In The Namesake, characters experience the interior conflict and tug-of-war between cultures and traditions. In an AICE Literature length response, discuss how the struggle of identity plays a major role in the novel.
Obviously the main character, Gogol, has a inner struggle of identity. This plays a role in Gogol's relationship with his parents, Maxine, and Moushumi.
With Ashima, her identity is defined by her family. As she realizes that her family is leaving her, living their own lives, and "fighting the system," she realizes the inevitability of it, as it is the "American Way."
Moushumi struggles with internal conflict after she marries a Bengali man, something she swore she'd never do. The fact that she did was bound to cause inner conflicts within her.
In the book, Gogol's relationship to his Indian roots and name is something that is constantly in flux during the book. He fights with his identity with his name, changing it when he goes off to college. He fights his Indian heritage for his entire life, up until his fathers death and he marries Moushumi. Her inclusion into his life reflects his love for something different and "non-Indian," while at the same time bowing down to his heritage. Her Indian heritage, while self-suppressed like his, is still a tie to the life his parents envisioned for him. He realized that, as hard and as far as he "ran" from his heritage, it was not enough, and he ultimately reconciled with the Indian part of him, as well as his namesake.
Ashima was disappointed at her children's relationships. Especially Gogol's relationship with Maxine. Though Ashima warmed up to Maxine, it was only because she was worried Gogol would never get married "at a right age." I think it's a bit ironic that the want she has for her children to adopt Indian ideals and traditions is what ultimately drives them away in some respects. As she realizes this (while they're young), she and Ashoke start adopting American traditions: big birthday parties. Christmas, Thanksgiving, among others I'm sure. I feel her inner struggle is somewhat opposite of Gogol's, in that she wants her kids to keep living in a "traditional" Indian manner, while she herself slowly adopts the "American" way. She works at the local library. Gossips with other mom's about their kids. Sets up the Christmas tree even though the kids are out of the house. However, I believe she's found a much more "comfortable" medium in her place in the world.
I'm going to ignore Moushumi's character as a child, because I don't think it's relevant (tell me if I'm wrong if we do blog response for these blogs). I wouldn't be talking about Moushumi if I didn't think her internal struggles were relevant. She's full of conflicting ideas and identities. She ran much farther away from her identity as an Indian woman, that I think she's the only one who's identity actually seriously changes in the book (at least when you only look at her as an adult). While in college, she literally ran to an entirely different culture, and immersed herself in it to the point where she couldn't be Indian. She was either American or French, but not Indian. I think her inner conflict was her relationship with Gogol. It was too similar to the life she had sworn to never be apart or, or enter into again. Once she saw the letter from that one French fry, I think she subconsciously leapt at the idea of being free from the culture she swore she would never be apart of.
Ultimately, I think Moushumi is the one that goes through the most drastic and destructive identity crisis. Unlike Gogol or Ashima, however, I believe she wasn't even aware that the conflict was going on in the first place. Maybe because her identity and what she believed to be true about herself was so conflicting that it was easiest for her to compartmentalize, or because Julumpaloop didn't talk that much about it.
Either way, her relationship with Gogol was fucked from the beginning.
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