[Music] the namesake is a novel by Jala hiri it was first published in 2003 it is a tale of Love loss Family Ties reconciling with identity and the experiences of Indian migrants in America get your notepads ready because today we will cover the historical context summary important themes and symbols of the namesake before starting don't forget to like share and subscribe the namesake is an immigrant fiction novel that takes place over a period of 32 years and two generations of Indian immigrants in the United States of America from the year 1968 to 2000 the setting of the novel revolves around various places notably in Kolkata India Massachusetts Boston and New York City it is from the point of view of a third person Anonymous omniscient narrator the rise in Indian immigration to the United States of America triggered by new immigration legislation in 1965 and its expansion in 1990 forms a fundamental backdrop for Jala's debut novel The namesake born in the UK in 1967 to Bengali parents and later moving to the USA as a child leiri draws from her own experiences as a first generation Indian immigrant The Narrative explores the challenges faced by these immigrants and their children in the cultural landscape of the United States Chala hiri originally named Nan janas sudesna adopted her nickname jimpa du to the ease of pronunciation by her kindergarten teacher in Rhode Island leir's complicated relationship with her identity reflected in her Indian name serves as a profound source of inspiration for goal's struggle portrayed in the namesake the namesake is divided into 12 chapters and now we will discuss the summary in detail in the year 1968 Ashima ganguli a Bengali woman is in Cambridge Massachusetts preparing to give birth to her first child with her husband a show the couple got married in Kolkata India in an arranged marriage a shoke was studying electrical engineering at MIT asima felt lonely and missed her Indian home so to feel better she kept letters from her family and tried to make Indian dishes with the ingredients she could find flashing back to 1961 a shoke recalls a near-death experience in a train accident from Kolkata to jamshedpur when the train seven Bogies had derailed a shoke clutching a blowing page from the collected stories of Nikolai gogul was ultimately saved by rescue workers their son is born and they await a letter from ashima's Grandmother for the official or good name but the letter gets lost in the mail as Bengali tradition dictates the oldest living Elder selects the child's name without the letter they decide on a temporary nickname or pet name Gogle after the Russian author from the train incident at the age of 6 months gogul is honored with a rice ceremony by Aima and a shoke half a year later as the Ganges make arrangements for a trip to India Ashima receives a distressing call from her brother ra revealing that her father passed away from a heart attack Ashima and her family altered their plans opting to travel to Kolkata 6 weeks earlier than initially intended for the funeral by 1971 they shift from Harvard Square Apartment to a Boston suburb eventually buying a house on pton road with no Bengali families nearby gogul starts kindergarten preferring his Pat name to Mrs lpus the school principal despite his parents insistence on his formal name being nickel Ashima gives birth to a daughter officially named sonali but nicknamed Sonia and the family learns about the deaths of ashok's parents and ashima's mother through phone calls in the following years on goal's 14th birthday asoke presents him with a birthday gift the short stories of Nikolai gogul despite his father's thoughtful gesture gogul is more engrossed in listening to The Beatles and fails to appreciate the literary gift a shoke attempting to share the the significance of the author gole starts recounting the train accident but halts realizing goal's inability to comprehend gole discreetly hides the book when his father leaves his room the following year the ganguli family spent eight months in Kolkata during ashok's University sabatical in the fall gogul starts his junior year of high school where Mr Lawson his English teacher introduces Russian author goal's work starting with the Overcoat gole is horrified to learn the Dreadful life biog raphy of his namesake Russian author Nikolai gole at age 18 before heading to Yale for undergraduate studies gole legally changes his name to Nickel through the Probate Court during the summer of 1986 while at Yale he struggles to fully Embrace his new identity dating Ruth for 2 years but grows distant when she goes to study in Oxford the following year during Thanksgiving while waiting for a delayed Amtrak train a shoke informs gole of the reason behind his name and the train crash incident gogul asks his father do I remind you of that night to which asoke replies that you remind me of everything that followed in 1994 gogul resided in a small New York apartment as an architect in a Manhattan firm after he graduated from the architecture program at Columbia University his romantic involvement with Maxine Ratliff an art historian introduces him to her wealthy parents Gerald and Lydia whose sophisticated and easygoing demeanor contrasts sharply with the conduct of goal's parents gogul finds himself increasingly drawn to their residence eventually moving in at their place despite of shima's request for him to join them before his father departed for a 9-month teaching fellowship at a university near Cleveland gogul opts for a brief lunch stop with Maxine on their trip to her parents lake house in New Hampshire meanwhile as asima peacefully addressing Christmas cards she receives a call from Moke at 3:00 p.m. from Ohio revealing he's at the hospital due to persistent stomach troubles he tells her my stomach's been bothering me since morning concerned and unable to reach him for 2 hours she contacts the hospital only to learn from an intern that AOK ganguli her husband has expired from a heart attack that it had been massive that all attempts to revive him had failed gogul rushes to Ohio identifies the body and returns to support his greeting mother and sister in Boston the house on pton road becomes a place of Solace with Sonia choosing to stay with Ashima for a while and friends and family offering Comfort during their morning period a year after a sh's passing gogul ends his relationship with Maxine encouraged by Ashima he reaches out to mhimi mazumdar a familiar face from family gatherings and a French literature PhD mhimi shares her journey of studying French literature in Paris then relocating to New York for her American ex-fiance Graham following their engagement Fallout she took a semester off from NYU before meeting gole upon her return gogul and mhimi began a serious relationship leading to their marriage in New Jersey in a big Bengali ceremony largely orchestrated by their parents adjusting to married life in a small apartment they visit Paris in March where mumi has to present a paper at a conference gole feels isolated as mhimi seems more connected to the city unbeknownst to gole after their first wedding anniversary mhimi engages in an affair with Demitri dearden a friend from college days in whose resume mhimi finds at the University gogul senses something a Miss in his marriage but remains unaware of the infidelity a year later in 2000 Before Christmas Ashima while preparing food for a party plans to split her time between Kolkata and the United States and thus plans to sell her house at pton Road Sonia and Ben are set to marry in Kolkata while gogul and mhimi decide to divorce gogul reaches the train station ahead of Sonia and Ben's arrival reflecting on the previous year he recalls discovering Mimi's affair with Dimitri during a train journey to pton Road from New York despite spending the holiday at the pton roadhouse as planned mhimi departed for New York the day after Christmas and upon goal's return to the apartment days later she had already left for good now a year later as he reaches the train station Sonia and Ben arrive in his mother's car to take him to the house for one final visit as the house is sold amidst the arrival of party guests gogul retrieved to his old bedroom and finds the book asoke had gifted him years ago on his birthday back then he had not appreciated it and hadn't read a single story now he notices his father's inscription the man who gave you his name from the man who gave you your name gole delays joining the Gathering downstairs with the camera opting to sit and read the Overcoat let's discuss the important themes and key ideas of leir's the namesake obvious from the title of the novel The most important theme is names and ident identity the Bengali practice of pet names or Dum is used privately by family and friends and good names or bonum is used formally no parent ever called a child by his good name good names had no place within a family goal's school admission experience highlights the conflict around his name intended to be nickel at school and gogul at home by his asima and aoke but gogul resents adopting a new name associating it with a stranger he is afraid to be nickel someone he doesn't know who doesn't know him his struggle with the uniqueness of his name intensifies at age 11 realizing it sets him apart while on a school trip to a graveyard where he relates to Old names on the grave headstones the name gogul is neither Indian the country of his cultural Roots nor American the country where he was born and raised another example of the distinction and the significance of the good and pet names within the gongal household is through the naming of goal's sister though sonali is the name on her birth certificate the name she will carry officially through life at home they begin to call her Sonu then Sona and finally Sonia Sonia makes her a citizen of the world it's a Russian link to her brother it's European South American the abundance of names for gole and Sonia in Kolkata reflects the entwined family relationships names become codes of family ties to signify whether they are related to their mother's or their father's side by marriage or by Blood as during family vacations in Kolkata a shoke becomes mithu and aim switches to Manu various nicknames like Sonia's goggles Maxine being Max and mumi being called Mouse by Dimitri signify the multifaceted worlds leir's characters inhabit concurrently causing internal division yet offering Comfort goal's identity conflict surfaces at a college party prompting him to introduce himself as nickel to gain confidence it hadn't been gogul who had kissed Kim and gole had nothing to do with it this exemplifies the interwoven interplay between names and personal identity in the novel when about to go into labor Ashima refrains from using her husband's name while calling for him to go to the hospital as it's not the type of thing Bengali wives do since it's considered too intimate in Bengali tradition when she was addressing Christmas cards she signs their names her husband's name which she has never once uttered in his presence creating a distance between his name and identity even after ashok's death Ashima avoids even in death to utter her husband's name using pronouns like he and him instead this reflects the charm of his name for his wife and the intimacy asima shares with her husband goo and mumi find comfort in the familiarity it Fosters between them as mumi was aware of nickel as gogul since childhood while nickel the first time he's been out with a woman who'd once known him by that other name they connect over their Bengali identities and the resulting confusion for Americans realizing their relationship aligns with their Bengali parents expectations and astonishing but reassuring realization goal's identity struggle revolves around the strain between his family's Indian Bengali roots and his aspiration for an independent American Life his choices often reflect a desire to distance himself from his family's sway while involved with Maxine's modern New York family he finds an appealing substitute home only to reconsider his roots after his father's death and decision to marry mumi by the novel's end gogul Embraces his past symbolized by reading the book of his namesake's short stories given to him by his father a gesture indicating a newfound acceptance of his Heritage and the rich history embedded in the name gogul handed down by his father leiri consistently explores the themes of estrangement isolation and loneliness particularly the feeling of being an outsider in a foreign land ashima's pregnancy marked by difficulty instills fear in her about raising a child in a country where she has no familial connections and where life seems uncertain she Ponders about motherhood in a foreign land a country where she is related to no one where she knows so little where life seems so tentative and spare goal's birth feels incomplete like most everything else in America feels somehow halfhazard only half true lacking the presence of close family support Bima longs to be back in India amidst Family Care postpartum and laments this much to usog after arriving back from the hospital after goal's birth I don't want to raise gole alone in this country it's not right I want to go back Ashima living far from relatives struggles with Suburban alienation for being a foreigner Ashima is beginning to realize is a sort of lifelong pregnancy a Perpetual weight a constant burden a continuous feeling out of sorts it is an ongoing responsibility a parenthesis in what had once been ordinary life only to discover that that previous life has vanished replaced by something more complicated and demanding like pregnancy being a foreigner a Shima beli leaves is something that aist elicits the same curiosity from strangers the same combination of pity and respect later after ashok's death she wrestles with the feelings of loneliness and Solitude and feels too old to learn such a skill she hates returning in the evenings to a dark empty house going to sleep on one side of the bed and waking up on another Ashima before the party at the end of the novel feels grief and deep loneliness and feels lonely suddenly horribly permanently alone and briefly turned away from the mirror she sobs for her husband expressing both impatience and indifference for all the days she still must live goal 2 experience his Detachment realizing no one he knows in the world in Russia or India or America or anywhere shares his name not even the source of his name's sake even in the company of Maxine or mumi gole senses a familiar feeling of exclusion although temporarily moving in with Maxine's family he somehow felt like an outsider imitating the life of a modern American individual goal in his marriage to mhimi struggles RS with moments of alienation questioning if he represents some sort of capitulation or defeat their trip to Paris accentuates his discomfort wishing it were her first time to alleviate his sense of displacement the sense of foreignness and displacement is linked to the next most important theme of the namesake which explores the convoluted fabric of Bengali American identity diving into the generational cultural shift experienced by the gongal family the novel is set against the backdrop of immigrant family Dynamics capturing the back and forth between the older Generations Bengali roots and the American Born children's evolving connection to their dual Heritage the gongi family's experiences in America provide a unique perspective as Indian immigrants with a shoke finding delight and Fascination in the unfamiliar American environment while prospering in Academia on the other hand Ashima deeply rooted in her past in India resists the onslaught of American ways Ashima misses her life in India as she preserves her letters and longs to go back after goal's birth she finds Massachusetts cold alienated and lonely struggling to comprehend local conventions ashok's death prompts her to reflect on Cherished Memories in America leading her to embrace a dual identity simultaneously Bengali and American as by the novel's end she wishes to divide her time between Kolkata and America goal Sonia and mhimi signify the succeeding generation born in America and naturally assimilated into American culture growing up with English as their native language and attending American schools they find India to be a foreign land during visits yearning for American food Customs lifestyle and identity they struggle with language barriers despite attending Bengali language classes which astounds a shoke in Aima as it never fails to unsettle them that their children sound just like Americans expertly conversing in a language that still at times confounds them in accents they are accustomed not to trust gogul strives to distance himself from his Bengali Roots noticeable in his relationship with Maxine where he seemingly trads his Bengali family for Maxine's stereotypically American one burdened by memories of the past and his Indian connection gole believes that embracing his Bengali Heritage hinders him from embodying the American identity he desires it's only after ashok's death that gogul is compelled to confront his Bengali Roots realizing that his identity can be a blend of both American and Bali rather than mutually exclusive now we will discuss the two most important symbols of leir's Novel trains are a recurring symbol in the namesake featuring prominently with two pivotal train accidents the first a harrowing incident from mok's past becomes a turning point in the narrative as he narrowly survives the second incident involves an unknown person's tragic suicide on the train tracks during goal's journey home from Yale during his college days throughout the novel trains play a crucial role in shaping characters Destinies a sh's near-death experience on an Indian train LED to his migration to the United States and the pursuit of a career in electrical engineering as the story unfolds googul emerges as the central figure regularly traversing on the Amtrak train between New Haven Boston and New York for his academic Pursuits and to visit home the recurrent symbol of train serves as a poignant reminder of life's Perpetual Forward Motion Beyond anyone's control a sentiment echoed by gole in the last chapter of the novel noteworthy events such as the loss of ashima's grandmother's letter in the male carrying goal's official name gole meeting Ruth and discovering Mimi's Affair unfold on trains emphasizing their symbolic significance in the narrative trains symbolize movement journey and distance highlighting the character's constant sense of displacement and division between multiple homes books hold a significant role throughout leir's novel starting with young 's deep affection for them in the first chapter and the novel ends with goal's unexpected rediscovery of the book gifted by his father more than a decade ago books in the namesake serve as historical records and bearers of names like Mimi's inscribed books from Graham or Demitri and ashima's notepad of addresses various characters including asoke Ashima and even gole engage with novels aoke in India develops a passion for Russian fiction while asima is captivated by English poets in America gole receives Nikolai goal's short Story collection from his father carrying significant symbolic value mumi a PhD scholar at NYU uses reading both as an escape and a profession a book gifted by Dimitri a as a catalyst for her affair with him and the eventual divorce between gogul and mumi moreover the stories of Nikolai gogul hold profound meaning reflecting the trauma of A's train accident and offering enticing tales that Inspire him to EXP explore the world goal's name is derived from these stories representing a connection he struggles with throughout his life the novel concludes with gole leaving a party to read the gogul stories his father had given him years ago emphasizing the enduring influence of literature reconnecting with this collection at the novel's end also becomes goal's attempt to bridge the temporal Gap with his deceased father using fiction as a powerful tool for family bonding and understanding his father's character forming a poignant Link to the Past hope you liked today's video share and subscribe for more