Food is also a very important part of the novel. Many important things happen surrounded by food in the book. Like when Ashima is trying to make an Indian snack that’s very popular, since she is homesick. Ashima just cant seem to make the snack perfect, which demonstrates that she is far from what she is used to calling home. Food recurs throughout the book, showing us how important it is to the Indian culture and Gogol’s family.
Gogol’s family is constantly moving. Moving has become a big part of their lives and being on a train isn’t just a mode of transportation it has become a cultural gateway. All the time spent on the trains is the transportation time between different adventures and cultures. Perhaps the most important time spent on a train in the novel is when Gogol got his name. Gogol’s father’s accident inspired him to name Gogol after a famous writer that “saved” his life. A lot of other things happen on trains throughout the book, like when Sonia has an allergic reaction, or when Gogol meets his American girlfriend Ruth, the list goes on and on.
This book demonstrates a lot of different types of families. Different races and cultures, including Americans and Indians. Families with divorced parents, and families with young parents. As children grow up they have to decide whether they want to follow in their parents foot steps and in their cultural ways, or if they want to find their own. Gogol is someone who didn’t want anything to do with his parents culture, he was unsure about everything the entire book. Gogol didn’t enjoy his family life so when he fell in love with Maxine he fell in love with how her family lived too.
Pretty much everyone in this book has struggled with identity. Some struggle more than others but they all feel the pressure of no knowing who they are. They are being pulled between many different cultures and torn between the idea of what culture to side with. Gogol (as we know) has the hardest time trying to figure out what his true identity is.
The book always refers to Gogol’s Indian routes. His parents are Indian and Its a big part of him. In the book they visit India for about 8 months; his parents wanted him and his sister to adapt to Indian culture. But Gogol was embarrassed of his Indian culture and didn’t want much to do with it.
In the novel Gogol’s family moves around a lot. The moves to a few different states in the US. Gogol’s parents are originally from India but moves to America before Gogol was born. But whats important about this is the cultural differences. This is the main reason Gogol is so conflicted with who he really is, setting is a huge factor in the novel.
While in relationships Gogol is very different from when he isn’t in one. When he was with Maxine she controlled him and he just went along with it, he did everything she asked and he didn’t give it a second thought. It was the same situation with Moushumi. He doesn’t focus on how he feels, he just wonders what his partner thinks about him.
Gogol is very confused throughout the book. To begin, he doesn’t really know who he is. He lives in America but has a Bengali background, with a Russian name. Needless to say he’s torn between who he really is.
The tone of this book includes some hope. Gogol is hopeful to find what he wants in life. He doesn’t like his name and throughout the novel he doesn’t know who the real “Gogol” is. He spends the whole book trying to figure out who he really is, and he is hopeful that he’ll figure it out.
Throughout the novel the characters make a ton of mistakes and instead of making them sound like bad people the author creates them with a sympathetic tone. A good example for this is the character Moushumi, Gogol’s wife; she cheats on Gogol and instead of making her seem like a terrible person she gets to have her own moment to defend her side of the story.
The Namesake 