthday, “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol. As he is beginning to read the book, he sees the note his father had left him saying, “The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name” (Lahiri, 288). Upon reading this quote his father had left him, he feels guilty and realizes that pretty soon there will never be a time when he will be called Gogol again as it will soon fade away; “Without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist. Yet the thought of this eventual demise provides no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all” (Lahiri, 289). Throughout the story Gogol had made sure that he would reinvent himself into a different person to obtain victory, whether it had been from changing his name, or immersing himself in the American culture with Maxine, and not listening to his parents. Yet when it finally hits him that he will never be called Gogol again, he starts to regret the decision of changing his name in the first place. Even if he did not like the name, it signified his past. With people from his past starting to go on their separate journeys, he cannot help but feel saddened by how his own past, an essential part of who he is, will