In the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri mentions a short story named “The Overcoat” written by Nikolai Gogol numerous times. This “mentioning” is also known as an “allusion.” The Namesake is about the Ganguli family and their transformation to an American family. Gogol Ganguli is the character that is closely related to “The Overcoat” which is about the life and also the death of a man by the name Akakiy Akakievitch. Besides the fact that is is named in The Namesake, “The Overcoat” can be related to the novel. Through the themes and the what happen with the characters can be seen as paralleled with these two texts. Both Akakiy and Gogol are born without a name. The mothers struggle to think of what to name their child. Later, they are both given a name essentially from their fathers. In “The Overcoat,” Akakiy’s mother decides to name Akakiy after his father. When she decides this she says that “[h]is father’s name was Akakiy, so let his son’s be Akakiy too” (The Overcoat, 2). In The Namesake, Gogol’s father, Ashoke, thinks of a name. “With a slight quiver of recognition, as i...
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.
In “Nevsky Prospect,” the third person narrator pulls double duty by describing two stories that parallel each other in time. After describing the seemingly harmless bustling avenue, mustaches, and clothing of Nevsky Prospect, the narrator happens to come upon two different characters: an artist and an officer. First, he follows the artist and right away, the narrator seems to be absorbed in the world of the artist. We see this occur when it is often hard to tell when the artist is dreaming or awake. The narrat...
In describing the setting, the general locale is the prison in the coldest part of Russia- Siberia, geographically but socially depicting the social circumstances in the prison, but draws analogies to the general social, political and economic circumstances of Russia during the Stalinist era (form 1917 revolution up to 1955). The symbolic significance of the novel and the film (genres) reflects experiences, values and attitudes of the Russian society. The genres reflect the origins of the Russian social disorders and massive counts of political misgivings which watered down real communism in Russia. We are constantly reminded of the social and cultural heritage and originality of Russian ethnic groups through those different levels of meanings
“For by now, he’s come to hate questions pertaining to his name, hates having constantly to explain. He hates having to tell people that it doesn’t mean anything “in Indian” (Lahiri 76). From this quote from the book Gogol is tired of his name and tired of people thinking it has something to do with being Indian, when they don’t know the real meaning of his
In “The Nose” and “The Overcoat,” Gogol makes fun of the rank-conscious Russian society. In “The Overcoat,” he emphasizes the phony world of Russian officials, who are powerless mediators under a hierarchy in which each person fears his superior. Of the two stories, “The Nose” is lighter-hearted and more comedic. On the surface, it is a humorous story about a government official literally losing his nose and searching for it. For much of the time, Gogol makes fun at the official’s expense. In many passages much is stated comically about how stratified Russian society was at the time.
Odysseus decides to begin his introduction to his tale with stating his name, “I am Laёrtês’ son, Odysseus”. This is the detail of Odysseus’ introduction which resonates most with me and is important in the fact that names have been important in the Odyssey. From book 1, it is shown that names are an important tool in recognizing and respecting the gods. For example, the goddess Athena is called many names including, “the gray-eyed goddess” and “Pallas Athena”. Each one of these epithets, or nicknames, tells story or shows a particular aspect of that god or goddess.Odysseus’ epithet from this line would be, “Laёrtês’ son,” which tells the story of his lineage.
Well my Messas name was Nole William, and we were named for him. But when we was freed, we were told to take freed names.
[… 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)
The desolate and chaotic conditions of the society can have a significant amount of influence on the development on a certain character of a novel. For instance, at the time the novel, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky was written, the conditions of the setting, was very chaotic and was in turmoil. Crime and Punishment took place in Russia, where Russia during the time Crime and Punishment was written was suffering due to economical downfalls and failure of the poor reforms of Tsar Alexander II; ultimately transforming Russia into a poverty-stricken country. The failure of Alexander’s reforms affected much of setting in which Crime and Punishment was written in, which ultimately contributed in character development of Raskolinokov. This is evident through the use of metaphor, which Dostoevsky uses to compare the state of the country to Raskolinkov’s apartment.
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.
works of literature have tremendous amounts of similarity especially in the characters. Each character is usually unique and symbolizes the quality of a person in the real world. But in both stories, each character was alike, they represented honor, loyalty, chivalry, strength and wisdom. Each character is faced with a difficult decision as well as a journey in which they have to determine how to save their own lives. Both these pieces of literatures are exquisite and extremely interesting in their own ways.
Raskolnikov, a former student, forced to drop out of the university because he is unable to afford the tuition, is forced to work part-time with his friend Razumihin as a translator. Through this endeavor, Raskolnikov, or Rodya as his mother calls him, becomes well versed in the literature and existentialist philosophies of the time. Writing to a local newspaper, Rodya ventures to propose a superman theory similar to that of Nietzsche, made popular around the time Dostoevsky wrote the novel. “I only believe in my leading idea that men are in general divided by a law of nature into two categories, inferior (ordinary)… and men who have the gift or the talent to utter a new word.” This principle, that man is simply either ordinary or extraordinary, limited by rules and boundaries or allowed to transgress these barriers en route to his planned greater goal for humanity, gains Raskolnikov little profit or renown. Though the extraordinary man theory could easily be applied to Napoleon, as is done in Rodya’s thesis, few of Dostoevsky’s characters accept its revolutionary psychological approach to criminal behavior. Only the lead detective, Porfiry Petrovich, comes to accept Raskolnikov’s approach. This parallel epiphany is ironic, indeed, because throughout the novel, Rodya and Porfiry are cast as foils. Even this revelation, though...
Raskolnikov's article, "On Crime," is vital to the understanding of his beliefs. This article also has a profound effect on Crime and Punishment as a whole, the subject matter being one of the main themes of the novel. The idea of the "extraordinary man" is referred to literally throughout the book, but also notable is the subconscious effect the idea has on Raskolnikov. Sometimes Raskolnikov is not even aware of this influence. It is important to note originality, or the ability to "utter a new word," as a defining characteristic of the extraordinary man. Therefore, we must take into account the presence of similar ideas, those of Pisarev, Nietzsche, and nihilism, as these might bring to light the possibility that Raskolnikov is not original, a possibility that haunts him throughout the novel.
This is the central theme in which it is described that not having a strong sense of where one comes from, impacts who they are. One of the biggest examples of feeling like he doesn’t fit in is his name. Due to his name not being Bengali nor American, he feels that he is separated from both cultures and essentially from his family. He expresses that “he hates having to explain to people that it does not mean anything ‘in Indian’. ” He always feels left out, especially during Bengali get-togethers where he does not fit in with Sonia, or with the mothers or with the fathers. Gogol is not self-confident when he thinks of himself as Gogol. When he changes his name to Nikhil, for a while, he is unaware of how to be that person for quite some time. The change of his name expresses his change into adulthood, and it is the first step in him finding out who he is. In a way, the two names represent the two parts of his life; Gogol representing the life his parents laid out for him and Nikhil describing the life he wants for himself. Gogol is the name given to him by his parents which was never supposed to be his real name. He always finds it embarrassing that he has a pet name that was turned into a good name. Gogol represents the life that his parents have laid out for him which is a stable home and a stable life, both predictable and with lots of
The story I chose to do to my essay on is “The Overcoat” by Nikolal Gogol. I decided to focus on the aspects such as setting, theme, and symbolism. People are ridiculed and belittled every day because, they have less but, the crazy part is the person is content and satisfied about what they do have. Life isn’t always what it’s cracked up to so focus on what you have instead of what you don’t.