Hello Followers,
Today i will be making a post on my thoughts and opinions of chapters 9 through the end of the novel the namesake. Jhumpa Lahiri expanded and developed our opinions on the rite of naming a child. Gogol is on the train with Moushoumi and their friends talking about naming babies when Gogol gave his personal opinion, "'There's no such thing as a perfect name. I think that human beings should be allowed to name themselves when they turn eighteen,' he adds. 'Until then, pronouns.'" (Lahiri, 245). Gogol has a strong opinion with the topic of naming a child because his name and the troubles it gave him had a large influence on his life. Personally, I don't agree with Gogol. I trust my parents with their power to name me. I feel like there is meaning behind a parent's choice of the name of their child. If you were able to choose your own name, there wouldn't be as much meaning behind your name as much as how much you like the sound of the name. I like how the system is now where you are given a name by your parents at birth and if you would like to change it, you have the ability to do so when you turn eighteen. Gogol had never liked his name and always wished he could change it and it'd be gone forever. "Without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will, once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist. Yet the thought of this eventual demise provides no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all.” (p.289). Since he changed his name to Nikhil, his dad died and his mom moved away, Gogol realised the name was actually gone forever. I think as Gogol become older and as a result, wiser, he realised there was an importance to his name of birth and felt guilty now that he never accepted it. He reads the short stories of Nikolai Gogol in order to learn more about his name. Gogol never had an open mind when it came to his name so he never wanted to learn about its meaning or importance. However, his father's death guilt tripped him into exploring the reason for who he was named after.
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I think Gogol is just really sour about his own name. First he hated it, so he changed it. Then his dad gives him the whole story about his name and he feels super guilty after for changing it. Now he's just always really timid when people bring up the topic about changing names so I guess that's why he doesn't like to talk about it. I do agree with you though, keeping the name your parents give you does have a much greater significance than if you came up with something yourself. Technically, Nikhil was given to him by his parents, but I guess they just preferred Gogol in the end after all.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on your opinion of how the naming system is right now. Not only because if you were to chose your own name that it would only be based on what one thinks sounds 'cool' but also because your name is something that grows with you. From when you are born (or a couple of days after), you are given a name and just as your personality develops, your name also grows: it makes you who you are. I also agree that Gogol was never fond of knowing the reason behind his name, wasn't open-minded enough.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of choosing your own name at 18 is crazy. I agree with your opinion that our parents or relatives should have the ability to name us when we are born. Can you imagine not having a name until you are 18? You would be sitting in class with a bunch of other people who will be called he/she. Imagine the confusion. Then when you turn 18, not only do you have to tell everyone your name but you have to make sure they remember it. Imagine knowing someone without a name for 18 years and only calling them he/she, then suddenly having to call them by a name such as Paul. It would be extremely difficult to have things the way Gogol said it should be. There are numerous other reason as to why, but you get the idea. Gogol only has this opinion because he had problems with his name since as a teenager. If his name was Nikhil then he would've never thought of this idea. Nonetheless, as you stated, he does find his true self, and the meaning in his name. He went through numerous tragic experiences such as his father's death all the way to numerous break ups in order to finally understand his identity. I am just glad that he actually got something out of all this.
ReplyDeleteExcellent insight and blog post!