The Namesake Reflection: Don't Lose Your Identity

As a son of two Indian immigrants, Gogol struggles to find his true identity as an Indian American throughout The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.  As a young child, Gogol loves his name and embraces it when he starts school. As he grows older and gets ready for college, Gogol not only is absolutely disgusted with his name, but his primary goal is to discard all aspects of his Indian identity. Gogol’s name change to Nikhil in the courthouse symbolizes his complete transformation. It was as if "a prisoner was walking free" (Lahiri 102).

When Nikhil begins college at Yale, his soul focus in life is to not be the Gogol that his parents want him to be. Nikhil no longer feels as bound to his parents as Gogol once did (Out With the Old & In With the New). Without his parents around, Nikhil is able to break all of the rules of Indian tradition. "Now that he's Nikhil, it's easier to ignore his parents, to throw out their concerns and pleas" (Lahiri 105). As a completely new person, Nikhil is able to “loosen his morals without any guilt” (Out With the Old & In With the New) and act in a manner he had never been able to with the pressure of his Indian heritage. Nick, as his peers at Yale call him, grows a goatee, smokes, and goes to bars under aged.

Additionally, without the identity of Gogol, Nikhil is able to connect with women unlike his “predecessor” had ever been able to. With a boost in confidence, Nick no longer felt any shame when speaking with women. “With Ruth, Nick quickly develops a sexual relationship as he has never been able to do before” (Out With the Old & In With the New). Meanwhile, Nikhil detaches himself from his family. Where as I feel that becoming more courageous and outgoing may be beneficial to Gogol, the fact that he no longer even wants to communicate with his own parents disgusts me. Gogol is clearly trying to rebel against his own culture by resorting to a polar opposite personality. He must realize that “throwing the baby out with the bath water” is impossible. Nonetheless, Nikhil goes even farther in his relationship with Maxine. “He lives with a girl isn't married to while his own parents have never even show physical affection in his presence.”

Lahiri highlights the fact that every time Gogol is faced with crisis in his life (ex. his Indian styled upbringing, his fathers death), he rapidly transforms his personality to ensure he is behaving completely opposite to the way he had done previously. When he goes to college and works in New York City, Gogol develops a relationship with Maxine that would be completely alien to his traditional Indian parents. Later in the novel, when Ashoke dies, Gogol again transitions to an opposite personality by breaking up with Maxine, developing a stronger attachment to his mother and sister by moving in with them and finally by marring Moshumi. By the end of the novel, The Namesake, Lahiri points out that Gogol’s strategy of resorting to the polar opposite doesn’t end well when he ends up having to get a divorce with Moshumi. Gogol’s lack of balance is what leads him to his own downfall time and time again.

 In the end, I felt that Lahiri strongly encourages us not to handle times of difficulty in life by making hasty decisions and losing our own identity in the process. Instead, I personally hope to follow her lesson by making more rational decisions myself. I found The Namesake particular interesting because I, too, am an Indian American. Though there are times when I feel angry and frustrated by the traditions of my Indian heritage, I hope to deal with my issues in a more healthy and gradual manner than Gogol did.