Namesake

I’ve just completed reading the novel Namesake by author Jhumpa Lahiri; what a great book. (I watched the movie on the plane as well, but as they all say…movies are nothing compared to their books.) Although the story is primary about the struggles between first-generation Bengali immigrants to America, and their children, I would like to focus particularly on Gogol’s identity.

When their first son is born, Ashoke and Ashima decide to name him Gogol, a name of a person that was dear and life changing for Ashoke (hence the title Namesake.) Gogol would be his temporary name because his parents wanted to wait for a letter from their son’s grandmother in which she would reveal the official birth name she had chosen for her first grandchild. When Ashoke and Ashima discover that Gogol’s grandmother had passed away a few weeks later, and that the letter was probably lost in the post, they decide to change his official birth name name to Nikhil and keep Gogol as a pet name at home.

Gogol refuses to be called Nikhil at school and outside the house, as he was used to being called his nickname of Gogol while growing up. At a legal age, Gogol then decides to officially chance his name to Nikhil, a name he thought would probably work better in the society he lived in. This identity uncertainty shaped many aspects of Gogol’s life.

Indirectly related, this whole identity confusion made me think of the comprehension of identity in design. As we’ve learned, the design of a product should represent its identity and its values (both core and tonal.) The design should confidently live up to its essence and ‘name.’ This is then portrayed at the end of the novel, Namesake.