Narrative and Point of View - Richard Chapter 1 and...

Richard: Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 94-96; Chapter 5 and Chapter 10
Hanna: Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 88-93; Chapter 7 and Chapter 12
Paul: Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 72-88; Chapter 6 and Chapter 9
Zack: Chapter 8 and Chapter 11
Narrative Shift in The Namesake
Chapter 1
At the beginning of chapter 1, the story is written in the present tense, describing Ashima
as she starts to enter labor. Then, after the page break, the time has passed to when she’s in
the hospital, and the narrative discusses everything happening around her. Then, it goes into
the past, where it tells the story of how the two met and got married, knowing hardly anything
about each other.
After another page break, the story flips to Ashoke and discusses how he feels sitting in
the hospital late at night. It quickly shifts to his backstory, specifically revolving around when he
was young and went to visit his grandfather. During the train ride, while he was reading his book
late at night, the train derailed and killed a number of the passengers. Ashoke was saved merely
by the page of his book that people noticed while searching the rubble. This gives significance
to Nikolai Gogol, who he believes saved his life and the reasoning for his son's name.
Chapter 2
In chapter 2 The narrative shift on page 22 is Ashima, after her pregnancy shifts to
Gogol as a baby. This whole section is written in the present tense. The narration also shifts to a
conversation on page 23 between Ashoke, Ashima, and Patty, a nurse at the hospital with
Ashima. The next page break returns back to the description of Gogol.
The story continues with the thoughts and concerns of Ashoke, Ashima and her
grandmother in naming the baby and the different customs and traditions in India compared to
America.
The story continues returning to Gogol and his surroundings. Gogol’s first home near
MIT and Harvard is described. The relationships that Ashima has in her surroundings are also
explained. Ashima then takes pride in having Gogol and doing it herself. Many people
congratulate her with a card or in person. Ashima’s grandmother suffers from a stroke that made
her incapable of chewing and speaking.
After another page break, the story begins explaining the many Bengali friendships that
have grown just like Gogol. Gogol then had to decide his destiny by choosing an object but
instead, he sat there and cried. The story continues describing Gogol as a baby and Ashima’s
father had died. The narration shifted from Gogol to explaining Ashima’s feelings and the death
of her father.
Chapter 3
The entire chapter is written in the third person. It starts with a distant view of narration
that is non-specific to any character. It is written in the present tense. The narrator talks about

the house and neighborhood the Ganguli’s moved into. It also sheds light on how the Ganguli’s
prefer to enjoy the beach as the sun is setting.