The Namesake (8-12)

Wow! I can definitely say that last part was much more entertaining than the rest. It finally felt like the tension building up throughout the book led to something. Although I can confidently say I couldn’t relate to a lot of Gogol’s experiences here, it was still quite an enjoyable read.

To start off chapter 8, Gogol’s mother sets him up with an old family friend. When I read it at first, I thought it was an arranged marriage, just like the marriage between Ashoke and Ashima. Obviously the key difference is that Ashima was really just suggesting - very persistently - for Gogol to call this girl. I believe this shows that even though Ashima has mostly integrated into American culture, there’s still another part of her that relies on Indian cultures. This whole part really reminded me of a movie I recently watched called The Big Sick. Even the part where “she was supposed to have been married a year ago… but her fiancé, an American, had backed out of the engagement” (Lahiri, 192). In this movie, the protagonist is of Pakistani (Kumail) descent and falls in love with a caucasian girl by the name of Emily. Emily had previously married, but gotten divorced very quickly. However, he keeps this relationship hidden from his parents due to their cultural differences. Throughout this period, his mother persistently tries setting him up with other Pakistani women, to the point where he keeps a case containing pictures of all the women his mother has tried setting him up with. Despite some of these women connecting with him, it is hard to love someone that you were set up with by your parents. After reading that Gogol and Moushumi were getting married, I immediately thought about this movie and that their relationship would likely fail, as it eventually does.

Another thing weird about their relationship is Gogol’s persistence throughout the novel to separate himself from Bengali culture. When he finally decides to accept it, it’s during a very rough time of his life - after the death of his father. It really just seems like he was trying to fulfill his father’s wishes now that he had passed, rather than really connecting with Moushumi and forming a strong relationship. Once again, just another foreshadowing of their failed relationship.

When Gogol and Moushumi get closer, they attend a dinner party with some of Moushumi’s friends. At one point, Moushumi is asked what her name really means. I found the answer of “a damp southwesterly breeze” (Lahiri, 240) to be really funny. In general, some more cultural names usually hold some sort of a deeper meaning. In my case, I only remember that my Mandarin name had a very corny meaning; however Moushumi’s was especially entertaining as it just seems entirely pointless to me, naming your child after a breeze.

Despite their relationship really just starting from Gogol’s guilt towards his dad, I still felt really bad for him upon learning his wife was having an affair. The pain is described as “a poison spreading quickly through his veins” (Lahiri, 282). At quite a low point in his life, where he’d already been gutted so many times with multiple breakups and the death of his father, the pain after this news must have been unbearable.

Finally, Gogol remembers his dad the way he should’ve done so before. The last scene involves him starting to read The Overcoat. Rather than setting out on a one year journey of disappointment, sadness and regrets, he could’ve just gone through some of his dad’s largest passions to connect with him in a healthier way.

Sad to say this is the last post for The Namesake. I think it’s safe to say the book turned out to be much better than my initial impressions. Personally, I’m not a fan of stories that start so slow but it was definitely worth it in the end.