Name Name Name

Nikolai Gogol

In Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, the protagonist, Gogol Ganguli struggles to come to terms with his name. He believes his name ultimately defines who he is.

Gogol begins to develop dissatisfaction with his name on his class field trip to a cemetery in which none of the names on the gravestones were his. He feels left out in society because, "no one he knows in the world [...] shares his name. Not even the source of this namesake" (Lahiri 78), Nikolai Gogol. In addition, "he hates that his name is both absurd and obscure, that it has nothing to do with who he is, that it is neither Indian nor American but of all things Russian" (Lahiri 76). However, Gogol does not understand the roots behind his name. His father has a special connection with the Russian author because he credits The Short Stories of Nikolai Gogol for saving his life when his rescuers notice the pages of the book moving. Even when his father gives Gogol this book for his fourteenth birthday, he does not even bother to open it because he wants nothing to do with his name.

Gogol feels as though his name defines him and his place in society. At a party, he felt comfortable t to introduce himself as Nikhil, not Gogol, because according to him it changes peoples perception of him. When he officially decides to change his name to Nikhil, he lets his new name change his identity.

Nikhil (Gogol) does not understand that he does not have to let his name ultimately define who he is. His path in life is in his own hands and is not predestined by his name.