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| Through its appeal to a myriad of symbols The namesake employs an elaborate allegory to convey the theme that we are all products of history, culture and society. Whether we are recent immigrants, their children or longtime natives, we are much more alike than different in this respect and it is a mistake or misconception for anyone to believe that they can transcend or ignore their social bonds.� In the novel all of the characters try, in one way or another, to break free of ignore or diminish the importance of their social and cultural interconnectedness. Ultimately it demonstrates that those who cross borders, may at best, "straddle two worlds." |
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| �Names are cultural markers that transcend time and place. They can hold very different meanings to the named and the namer (signifier/signified). Taken for granted by many; a name can be an albatross to a child and a contentious issue to the parents. To the parents the may be a means of showing respect to an ancestor, or a hope for the future. Some cultures, like the Bengali culture the characters are from give more than one name, the one a sign of familiarity to only be used at home and the other a formal one to be used in commerce outside the immediate family. The novel's main character, Gogol, is named for Russian author, Nikolai Gogol, whom his father Ashoke, credits for his miraculous salvation from a train wreck and for his figurative rebirth into a new life which takes a new direction. Ashoke's favorite Gogol story, the one he was reading on that fateful day, is The Overcoat, and elements of the story, Gogol's own life and the nature of social relations are all paralleled in the novel: the author Gogol was himself an �migr�, he moved to Paris but continued to site his stories in his former homeland; the ghost who appears in The Overcoat to exact a measure of justice and revenge is cited by Lahiri as a symbol of the constant and unseen presence that remains in an immigrants consciousness. The overcoat, purchased at great sacrifice by Akaky, which gave him a new identity but which ironically is the cause of his death is like the experience of many immigrants who make great sacrifices, financial and cultural, to make a better life for themselves and their children. It is soon found to be just an over garment; the real person lies just beneath. When he comes home, he takes it off and is once again his former self. |
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| How can I teach this? What are the objectives? |
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| The book is worthy for many reasons. It is very literary and the authors elaborate allegory which also extends beyond the pages of the novel to literature and music is important. |
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The book is multicultural and shows how people struggle to adapt new identities not only because of false and prejudicial stereotypes but also because of the values and prejudices they inherit from their parents. Ultimately, it like other multicultural stories, calls not for a surrender of ones own values so much as an open, informed negotiation between cultures which allows for the existence of and appreciation for diversity.
>> Show Indian culture and use the color and exoticness of it to help generate interest in the novel.
>> Use names as this book and many others have, to connect to student's personal experiences: formal names, family names, parent's reasons for giving names, even street names. They show that we were all immigrants at one time or another and share that in common.
>> Interdisciplinary study can show the importance of immigrants to American history and the ways in which immigrants were treated in the past.
>> Explore the extra textural elements of the novel: Gogol, the Beatles, film, etc.
>> Use the Internet to research elements of Indian culture: the author, Jhumpa Lahiri; and to communicate and publish results.
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