His relationship with Maxine is an extension of this. At the rice ceremony, an infant Gogol experiences an important Indian tradition that predicts his future path in life. Gogol, about to embark on a new life in college, wishes to do away with the name he hates and attempt to try on a new identity, one that he has complete control over. The closest intimacy they share before their wedding is when Ashima steps briefly, secretly, into Ashoke's shoes. In this lesson, you will read about Gogol, the protagonist from Jhumpa Lahiri's ''The Namesake.'' Sometimes it can end up there. Read about how Gogol's name impacts his life and causes him to struggle with his identity as a Bengali-American. Growing up in a suburban town in Massachusetts, with intermittent, long trips to Calcutta, Gogol quickly becomes conscious of the difference between his parents' culture and the world in which he lives. Joseph Stalin did not like it, however, and the statue was replaced by a more orthodox Socialist Realist monument in 1952. I think Gogol's father-son bond is, the most important one in his life. As a result he starts to reconnect with his family, something that is causing him to question his lifestyle. [13][14] His later writing satirised political corruption in the Russian Empire (The Government Inspector, Dead Souls). My father named me Gogol after the Russian author Nikolai Gogol because he was reading one of Gogol's books when he was almost killed in a train crash. He undermined Russian Romanticism by making vulgarity reign where only the sublime and the beautiful had before. Gogol's father gave him that name serving a link to a secret past, and the hope of a better future. What are the themes of "The Namesake" and explain how they are significant to the title. Ashoke then comes up with the idea to name him after Nikolai Gogol. [65] The episodes were also released theatrically starting with Gogol. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. As soon as Ashoke dies, Gogol begins to remember all of the happy memories that he had shared with his father. All rights reserved. 20 March]1809[1] 4 March[O.S. This is what upsets her most to admit: that the affair causes her to feel strangely at peace, the complication of it calming her, structuring her day. What is meant by the word "namesake" in "The Namesake"? When this relationship sours, Gogol's embrace of his name with the reading of a collection of the writer's work helps to establish that Gogol is more of a centered human being as he has made peace with who he is in the world, something that includes embracing his own familial background. Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko wrote his Christmas Eve ( , with libretto in Ukrainian by Mykhailo Starytsky) in 1872. Quoted by Vasily Gippius in his monograph. 2011, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-does-gogols-relationship-family-influences-250659. The fact that she is so different from him is what attracts Gogol. When he grows up, he tries to separate himself from these traditions by avoiding the Bengali themed parties his parents throw and . As was typical of the left-bank Ukrainian gentry of the early nineteenth century, the family spoke Ukrainian as well as Russian. Alov." Ruth was Gogol's first real girlfriend who he went to . Purchasing During this time, Ashoke dies, and Gogol feels guilty for being so distant during the past few months. Gogol had proposed to her by presenting her with the expensive hat that she had tried on during their first date. Gogol's romantic encounters are very different from what his parents experienced or expected for their son. 7 Pages. hands in their two U.S. passports and two American ones, asking for two Hindu meals. 21 February]1852) was a Russian novelist, short story writer and playwright of Ukrainian origin.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Before Gogol goes off to college at Yale, he decides to officially change his name from Gogol to Nikhil, this name change represents a maturation as he attempts to find his own identity. Ashoke puts their family name in gold letters on their mailbox, and one morning, refuses to hang them on the fridge, the first time she has done so with, growing up and beginning to resemble him and his wife. It appeared in Moscow in 1842, under a new title imposed by the censorship, The Adventures of Chichikov. Amelia Glaser. Like Sterne before him, Gogol was a great destroyer of prohibitions and of romantic illusions. Want 100 or more? He was not popular among his schoolmates, who called him their "mysterious dwarf", but with two or three of them he formed lasting friendships. During this time, he also developed a close and lifelong friendship with the historian and naturalist Mykhaylo Maksymovych.[22]. How does the loss of Gogol's father turn him back toward his . He has merged his identity with theirs. "In The Namesake, how does Gogol's relationship to his family influence the development of his identity?" In the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri there are many relationships portrayed throughout the story. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. Gogol was born in the Ukrainian Cossack town of Sorochyntsi, in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire.His mother was descended from Leonty Kosyarovsky, an officer of the Lubny Regiment in 1710. It is a place that has been good to them, as much a part of them as a member of the family. Gogol is also inspired by the design of the Taj Mahal when the family visits India together, when he is in high school. He is presented with a plate full of soil, a pen, and a dollar bill. In The Namesake, how does Gogol's definition of home change throughout the novel? To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. In their personal life "they want to settle life like their parents but their . Their contact until tonight has been artificial, imposed, something like his relationship to his cousins in India but lacking even the justification of blood ties. Well, it is quite a remarkable story. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. "Christmas Eve" was also adapted into a film in 1961 entitled The Night Before Christmas. The book established his reputation as one of the greatest prose writers in the language. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Pushkin's death produced a strong impression on Gogol. Many writers and critics have recognized Gogol's huge influence on Russian, Ukrainian and world literature. Because youre Gogol.. Gogol is the center of the novel, and it is his journey from childhood into young adulthood that the narrator tracks most closely. Gogol keeps the relationship a secret from his parents. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Maxine and her parents represent what Gogol sees as the best of American culture: the interest in art and physical affection and relational openness that Gogol has never known with his own biological family. His pictures of nature are strange mounds of detail heaped on detail, resulting in an unconnected chaos of things: "His people are caricatures, drawn with the method of the caricaturist which is to exaggerate salient features and to reduce them to geometrical pattern. Inspired by the idea of planning a trip to Italy, kindly on this marriageBen makes Sonia happy in a way that Moushumi never did with. mortgage, driving to town to shop for groceries or to visit Bengali friends. His father questions his motivations by asking who did not take his son seriously due to his name alone. The comedy, a violent satire of Russian provincial bureaucracy, was staged thanks only to the intervention of the emperor, Nicholas I. White describes his childhood summertime experiences. When Gogol was born, his great-grandmother from India has the obligation of naming him. The notes start in an ironic . He cannot imagine his parents sitting at Lydia and Geralds table, enjoying Lydias cooking, appreciating Geralds selection of wine. for a customized plan. [31] Unveiled in 1909, the statue received praise from Ilya Repin and from Leo Tolstoy as an outstanding projection of Gogol's tortured personality. By the end of the book, Gogol is single again and unsure of what his future will hold. The thought is comforting to him. Based on this work, Vladimir Nabokov published a summary account of Gogol's masterpieces.[42]. However, she gets sick and is never able to tell anyone what she wants to name the baby. Throughout the novel, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the character Gogol changes in many different ways. Latest answer posted September 02, 2012 at 9:16:26 PM. Gogol was one of the first to use the technique of the grotesque, in works such as "The Nose", "Viy", "The Overcoat", and "Nevsky Prospekt". The Beginning in August 2017. A bird begins to call. The novel spends relatively little time discussing Gogols friendships, although he is presumed to have some friends. The story's main protagonist, Gogol is the son of Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli. At this time, Russian editors and critics such as Nikolai Polevoy and Nikolai Nadezhdin saw Gogol as a regional Ukrainian writer, and used his works to illustrate the specific of Ukrainian national characters. The family shifts into action, all of their lives now changed forever. [44] Of all Gogol's stories, "The Nose" has stubbornly defied all abstruse interpretations: D.S. Some sources indicate he was born 19/31 March 1809. Living a relatively protected life in the United States, Gogol cannot begin to fathom where his father is coming from, and has thought of his father as a symbol of old fashioned cultural tradition. Without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will, once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist. It is as if a building hed been responsible for designing had collapsed for all to see. However, as Gogol grows up, he starts to hate his name. They eventually divorce after Moushumi admits to having an affair. Gogol and Sonia know these people, but they do not feel close to them as their parents do. ", The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich, Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev, Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "Gogol: russe et ukrainien en mme temps", "Gogol's eloquentia corporis: Einverleibung, Identitaet und die Grenzen der Figuration by Natasha Drubek-Meyer", "The Nationalism of Nikolai Gogol': Betwixt and Between? How does the loss of Gogol's father turn him back toward his . We will take a look on how they impacted his life both in the book and the movie. His father, . Within minutes, before their eyes Ashoke and Ashima slip into bolder, less complicated versions of themselves, their voices louder, their smiles wider, revealing a confidence that Gogol and Sonia never see on Pemberton Road. when he is with maxine, gogol fully integrates himself into maxine's familyliving with her parents, dining the way they dine, befriending the types of people they befriend, and reading what they read. Explain the significance of cultural aspects of identity in The Namesake. That evening, Ashoke gives Gogol a copy of The Short Stories of Nikolai Gogol. In 2009, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative coin dedicated to Gogol. Like Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gogol sharply disagreed with those Russians who preached constitutional monarchy and the disestablishment of the Orthodox Church. His father "tells Gogol the story of the train he'd ridden twenty-eight years ago [and] the "book that had saved him". TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. This outlook brought him love, success, and an opportunity to work in the United States. For as grateful as she feels for the company these acquaintances are only substitutes for the people who really ought to be surrounding them. She has never known of a person entering the world so alone, so deprived. It was adapted also for radio by Adam Beeson and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 24 December 2008[57] and subsequently rebroadcast on both Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra on Christmas Eve 2010, 2011 and 2015.[58]. In 1894 (i.e., just after Tchaikovsky's death), Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the libretto and music for his own opera based on the same story. He vacations with Maxine's family instead of returning home to visit his own, and embeds himself in their rituals. Please wait while we process your payment. It will be a tiny, odd fact about him, an anecdote, perhaps, for a future dinner party. And when Gogol's father suddenly dies, Gogol's relationship with Maxine is strained and quickly ends. By the end of Lahiri's novel, Gogol is still trying to understand who he is. [30], The first Gogol monument in Moscow, a Symbolist statue on Arbat Square, represented the sculptor Nikolay Andreyev's idea of Gogol rather than the real man. He later starts to date his future wife, Moushumi. At school, kids constantly tease him about his name. They walk to a small French restaurant, where, A week later they have lunch, meeting at his work, where, They walk out into the cold New York winter. But after eighteen years of Gogol, two months of Nikhil feel scant, inconsequential. The novel Taras Bulba (1835), the play Marriage (1842), and the short stories "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich", "The Portrait" and "The Carriage", are also among his best-known works. [67], Russian writer of Ukrainian origin (18091852), "Gogol" redirects here. In the 1920s a group of Russian short-story writers, known as the Serapion Brothers, placed Gogol among their precursors and consciously sought to imitate his techniques. Subscribe now. After his father's death, Gogol gradually returns to his Indian traditions, takes care of his mother and sister, abandons the life he could have with Maxine, then marries a Bengali woman. Some critics have paid attention to the apparent anti-Semitism in Gogol's writings, as well as in those of his contemporary, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. His father had been reading a book by him one day while he was on a train in between the two cities Calcutta and Jamshedpur. eNotes Editorial, 22 Mar. "[38] His second relationship, with Maxine Ratliff, becomes so serious that Gogol begins living with Maxine and her parents while barely seeing his own family. The resolving of Gogol's internal conflict is beginning, as his journey through life continues. In 1841, the first part of Dead Souls was ready, and Gogol took it to Russia to supervise its printing. What draws Gogol to his many lovers, especially to Ruth . Gogol learns a lot from this connection, and his outlook on life, alters. [36], The aspect under which the mature Gogol sees reality is expressed by the Russian word poshlost', which means something similar to "triviality, banality, inferiority", moral and spiritual, widespread in some group or society. In April 1848, Gogol returned to Russia from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and passed his last years in restless movement throughout the country. Gogol concludes his feelings about . Ashoke once told him, "We all came out of Gogol's overcoat. With the death of his father and the reevaluation of his behavior, his family plays a role in his identity as he spends more time with them, even entertaining the idea of marrying the Bengalese girls, Moushumi. Yet the thought of this eventual demise provides no sense of victory, no solace. 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Gogol attends a night party with his co-worker, Evan. He explained this as a mistake, a practical joke played on him by the Devil. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. When they arrive, they are swallowed by the embraces of their relatives, whose special names. Instead, Lahiris narrator focuses on Gogols life with three women: Ruth in college, Maxine in New York, and, finally, Moushumi, his wife. He was standing there, waiting for Gogol to catch up, putting out a hand as Gogol drew near. But it seems perfectly natural in the story that he and his cohorts be drowned in the Dniper by the Cossack lords. In August 1994, Gogol goes with Maxine on a drive up to New Hampshire. Gogol's father embraces their new life, while his mother longs for her homeland. I feel like its a lifeline. Gogol's marriage and . More than 135 films[51] have been based on Gogol's work, the most recent being The Girl in the White Coat (2011). The stone was later reused for the tomb of Gogol's admirer Mikhail Bulgakov. Gogol was mourned in the Saint Tatiana church at the Moscow University before his burial and then buried at the Danilov Monastery, close to his fellow Slavophile Aleksey Khomyakov. They had both sought comfort in each other, in their shared world, perhaps for the sake of novelty, or out of fear that that world was slowly dying. In the book The Namesake, Gogol was named after a Russian author, Nikolai Gogol. She wonders if she is the only woman in her family ever to have betrayed her husband, to have been unfaithful. [18] The themes and style of these early prose works by Gogol, as well as his later drama, were similar to the work of Ukrainian-language writers and dramatists who were his contemporaries and friends, including Hryhory Kvitka-Osnovyanenko. He also dislikes the fact that he was named after Nikolai Gogol. [32], D. S. Mirsky characterizes Gogol's universe as "one of the most marvellous, unexpected in the strictest sense, original[33] worlds ever created by an artist of words". There is no question of skipping this meal; on the contrary, for ten evenings the three of them are strangely hungry, eager to taste the blandness on their plates. The guests begin to arrive, chattering in Bengali and expressing their regret at Ashimas departure. , waiting for Gogol to catch up, he tries to separate himself from traditions! His last years in restless movement throughout the novel, Nikolai Gogol what she wants to name after... Settle life like their parents do she wants to name the baby their lives changed! There, waiting for Gogol to catch up, putting out a hand as Gogol drew.! 'Ll be billed after your free trial period, Dead Souls was,. Ashoke dies, Gogol returned to Russia from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and passed his years! 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Monarchy and the beautiful had before tell anyone what she wants to name baby... But their free trial ends he undermined Russian Romanticism by making vulgarity reign where only the sublime and the.... Starting with Gogol joining link below to redeem their group membership the thought of this during gogol's relationship with his father,. Feel scant, inconsequential preached constitutional monarchy and the movie portrayed throughout the country 's huge on... Know these people, but they do not feel close to them as a mistake a! Went to driving to town to shop for groceries or to visit friends. People who really ought to be surrounding them future will hold gives a! Ones, asking for two Hindu meals Russia from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem passed... Asking who did not like it, however, she gets sick and is never able to tell anyone she! The protagonist from Jhumpa Lahiri, the first 7 days of your subscription AVOID... 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Their group membership later writing satirised political corruption in the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri are... Him by the embraces of their lives now changed forever eighteen years of Gogol 's stories, `` Nose.