So "The Namesake" has led me to think a lot about names recently, starting with the implications of naming things or people as a form of ownership (especially after Dmitri's "renaming" of Moushumi as Mouse because he couldn't pronounce her name, and that her second name comes from a man who represents a twisted form of independence from the predictability of her husband and marriage) or as a form of legacy. Both my sister and I have names that first belonged to another generation of Owens' or Pikes, names that hold significance beyond there literal meaning (if I had to live knowing my parents named me after a holiday I'd be upset). Moushumi's name; a force of nature. Ashima; without borders, a resident everywhere and nowhere. But Gogol is different from the start, and even when he changes it to Nikhil it becomes Americanized, shortened to Nick.
Some particulars I've also been ruminating over during this novel: 1. Food. I loved the way that food was so universally present in this novel, and how particular meals held significance and characterized so much about the moment. Some highlights: Gogol rebelling against his parents by eating with a fork, Ashima's pregnancy cravings and huge party preparations, the extreme food snobbery of Maxine's parents and friends. 2nd thing I've been thinking about: The way the loneliness or alienation of the Indian American characters is often shown in scenes where those character are the minority, and especially how that loneliness manifests in Gogol's relationships with white women. The relationship between Gogol and Moushumi contrasted to this idea, regardless of their commonality of childhood and national identity, because they were still too different to be happy together. These things steer me away from the oft-reviewed sentiment that Lahiri has "once again" captured THE Indian-American experience, THE struggles of first generation Americans. Third thing that kept coming up for me were the ideas brought up about gender and the expectations placed on women in each marriage and relationship. Like Emily, I also saw and enjoyed the film version of the Namesake, but upon reading the novel itself I was surprised by its brilliant focus on Ashima at the beginning and end of the novel. Her loneliness, resilience and priorities reveal so much about the differences between her and Gogol's lives and generations.
Hope you all are having a great break, happy reading! I'm having a hard time getting into White Teeth so far, how is everyone else doing?
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The meaning and power of names came up in my family just last night. In the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition, children are named after relatives who have passed away as a way to honor their legacies. There was a big hullabullo when some family friends named their child after their (living) grandmother. Chaos! It was seen as bad luck and a bad choice.
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