Knowledge and perception are key factors in how things are interpreted. They can be the difference between understanding and being perplexed. In the novel, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol seems to go through identity issues with his name. He struggles to find meaning in his name but as the years pass, he starts to understand his namesake through being able to accept his name himself. Although Ashima and Ashoke move to America, they seem to try to raise Gogal in their Indian culture unaware that Gogol will have to blend both being American and Indian. The first instance where Gogol seems to reject his name is in kindergarten in where, “He is afraid to be Nikhil, someone he doesn't know. […] It's a part of growing up, they tell him, of
