The Namesake

In the next twenty-five pages of Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake," Gogol turns fourteen and he 'finds out' why it is his name is 'Gogol." He learns that his father became fascinated by a book author by that name—but he never received any further explanation. Gogol begins explaining how he does not like his name for it being uncommon and unusual. He thinks his name is too weird and would like something simpler like those of his classmates. Gogol comes to a stage in his life where he begins to assimilate into the American culture and wants to have his name, 'Gogol' shortened and abbreviated into something other than the "catchy" name he already has. He begins to forget his culture and begins to listen to American music and never cares to open the case of Bengali music his father gave to him. In this section of the book, Gogol shows how much he hates having his 'pet-name' also be his 'good-name' but even though he blames his father for that matter, he partly blames himself for not choosing to go by 'Nikhil' when asked to do so in school.

Quote: "...it dismays him that his parents chose the weirdest namesake."

Question: Will Ashoke continue to allow his son to assimilate into the American culture and forget his Indian roots?