The Namesake Chapters 5-7: GOGOL... or NIKHIL

WARNING: SPOILERS (duh)

We continue our journey in the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. In this segment, massive developments happen; so, buckle your seat belts. Let's begin!

Right at the beginning of the gate, we see Gogol change his name to Nikhil. Heading to the court room in an early morning before his transition into university life, Gogol develops increasing disdain for his seemingly odd name as he grows older. He has reached a tipping point- a point where he cannot stand being called Gogol (a "pet name"). We see Gogol's self-consciousness when his father asks Gogol, "Who does not take you seriously?" (Lahiri, 100). Gogol responds with:

"'People,' [Gogol] said, lying to his parents. For his father had a point; the only person who didn't take Gogol seriously, the only person who tormented him, the only person chronically aware of and afflicted by the embarrassment of his name, the only person who constantly questioned it and wished it were otherwise, was Gogol." (Lahiri, 100)

Relating his name and who he is as a person to Russian author Nikolai Gogol, who had lifelong unhappiness, mental instability, and ultimately starved himself to death, Gogol (now Nikhil) has an internal struggle of not only hating his name, but also his identity. By changing his name, he thinks that he can have a restart, live a new life, and embody a bold individual to pursue whatever in life.

Now do I think he should change his name? Nope. But I understand where he comes from.

Get ready for real talk in the next two paragraphs.

Kevin Hart Real Talk. Digital image. Meme Generator. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.

I comprehend the whole ideal of being self conscious about something. For me, when I was growing up, I was self conscious about my physique and, like how immature junior high kids are, I thought about it over and over again to a point where it really bothered me. With this being a thorn in my junior high and eventual high school freshman mentality, I, obtaining a gym membership and performing my own amateur Crossfit workouts, eventually matured as an individual, thinking no more about the now seemingly pesky little thought.

Now for Gogol's situation, I understand his self conscious about his name (WAAAAAY more than I was about my physique) and his usages of the name "Nikhil" as a solution. However, I believe it is the wrong solution; I think that every individual should go through trials and tribulations to discover their own genuine true identity and be able to accept who they are as a person. This is about maturing as a person and by Gogol changing his name, I think that he is trying to run away from his identity and not trying to solve it. Even worse, he is disrespecting his parents, conveying to them that they (Ashima and Ashoke) messed up when naming him and that their thoughts towards his identity and what he represents is irrelevant. I think he should instead grow tolerance towards his name and really understand why his parents named him the way they did (given that Gogol learned about Ashoke's train accident after Gogol changed his name). Ultimately, names give people a sense of identity, as explained in this article. (Citation: Hedrick, Michael. "How our names shape our identity." Editorial. The Week. N.p., 15 Sept. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.)

In this section, we see Gogol's growth. BYE BYE cute baby face, innocent Gogol....

HELLO REBELLIOUS, NARROW-MINDED, (kinda) FLIRTY NIKHIL!!!!!

Now in university (and having a new identity as Nikhil), this guy now thinks he has a right to be dismissive to his parents: "But now that he's Nikhil it's easier to ignore his parents, to tune out their concerns and pleas." (Lahiri, 105) Now hold up...

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR PARENTS!!!???

Why Gogol why????

Confused girl meme. Digital image. Know Your Meme. Cheez Burger, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.

They legit spent their entire efforts in this new American world raising you and now you suddenly find it easier to ignore them? Bad move Gogol, BAD MOVE. Aside from his attitude towards his parents, Gogol uses his new name to become soooooo much more rebellious and crazy:

"It is as Nikhil, that first semester, that he grows a goatee, starts smoking Camel Lights at parties and while writing papers and before exams, discovers Brian Eno and Elvis Costello and Charlie Parker. It is as Nikhil that he tajes Metro-North into Manhattan one weekend with Jonathan and gets himself a fake ID that allows him to be served liquor in New Haven bars. It is Nikhil that he loses his virginity at a party at Ezra Stiles, with a girl...By the time he wakes up, hung-over, at three in the morning, she has vanished from the room, and he is unable to recall her name." (Lahiri, 105)

Through this new name, he creates an "alterego" and a second character he is able to become, completely contrasting who he was in high school and in front of his parents. Yet as he changes his name, "there is only one complication: he doesn't feel like Nikhil. Not yet." (Lahiri, 105) This just proves that Gogol should just accept who he was and shouldn't have changed his name in the first place. Watch- I bet that he is going to change his name again to Tom Cruise or something by the end of the book, since he wants to be a different person and a hot shot and all.

Tom Cruise approves of Gogol changes his name to Tom Cruise

Maverick (Tom Cruise) from Top Gun Approves. Digital image. Pinterest. Pinterest, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.

With growing up comes romance: homeboy Nikhil aka Gogol aka Ganguli Jr. aka whatever he wants to be called finally got his first girlfriend, a girl named Ruth, whom he met on a train. Looks like taking Spanish class and learning the Spanish, the language of love, FINALLY helped out!! (lol just kidding). Now, as Ruth flew to England to study Oxford, we begin to see development in Gogol as he finds out about being ABCD (American born confused deshi), something he refuses to call himself as he "never thinks of India as desh. He thinks of it as Americans do, as India."(Lahiri, 118) Even further of the denial of being an ABCD, Gogol

"has no ABCD friends at college. He avoids them, for they remind him too much of the way his parents choose to live, befriending people not so much because they like them, but because of a past they happen to share." (Lahiri, 119)

Now for me, I am pretty much the exact opposite of Gogol. Now despite being an American born Chinese (being one letter away from having the ABCD title), I find my closest friends being ABCs or CBCs (Canadian born Chinese). Because of many similar interests, such as knowing which insta-ramen noodles brands are the best and being able to secretly gossip in Mandarin, my closest friends and I are able to take great pride in our identities and backgrounds and to share a very close bond with one another, easily relating to each other's thoughts and ideas. For me, it is my very background that is able to connect me and my closest friends together- the opposite for Gogol. We take great pride in our identities, and will continue this way.

I completely can't relate to Gogol being soooo "distraught" about this part of his identitiy development. Tbh, I think he should just suck it up and stop worrying about his whole identity and everything. What do you think he should do? How do you think he should he think?

When Ruth returns back from Oxford, the two break up (HAAAAAAA KARMAAAAAA FOR IGNORING YOUR PARENTS!!!!)...

OOOOHHHH Sweet Karma

Alec. Sign Gets Instant Revenge. Digital image. PBH2. N.p., 12 Jan. 2015. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.

buuuuuuut, Gogol soon finds another loves interest in a new girl: Maxine Ratliff. Dating Maxine, he becomes even more dismissive towards his parents, abandoning his previous apartment to live with Maxine and her rich parents who own a swanky mansion. Immersing himself in the Ratliff family's lives and their true "stereotypical American dream", he begins to fall in love with their lifestyle: "Quickly, simultaneously, he falls in love with Maxin's, the house, and Gerald and Lydia's manner of living, for to know her and love her is to know and love all of these things." (Lahiri, 137) Rejecting his past lifestyle with his parents, he embraces his girlfriend's and her parent's lifestyle and almost fully becomes his alter-ego character, Nikhil. Vacationing to New Hampshire with Maxine, he briefly visits his parents due to pleads from Ashima, and then disconnects himself from his previous world. Not cool Gogol. NOT COOL.

What I would give to Gogol

Disapproval meme. Digital image. Key Word Suggest. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.

Then Chapter 7 hits... RIP Ashoke. Once he dies, the remaining Ganguli family unite- Sonia returns from California and Gogol (FINALLY) abandons his life with Maxine. I feel, in this chapter, Gogol got the shock that he needed- he realized that he was severely wrong for abandoning his family (Karma round 2?). Taking more responsibility in identifying the body and cleaning Ashoke's rented apartment, Gogol learns his lesson and realizes that he messed up, engaging his life as Gogol, not Nikhil.

One word that can describe this chapter is "frustrating." It's just Gogol repeatedly trying to ignore his previous life, attempting to lead a new life as Nikhil. I just hope that Gogol can really mature; if he doesn't, he will find himself with no true support around him. He will live in a bare world and only have a messy "Nikhil" life to sustain himself.

Do you think Ashoke's death was a good or bad thing to Gogol?

Let's see what's in store for Gogol's future as an adult...but the only way to do that is to continue reading.