Homework: students read one chapter of the namesake nightly, and two over the weekend.
Day 2: Focus on the language which opens the book. Constructing parallel poems is a good activity for engaging language. Students use the writer's own words to author their own short poems, example from pages 1 & 2:
the Kitchen.
a Central square apartment.
Rice Krispies,
Planters peanuts and chopped red onion,
green chili peppers . . .
consuming throughout her pregnancy.
Calcutta sidewalks, railway platforms,
there's something missing,
the free end of her Sari.
Her swollen feet ache,
she doubles over, gasping without a sound,
the deserted Cambridge streets.
"Are you listening to me?"
Collect poems, read some or have students read their own and discuss how the language reflects the color and flavor of Indian culture and some of the metaphors and literary allusions which are developing.
Day 3:
Handout quotations taken from Grand Avenue, East of Eden and the namesake. Several students will read Alice's quotation about her name to emphasize the various tones in which it may have been spoken. Students will then discuss their own names from the point of view of their parent's motivations or thoughts which led to them. The second quote addresses names from a different perspective; ask students to think of local place names and imagine how they might have gotten their names. Begin discussion of the namesake with the final quotation and ask students to speculate about the name Gogol and why his parents named him with a Russian name and how names are cultural artifacts and even may make us feel trapped or stereotyped by them.
Days 4, 5 & 6:
We begin with an hour long PBS movie "Talk to Me: Americans in Conversation" that seeks to answers the questions: What does it mean to be an American? What holds us together? What pulls us apart? And what is our common ground? After each half-hour segment (and at length on the third day) we'll discuss, in study circles (groups of 5 or so), the following questions and issues (or order video).
What it means to be an American? What is our image of America in the next century? What picture of an ideal American will inform current problems? Can we identify those values and commitments that we need to share if we are to be a successful society? How can we build bridges to those abroad who don't like or hate us? Questions specific to the video. On day three the focus shifts to our community with some of the "discussion starters" contained therein.
In History Class students will view "A More Perfect Union." and reading "American Beliefs About Equality."
Days 7, 8, 9: We should be up to chapter 8 in the reading today. "We have learned a great deal about American culture the past few days. How does it relate to your reading of the namesake thus far? We discuss some of the book's metaphors (pregnancy, pain of childbirth, a new life, life as a journey--a train with stops along the way, the importance of the process rather than the final destination. How reading literature and the world are part of the same process of making discoveries in new environments. How being literate transcends time and space and helps to shape our identities. How the journey is not always a smooth and secure one.
Quotations to discuss further:
chap 1: Ashoke "He cannot thank the book. The book has perished" (21). The difficult adjustment period of Ashima.
chap 2: The author's use of literary allusion in citing music, movies and books: "Gone With the Wind" the Seven Year Itch" (30). False stereotypes, "It hought Indians didn't eat meat" (39).
chaps 3 & 4: Play Part 2; video of Lahiri twice. Students answer questions on handout and then exchange papers with a classmate for grading. We Discuss pet names and their relevance. Music: the Beatles, play tune from "Revolution" and discuss names--Lennon--Russian origin of Gogol. Discuss multiculturalism in India's past, the Moguls (builders of the Taj Mahal). Gogol's growing distance from his father.