In The Namesake, the main character, Gogol, has a girlfriend named Maxine. Throughout the story, Maxine is a static character. Maxine has been with Gogol for a while now. Through the whole time, Maxine has loved him just the same. Maxine’s love does not change for Gogol, making her static. For example, Gogol took Maxine to his house for lunch. Although Ashima and Ashoke were very different than her own parents, Maxine still accepted them and still loved Gogol. Maxine lives with her parents, therefore their bond is very tight. It was quite obvious for her to notice that Gogol and his parents did not have a close bond, but Maxine did not care. Therefore, Maxine’s love for Gogol does not change. An example of Maxine showing static character indirectly would be when Gogol is recalling when he told Maxine his real name; “He remembers Maxine’s …show more content…
Gogol was very nervous to tell Maxine about his real name because through their whole relationship, Gogol was known as “Nikhil.” Gogol tells Maxine his name, and her reaction is not what Gogol had expected. This shows static character because telling Maxine Gogol’s real name could have been a problem. She may have gotten upset that she had not know. However, Maxine still accepted Gogol with his new name, presenting her as static. Another example of Maxine showing static character directly is when Maxine is visiting Gogol after Ashoke had died; “He stares at her, takes her hand and puts it back in her lap. “I miss you, Nikhil.”” (182). Maxine had not seen Gogol in a while, causing her to come up and pay her condolences. She says that she misses Gogol, showing that she loves him even though they have not seen each other in a while. Maxine’s personality affects her actions because she is a compassionate and loving person towards her parents and towards Gogol. With Maxine being loving and compassionate, it allows her to accept Gogol’s real name and to comfort Gogol when his father
Jhumpa Lahiri in The Namesake illustrates the assimilation of Gogol as a second generation American immigrant, where Gogol faces the assimilation of becoming an American. Throughout the novel, Gogol has been struggling with his name. From kindergarten to college, Gogol has questioned the reason why he was called Nikhil when he was a child, to the reason why he was called Gogol when he was in college. Having a Russian name, Gogol often encounters questions from people around him, asking the reason of his name. Gogol was not given an Indian name from his Indian family or an American name from the fact that he was born in America, to emphasize that how hard an individual try to assimilate into a different culture, he is still bonded to his roots as the person he ethnically is.
This shows how gender is perceived in different cultures. Another scene that shows how sexuality relates to these characters is when Gallimard first meets Renee, and they are about to have sex. She says, "You have a nice weenie." This demonstrates her sexuality as a heterosexual, but it catches Gallimard off guard because he had never had his penis complimented before. This shows how open she is about her sexuality and how playfully she expresses it.
The fact that this character is the main protagonist, the long timespan throughout the book, the different meanings impounded in the book, and mainly the plot the book is anchored on, obviously states that the main character, Gogol is a round character. Beginning off, Gogol is an oblivious and stubborn youngster because he constantly refuses the names (Gogol and Nikhil) his parents cast upon him. The reason for this is because he simply doesn’t understand the point/meaning behind his names. As time advances to his future years, not only does his character worsen from just being childlike, it goes downhill to culturally and socially unacceptable actions like losing his virginity (early) and partying in secret. In addition, he goes
Love in stories is often shown as the path to ultimate happiness, but love causes both protagonists to become distracted from their destiny. After meeting Fatima, a girl he falls in love with, Santiago loses his faith in the significance of his Personal Legend, declaring “I’ve found Fatima, and, as far as I’m concerned, she’s worth more than treasure” (Coelho 123). Santiago nearly decides to stay with Fatima and desist from continuing his quest. However, the alchemist tells him “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it's because it wasn't true love…” (Coelho 125). Love is not considered as the most important treasure and Santiago's own destiny has to come first. Fatima also urges Santiago to continue his quest, but Gogol’s girlfriend, Maxine, is less encouraging, even holding him back. Gogol deviates from his path to accepting his identity by dating her. Maxine is a typical white American girl, and their relationship distances Gogol from his culture. After Gogol’s father passes away, Maxine asks that he spend more time with her, but Gogol prefers to complete the rituals and follow Hindu traditions, leading them to break up. By conquering love, Gogol progresses on his path toward accomplishing his Personal Legend. The more selfish outlook on accomplishing one's destiny first before even love is a less common perspective shared by these stories. Love and Personal Legends both demand sacrificing what they hold most dear to themselves and accepting that nothing else can come before it, and one must choose to follow one or the
There he makes this identity of himself to try to totally forget his parents’ cultural identity. He changes his name to Nikhil and later ends up moving to New York with a girl by the name of Maxine. “He is overly aware that they are not used to passing things around the table, or to chewing food with their mouths completely closed. They avert their eyes when Maxine accidentally leans over to run her hand through her hair” (Lahiri 277). This quote is describing Maxine and Gogol having a meal with his parents. This whole scene is very awkward for both because Gogol’s parents aren’t used to doing things the American way. When the two are leaving his parents’ house Gogol’s father says to him “Drive safely, Gogol” (Lahiri 279). This confuses Maxine because she is not familiar with his real name. He doesn’t want to be reminded of who he was before. By chapter 8 Maxine and Gogol are no longer together due to
All parties to the debate are supportive of the Scottish Government’s aim of all Scotland’s children being protected. Instead, the debate is focuses around if the Named Person is the most effective way to achieve that aim. According to the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, the Named Person Scheme is an essential part of the Government and the public sector’s responsibility to enhance and support children’s rights. He continues to argues that the origins of the Named Person Scheme, ‘came from families themselves’. This statement would lead to the assumption that the Scheme was grounded in evidence and research. However Maggie Mellon contends the Named Person Scheme for every child is not grounded in any research evidence. Those in favour
Melinda’s friendships shape her identity as well. For example, her friends dumped her which left her feeling more self conscious. “What
He feels relief and confident. No one knows him as Gogol, but Nikhil. His life with a new name also gets changed. His transformation starts here. He starts doing many activities which he could not dare to do as Gogol.
[… The] only person who didn’t take Gogol seriously… who tormented him, the only person chronically aware of and afflicted by the embarrassment of his name, the only person who constantly questioned it and wished it were otherwise, was Gogol. (99-100)
Over the course of the novel, The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol is constantly moving, and by the time he is in his late twenties, he has already lived in five different homes, while his mother, Ashima has lived in only five houses her entire life. Each time Gogol moves, he travels farther away from his childhood home on Pemberton Road, symbolizing his search for identity and his desire to further himself from his family and Bengali culture. Alternatively, Ashima’s change of homes happens in order to become closer to family, representing her kinship with Bengali culture. Ashima has always had difficulty with doing things on her own, but by the end of the story she ultimately decides to travel around both India and the States without a real home as a result of the evolution of her independence and the breaking of her boundaries; in contrast, Gogol finally realizes that he has always stayed close to home, despite his yearning for escape, and settles into his newly discovered identity - the one that he possessed all along.
When Maxine comes into his life, he is still getting used to New York and wants to establish something there (126). Maxine catches his eye right away at the party, noticing her beauty and she reminded him of Ruth because they “lived in such close proximity as strangers (128).” Nikhil was much more comfortable around Maxine than he was with Ruth. With Ruth he had no experience with women, but this time he does, and her outgoing personality made him part of her family almost immediately when she welcomed him into her home on the first date (129). Nikhil falls in love with Maxine, something that the book never said about Ruth, hinting that he was more serious about this relationship than he was with Ruth (137). Maxine helps Nikhil more open about his family and childhood, something that his relationship lacked with Ruth, and although he didn’t really want to, he eventually let Maxine meet his parents (146). Their relationship ended as a result of Nikhil’s father’s death, because Nikhil became mentally unstable. He began spending almost all of his time with his mother, when he went to his father’s apartment he didn’t want Maxine to come with him (177), and when she tried to help him out he pushed her away (182). Maxine suggests shortly after his death that Nikhil should take time to get away, and he takes it the wrong way, becoming a
...ties are based on their attitudes, perceptions, values, and beliefs. What is happening within a person’s milieu can completely change a person, even over a short period of time. These changes are made in relevance to what time period and society he or she is living in. If a person is living in a time of need for a specific society, this person may be a main cause for change, which can cause changes within the person to occur. For the reason that Sylvia and Nameurena have been living in completely different circumstances, they have entirely distinct identities and have developed in their own unique ways. It was especially complex for Sylvia to maintain her individuality for she was being influenced by too many challenges, but with the help of Miss Behali, she maintained her own identity. Consequently, Sylvia has demonstrated how to preserve our individual identity.
In Gogol’s Wife by Tommaso Landolfi, the author is mocking men, women, and Gogol. The author mock’s men in their perception of women as an object or property. This can be seen by reading the title “Gogol’s Wife”. By making the wife “Gogol’s” she is seen as his property, instead of her own person. By defining a woman by her husband, the author is saying that women are inferior to their husbands. Likewise by not naming the story after the wife herself, she is seen more as an object and not as a person. Some men think that their wife is their possession or property and that she lives for him, Landolfi is mocking this idea. The author is mocking this idea of women being inferior to men and treating them as property to try and reform the view
Do our names give us meaning or do we give meaning to our names? From the moment we are born our parents are the ones to give us our name without knowing our personality, only hoping it fits who we grow up to be. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake, the protagonist is struggling with a conflict within himself whether to accept his Bengali culture or to embrace a new way. The American way. Being the son of two Bengali parents Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli were in a rush to name their newborn child after never having received the name sent by the protagonist’s grandmother. In this moment, at the rush of the hour the child was named Gogol, taking the name of an author of the book that saved the life of his father after having been in a horrible
In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, the protagonist, Gogol, struggles with his cultural identity. He is an American-born Bengali struggling to define himself. He wants to fit into the typical American-lifestyle, a lifestyle his parents do not understand. This causes him tension through his adolescence and adult life, he has trouble finding a balance between America and Bengali culture. This is exemplified with his romantic relationships. These relationships directly reflect where he is in his life, what he is going through and his relationship with his parents. Each woman indicates a particular moment in time where he is trying to figure out his cultural identity. Ruth represents an initial break away from Bengali culture; Maxine represents