Gogol… Where Did You Go?

            Throughout the novel The Namesake, Gogol Ganguli changes many aspects of his life and experiences many dramatic transformations. “Plenty of people changed their names: actors, writers, revolutionaries, transvestites… One day in the summer of 1968, in the frantic weeks before moving away from his family, before his freshman year at Yale is about to begin, Gogol Ganguli does the same” (Lahiri 97). This is one important example of the changes that Gogol is making because in the beginning of the novel, Gogol did not want a new name and was extremely against people calling him anything but his actual name. In the beginning of the novel, “Gogol [didn’t] want a new name. He [didn’t] understand why he [had] to answer to anything else. He [was] afraid to be Nikhil, someone he [didn’t] know. Who [didn’t] know him” (Lahiri 57). As time goes on, we continue to see more and more changes, as he turns into a completely different person than originally expected.

            There are numerous crucial changes, and I wonder if it would have been better if he had grown up living a cultured and fully Bengali lifestyle with different and maybe more acceptable morals than the morals that he is developing. He is entirely changing the person that he used to be and turning into someone that I think his parents would be extremely ashamed of, not that he cares anymore. Because he basically has a new identity, it is easier for him to ignore any of his parents’ thoughts, and he continues to progressively leave his old identity in the past. “Now that he’s Nikhil it’s easier to ignore his parents, to tune out their concerns and pleas” (Lahiri 105). He is progressively losing the relationship he has with his parents.

            In addition, he begins to take part in many reckless and questionable activities. He gets a fake ID, so he can go drinking and partying. Eventually his irresponsible and careless drinking causes him to lose his virginity to a random girl that he meets in a bar. When he wakes up in the morning, he is completely hung-over and unable to even remember her name.

            It is extremely difficult for me to read these passages because in the start of the novel, I intended and had hope that Gogol… I mean Nikhil… would become a respectable man, who has taken advantage of the opportunities that his family has worked hard and sacrificed a lot for. I hope that he will see the path that he is going down and try to change it before it is too late.