The Namesake begins very slowly and after reading 4 chapters out of the 12 in the novel, which is ONE THIRD of the book, I still am yet to see what this novel will build to. Maybe the author is trying to build some suspense to a huge event later in the novel, but I'm really just not that into it as of right now. The way the story is written hasn't really impacted me in some life-changing way, and it just seems like a classic third person point of view novel. Sure, the view point of the third person narration switches between characters during different parts of the novel, but the concept of the story and the way it is written just hasn't grasped my attention yet.
One thing that did spark in my mind while reading this book is how Ashima becomes pregnant twice without realizing. The first chapter of the novel explains how Ashima and Ashoke are in an arranged marriage, and didn't have a love connection with each other when they initially got married. Ashima decides to go to America with a man she hardly knows, and then WITHOUT being in love with him she does secretive things ;) with him and they become parents. I don't think I would have children with someone I am not in love with just for the sake of having children, and my opinion may contradict hers, but I guess who am I to judge Ashima's choices?
On another note I simply don't feel as if the characters in the novel were developed to a point where I could feel emotion for them and connect with them. There is hardly any character background about Ashima, and the only character background we know about Ashoke is that he has liked books from a young age, and he almost died in a train accident. What happened in their childhood to shape them in to the people they are as adults? WE DON'T KNOW. I guess that could be the development that Lahiri was aiming for, so then the reader has the opportunity to imagine what the characters in the story are like in a sense that is deeper than what the author is showcasing.
Although, one concept that I did really enjoy about the novel is the different opinions displayed by separate characters about the same event. For example, when Ashima gives birth to Gogol she immediately wants to go back to India because of how far away she is from her native culture and family, and because she doesn't want her child to be raised in an area of the world without other members of his family. On the other hand, Ashoke is trying his best to embrace the new life he has worked so hard for, and believes that Gogol will have a better, more privileged childhood than his own by thinking to himself, "What a difference [...] from the childhood [I have] known"(Lahiri 24) minutes after Gogol is born. This shows that right from the birth of Gogol, Ashoke's view was way more optimistic about his son's life in America than Ashima's view. Seeing the contrast in opinions from characters that you would expect to have the same thoughts and goals is really interesting, because it shows the reader that the thoughts someone has internally can be much different than what is externally expressed.
I feel that the short story, "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol is an important symbol in the first 4 chapters of this novel because of the significance it holds in the lives of different characters. Ashoke feels as if "The Overcoat" and its author saved his life in his train accident years in the past, and this strengthened the connection he already felt with that story. However, Gogol feels as if "The Overcoat" and its
author are destroying his life because he finds that the name he possesses is an embarrassment, and doesn't want people to know that he is named after a Russian author born in the early 1800s. This contrast shows that the short story written by Nikolai Gogol is not only a symbol of Ashoke's survival, but also a symbol of the challenging father-son relationship between Ashoke and Gogol.I found that many factors in this novel, especially events between Ashoke and Ashima, can be categorized through feminist criticism. What is with all of this female domesticity??? Yeah, we get it, women "belong in the home" in some people's opinions, but the FIRST TIME Ashoke cooks for his family is when his wife is pregnant with her second child, and is bedridden due to the pain/ sickness. They have been married for at least 5-6 years at this point, and this husband only steps up to cook when his wife physically can't. Also, Ashima doesn't have a job and this is most obviously because she is a foreign female in an industrialized country. No females deserve to work, make money, and support their family, right? In this novel it seems as if that is true. Ashima spends her time at home reading, knitting sweaters, caring for her kids, and making food. I understand that the beginning of this novel is based in the late 1960s-mid 1970s, and life was different then than it is now, but I just found this novel is such an obvious example of feminism that can be analyzed through literary criticism.
It is really difficult for me to say that I relate with the first 4 chapters of this novel, because I really don't. My relatives have been born in Canada for several generations, and my distant ancestors are originally from Europe. I don't have any sort of cultural connection with Gogol and his family due to the fact that we have completely separate cultures, family backgrounds, and lifestyles. I guess the only connection I share with Gogol and his family is that every relative of mine, except my immediate family, lives on the other side of the country. This makes it difficult to stay in touch with those relatives, and if something devastating happens to a family member, then there isn't much I can do from the other side of the country. However, what I notice more distinctly is the contrast between Gogol's family and mine. For example, in my household there is no such thing as a "good name" and a "pet name". Of course my parents sometimes call me various nicknames, but I don't have a designated name that I am called at home that is different than the name I am called in public. My life just seems so much different than the life that Gogol has, and this could be why I don't feel emotion for him or his family throughout the novel, or the reason for why I fail to find a way to connect with his character.
A recurring theme in the first four chapters of this novel is the significance of family and tradition. This theme focuses on the two most recent generations of the Ganguli family, and how the generations contrast each other and interact with one another. Before Ashima and Ashoke moved to America, they were both used to living in a singular home with many generations of their family. However, this contrasts what the life is like in America for Gogol and his sister Sonia because it is only their family of 4 in a relatively large house. Even though Ashima and Ashoke don't have any relatives in America, they befriend many Bengali people in their town and treat them as their family. This shows the importance of family to Ashima and Ashoke, and in contrast, family is a symbol of something foreign to Gogol and Sonia since they only grew up with their parents as their family. I really believe that family is important because it keeps you feeling as if you aren't alone. I feel as if Gogol believes he is alone, even though he has some friends and can easily reach out and connect with people that he can refer to as "family". Sometimes taking the step of reaching out to someone close is the most difficult aspect of a relationship.
Overall, the first 4 chapters of The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, have not really clutched my attention, but I am really hoping that the story picks up in the chapters I am about to read, and gives me a different outlook on the novel than the viewpoint I currently possess!
Useful Summary and Analysis Links
Works Cited
Darinda, Looney. "Is Accidental Pregnancy Really That Bad?" Looney Darindey. N.p., 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
"India Map Usa." La Historia Con Mapas. N.p., 2015. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Print.
"The LitCharts Study Guide to The Namesake." LitCharts. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
"The Overcoat and Other Short Stories by Nikolai Gogol." RUSSIAN LIBRARY SACRAMENTO. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.