The Namesake Part 3
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The end. I have a lot to cover on my final blog post for the namesake due to the many twists and turns the book took towards the ending. As the chapter begins, we see Gogol’s family mourning the loss of Ashoke and we see even more division between Maxine and Gogol. One positive thing that the death of Ashoke brought, was that Maxine and Gogol finally break up, the reason being that Maxine’s jealousy of how close Gogol began to come with his family, got to both of them. Now that Maxine was out of the picture, Gogol began to reconnect with his mother and sister, and started to spend a lot more time with them, which I was happy about. This goes to show that every young adult starts to pull away from their family at one point to spend more time with their partner/friends, but in the end, your family will almost always have your back.
Something big happened in the novel next.. Gogol met a girl, a very important girl named Moushumi. His mother first wants him to call her, however he shows no interest because he thinks she’ll be boring and just like his parents, because we all know how obsessed he is with american culture/women. Eventually he calls her and they go out and he is shocked at her beauty and how much she has changed. We learn along with Gogol about how similar they are. They have similar histories of not fitting in with their parents culture and trying to “americanize” themselves. This relationship progresses a lot, much more than his past two relationships. They travel, spend a lot of time together, and learn all about each other. You’d think they were perfect for each other, but soon after this, we learned that this was not the case. They get married, throwing a traditional wedding, which was surprising, but they do this to make their parents happy, which I thought was really nice of them. At the wedding, Gogol recognizes the courage it must have taken both his parents, to traditionally marry someone they had never met before, “Suddenly, sitting next to Moushumi, he realizes what it means, and he is astonished by his parents courage, the obedience that must have been involved in doing such a thing.” (Lahiri 222) Gogol finally realizes some of the struggles his parents have gone through in their lives.
As the book is nearly finished, we learn that Moushumi begins to have an affair with someone from her past. This was so beyond surprising for me, I absolutely never saw that coming. I expected that the novel would end with them happy together, the irony being that Gogol tried so hard to be the opposite of his parents his whole life, only to end up with a woman of his culture in the end, but I was so wrong. Gogol learns of her affair and we see how much this hurts him, even more than the hurt his name brought him, “And for the first time in his life, another man’s name upset Gogol more than his own.” (Lahiri 283)
A really important part of this novel, was when Ashima said that she felt upset that she was the one who set him up with her, and that it ended this badly. Gogol mentions that he should have been more attentive to his parents as well, “He had spent years maintaining distance from his Origins, his parents, in bridging that distance as best they could. And yet, for all his aloofness towards his family in the past, his years at college and then in New York, he has always hovered close to this quiet, ordinary town that had remained, for his mother and father stubbornly exotic.” (Lahiri 281) As much as he tried to distance himself from his family, he could always rely on the stability they brought to his eventful life. They both finally see where each other were coming from, something we never saw throughout the rest of the book.
Ashima makes the big decision to move back to her home country. This was something that I found really sad because at the start of the novel, we see her struggling to become accustomed to american tradition, but by the end, this has become her home, “She feels overwhelmed by the thought of the move she is about to make, to the city that was once home and is now in its own way foreign.” (Lahiri 278) Ashima’s home is now the United States of America, she feels as though Calcutta is foreign, her views and lifestyle have both done a complete 360, interestingly. Also, Gogol’s constant battle with his name gets some closure, as he recognizes that once his mother disappears from America, so will his name, “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.” (Lahiri 289) Demonstrating something I think everyone has felt at one point in their lives, I know I have. We often find ourselves fighting an inner battle, or maybe even an external one to get something we want, but in the end, sometimes it's best not to get what you want, which is exactly how Gogol is feeling.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I found this novel really unique and a very good opportunity to learn of the life and struggles of someone that is seemingly the opposite of myself. As I mentioned in my other posts, I struggled to connect with Gogol, but was able to in the end. You never know how much you have in common with someone until you learn their story. Everyone has their own problems in life, and their own insecurities.You may have never felt insecure about my name, but everyone has insecurities, everyone has secrets, everyone has darkness. I really enjoyed this book, because it felt as though I was experiencing the lives and struggles of other people. The book was really good at connecting characters with the reader, which made it even more enjoyable. I'm kind of even sad that it’s over because though we did get closure on most things, I was hoping Gogol’s life would have fell into place perfectly, though maybe it did.