Imo Ebit1 - Imo Ebitu El 104 Prof Harris Namesake Essay...

Imo Ebitu
El 104/ Prof. Harris
Namesake Essay
2/8/2012
Essay
The book The Namesake which was written my Jhumpa Lahiri is a very interesting story
which has given me three major ideas and they are names, identity and “The Over coat”.
First, most people struggle with finding their identity at some point of their life. They got
through series of changes and eventually come to a point where they understand and accept
themselves; they may try out new things or try to ignore a part of themselves which they not
want to accept. Gogol Ganguli from Jhumpa Lahari’s novel The Namesake fights the same
struggle, though his is more obvious than some other people. In an effort to eliminate parts of
himself he does not want to accept, he ignores his name sake and even changes his name to
Nikhil; however, he does eventually understand and accept himself.
Second idea is names; in this case specifically Gogol’s name. Gogol goes through a
repetition of accepting himself. As a child, he does not question who he is; he “doesn’t mind his