The Namesake is.... Interesting...

So as you guys know, I am currently reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. I have finished 8 chapters out of the 12 in the novel, and I found that chapters 5-8 were WAY different than chapters 1-4. These two sections are polar opposites in comparison to one another. What happened to Gogol/Nikhil/what even is his name anymore? During half the novel the author refers to him as Gogol, but at other times she refers to him as Nikhil. I understand if he is referred to as Gogol while around his family, but it seems at the most random of times his name just gets flip-flopped between the two options.

Polar opposites

Flip-Flop, Flip-Flop.......

Gogol seems to be going through the genital psychosexual stage like nobody I have ever seen before! HOW MANY GIRLS??? HOW MANY GIRLS DO YOU NEED GOGOL?????? He used to be such a sweet little boy who loved his mommy and spent his days with her, and now he's a sex-craving teenager in a grown man's body.

Gogol lives for sex... its part of his cardiograph...

On top of Gogol's love for sex, Lahiri seems to just throw the idea of sex into the novel like its not even important.

"Still, some nights when her parents have a dinner party she has no interest in, or simply to be fair, she appears, quickly filling up the small space with her gardenia perfume, her coat, her big brown leather bag, her discarded clothes, and they make love on his futon as the traffic rumbles below. He is nervous to have her in his place, aware that he has put nothing up on his walls, that he has not bothered to buy lamps to replace the dismal glow of the ceiling light" (Lahiri 139). 

Why is there chit-chat about him having the most intimate physical connection with a girl he loves, and then narration about how he doesn't have paintings or lamps? The story just makes me feel as if sex isn't important, when we live our whole lives thinking its very important! Perhaps sex is a different type of connection in Lahiri's mind, but I really have to disagree with this. Throughout the novel it just seems as if sex is just a small, worthless accessory in any of Gogol's relationships. 

This dinner could've been so much more :(

GOGOL AND MOUSHUMI BURNED A PERFECTLY GOOD DINNER JUST SO THEY COULD BANG. They had their first kiss approximately 0.23 seconds before they had sex. Again, don't we live our lives thinking that these physical intimacy moments are sacred and important? But in this novel it just seems as if a kiss, or having sex is just a simple act between two people who may or may not even care about each other. Another example of this is when Gogol was KNOWINGLY part of the act of infidelity. When he decided to have sex with Bridget, knowing that she has a husband in a different city and that he knew nothing about her, just makes me think he is a sex-driven pig!!! And then after that, he feels guilty when the train passes him on its way to New York from Boston because he thinks that Bridget's loyal husband may be on that train. GOOD! FEEL GUILTY! It's not like Bridget never told Gogol she was in a relationship, Gogol knew. The fact that he made the decision to assist someone in cheating on their husband makes me lose a lot of respect for his character.


Another new event in the novel that caught my attention was the different style of narration as Gogol gets older. The novel never once swore up until page 140. NEVER. ONCE. But then all of a sudden, when a more appropriate word could have been used to better suit the context of the novel, Lahiri slaps us in the face with shit (pun intended).

 Lahiri needs one of these!

"In the mornings a few times a week he gets up early and goes running before work with Gerald along the Hudson, down to Battery Park City and back. He volunteers to take Silas out for walks, holding the leash as the dog sniffs and pokes at trees, and he picks up Silas's warm shit with a plastic bag" (Lahiri 140).

When I read this I distinctly remember just stopping. I stopped reading momentarily. I was shocked. Out of all words in the English language, the author chooses one of the most offensive words to describe what comes out of a dog, when in the previous sentence it mentions how Gogol spends his time with Gerald. WHAT? The language in this novel is by no means formal, but it is most definitely not causal either, or so I thought. The language in this novel instantly became casual in my mind when I read this. Doesn't this book seem like a novel to use the word "feces" or "excrement" instead?

The separation of a family :(

I didn't really find any aspects of the novel I could relate to in the first 4 chapters, however I did find something I relate to in chapter 7. When Ashoke had an unexpected heart attack and died very soon after, that reminded me of something that happened in my family not too long ago. Around the end of August I went camping in Western Ontario, then when I came home my mom told me that her mother had a stroke a day and a half earlier. This shocked me since my grandmother never really had anything physically wrong with her body, which was exceptionally surprising considering the fact that she was in her mid 80s. Now, what really allowed me to connect with the novel is the fact that nobody in the Ganguli family could help Ashoke since he was far away from the rest of his family. My grandmother had always lived in Victoria, which is the very far Western part of Canada. We couldn't do anything to help or save her, and the event ended the same way it did for Ashoke. Sometimes life happens and it sucks, but there's nothing you, or anyone else can do about it. 


Overall, my opinion on this novel has most definitely changed from chapters 1-4, and I believe that the book is more interesting than before, however I still don't overly like it due to some previously mentioned reasons. A concept I enjoy about The Namesake is how true and relatable it can be to so many people of many diverse cultures. I wish the novel would include more information on Sonia just to see if she is as different/separate from the classic Bengali culture as Gogol is. All that was mentioned is that she moved to California. Is she in any relationships? Are her relationships with other Bengali men? What does she get involved with in California? What is she studying? How often does she come home? I understand that Gogol is the main character of the story, but the novel really did only seem to focus on the male characters of the book.... Ashoke and Gogol.... Ashima's grandfather.... when Ashima's mother died there was hardly anything said about it! Now, I'm not here to accuse the author, but I believe that this novel could include more details about the female characters so then readers, such as myself, don't believe it is a novel that is an example of feminist criticism! Honestly though, I am truly excited to continue reading this novel and to see where it heads! Leave your opinions down below, and thanks for reading :)

Works Cited

Abstract Heart Beats Cardiogram Illustration Sign Sex Written with Glowing Letters. Digital image. Illustration. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2016.

Burned Dinner Related Keywords. Digital image. Burned Dinner. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.

Digital image. Funny Swear Jar. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2016.

Havaianas Flip Flops 4 555px.png. Digital image. Havaianas Flip Flops 4 SVG. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.

I Blew Up At My Wife And Now I'm Separated. Digital image. Marriage. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2016.

Polar Opposites. Digital image. Polar Opposites T-Shirt. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2016.