Answer Key to The Namesake Study Guides – Chapter 1-6

The Namesake – Study Guide, Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1 - 1968

A. Chronology of Events
1. Working with the members of your group, put these events into chronological order by
using the numbers 1 (first event) —> 13 (last event):

You should be able to put in correct chronological order the main sections of this
chapter:

1. Ashoke begins to read Gogol’s stories.

2. He sets out on a journey to visit his grandfather.
3. He is nearly killed in a train accident.
4. He decides to study abroad.
5. He meets his future wife.
6. He and Ashima are living in Massachusetts.
7. Ashima is having a baby.

B. True or False?
Write "T" or "F" next to these statements. Explain to a partner why a statement is false.

F 1. Ashima spoke English perfectly in her first years of residence in the U.S.A.
T 2. Ashima has no sense of adventure about her.
T 3. Ashoke's grandfather believed that you could see the world as an armchair traveler.
F 4. Ashoke’s family encouraged him to study abroad.
F 5. Ashima’s mother did not want Ashima to get married.
T 6. Ashima never heard Ashoke’s voice when she met him and his family.
T 7. Ashoke could be described as a bookworm.
F 8. 1968 was a relatively calm year in U.S. history.
F 9. Ashoke is very religious.
T 10. Ashoke suffers from claustrophobia.
F 11. Ashoke is very romantic and buys Ashima flowers whenever he can.
F 12. Ashima calls Ashoke by his first name.

Chapter 2

A. Comparing Cultures
Fill in the chart based on the information in the reading (pages 22-29).

U.S. culture Bengali culture ________ __culture

1. Who usually chooses a Grandparents

Parents
child's name?
2. When does a child get At birth Could be after birth,
a name? whenever elder
relatives name him/her
 3. Can people name their
child after another family Yes
member?
No

B. Explaining Reasons
Complete these sentences. Compare answers with a partner.

1. Ashima and Ashoke cannot name Baby Ganguli because they are waiting for the
grandmother to name the baby.
2. The baby cannot leave the hospital because he doesn’t have a name.
3. Bengali parents cannot name a child after another family member because each name is
unique.
4. Bengalis actually have two names because one name is the formal “good” name, and
the other is the informal “pet”name.
5. Ashoke and Ashima agree to give their baby the name Gogol because they need to leave
the hospital; Ashoke loves the writer Gogol.

C. Ashima's First Impressions of America

Imagine you are Ashima. What is negative or positive for you as you start your life in America? The
first one has been done for you.

Boston as "HOME"
Negative 1. the frigid winter
Positive 2. her three-room apartment
Negative 3. roaches in the bathroom
Positive 4. powerful cooking gas
Positive 5. hot tap water
Negative 6. leafless streets
Positive 7. cold drinking water
Negative 8. dog urine and excrement in the snowbanks
Negative 9. no amenities, no help, in the apartment
Positive 10. caring neighbors

D. Ashima Meets the Montgomerys

The Montgomerys are good neighbors, but they do not necessarily meet Ashima's expectations of
what ordinary Americans are like. Complete this chart with the members of your group based on the
information in the book:

Ashima's Expectations The Montgomerys

1. Childbirth in hospital at home

2. Teachers' Dress for Work suit threadbare trousers

3. Food/Diet Vegetarian food

meat and potatoes
 4. Child care babysitters Home care

5. Housekeeping Clean, neat house total mess

6. Religion Christian atheist

7. Main Holiday
Christmas
8. Preferred Economic System capitalism communism

E. Open for Discussion

Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. The Montgomery's have a dull green Volkswagen van covered with stickers: QUESTION
AUTHORITY! GIVE A DAMN! BAN THE BRA! PEACE! (31)

How do you think Ashima and Ashoke would respond to each of these stickers?

They would not agree with the ideas that these stickers represent.

2. Ashima's grandmother's last words to Ashima were: "Do what I will never do. It will all be
for the best. Remember that. Now go" (38).

What effect do you think these words have on Ashima during her difficult adjustment period
in America?

At first, Ashima does not like her new life in America; however, she does like
some aspects of life in the U.S., and the parts she does not like, she endures.

3. At Gogol's rice ceremony - annsprasan - which took place when he was six months old,
Gogol had the choice to take one of the following:

a) a plate holding a clump of cold Cambridge soil (landowner);

b) a ballpoint pen (scholar);
c) a dollar bill (businessman).

Although Gogol took nothing, his father wanted him to take the pen because scholarship for
him had the highest value. Which of the three choices would your parents have wanted you
to take? How would that choice have represented what your parents have wanted for you in
your life?

Answer depends on your situation.

4. Throughout the difficult period of adjusting to American life, Ashima encounters Americans'
friendliness on many occasions. When the package of gifts she has left on the train is
returned to her the next day, with nothing missing, she feels "connected to Cambridge in a
way she has not previously thought possible" (43). How does this event seem like a turning
point in Ashima's American life? Why does it seem like she now has something that holds
her to this home away from home?

She has experienced a very positive aspect of her new culture.

The Namesake – Study Guide, Chapters 3-4

Chapter 3 - 1971

A. General Understanding
As you read this chapter, try to answer these questions:

1. How does Ashoke like his job as a professor? He loves the status of his new position.

2. Where does the Ganguli family move to? A suburb

3. What is their house like? A nice suburban house with a yard

4. What are their neighbors like? Friendly

5. When is the new baby born? Do they name her in the same way that they named Gogol?
No, they are prepared with a name.

6. What happens at Sonia's rice ceremony?

7. How are Ashoke and Ashima's children becoming true "Americans?" In many ways.
They prefer American music, food, etc.

Chapter 4 - 1982

A. General Understanding
As you read this chapter, try to answer these questions:

1. How many people come to Gogol’s 14th birthday party? Where do they come from? Gogol
has two parties. The first is attended by his school mates. His second is a party
thrown by his parents for their Bengali friends: about 40 people from three states.

2. What is Gogol's passion at this age? What has he posted on the bulletin board in his room?
Gogol loves The Beatles. Former Beatle band member John Lennon’s obituary is
posted on his bulletin board.

3. What book does his father give him for his birthday? Gogol short stories. Why doesn’t
Gogol have an interest in this book? He prefers science fiction and fantasy books
(The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Hobbit). What has his father told him
about his name? Only that Ashoke likes the writing of Gogol. Later, the father says
the writer also spent most of his adult life outside his homeland, like Ashoke. Why
hasn’t Ashoke told him the whole truth, especially on this very important birthday? A
birthday is a time to celebrate life not death, Ashoke thinks. Where does Gogol
believe his father’s limp comes from? A soccer injury Why doesn’t Gogol like his name at
this point in his life? He hates answering questions about his name, that it is
absurd and obscure. He hates that it is neither an Indian nor American name and
that it has nothing to do with him.

4. Why does the family go to Calcutta, India for eight months? Ashoke has a sabbatical.

5. How does the family’s meal order on the plane reflect the “two cultures” traveling together?
Ashima/Ashoke eat Indian food; the children eat American food. This represents
the main culture of each group.

6. What adjustments do Gogol and Sonia have to make in their life in Calcutta? Food, crowds
of people, commuters on trains, family members kissing and pinching them,
Bengali language slang words. The family also shuttles between family members’
homes over eight months, so the children have to adjust to new beds, new
families, and new schedules.
 7. What effect does the family’s visit to the Taj Mahal have on Gogol? The building has a
powerful effect on Gogol, so he tries to sketch it and then reads about the history
of Mughal architecture.

8. How does the train trip back to Calcutta remind Ashoke of his previous mishap on a train? A
man is murdered on the train, and the train stops, reminding him of the other field
where he’d stopped after the 1961 accident.

9. After the family’s return to the States, what book does Mr. Lawson, the English teacher,
assign to the class? They read Gogol’s short stories, including “The Overcoat.” How
does Mr. Lawson’s account of Nikolai Gogol’s life affect Gogol? The account of Gogol’s
troubled life and ultimate suicide shames our character, Gogol, because of his
name connection with the Russian author.

10. Why don’t Ashima and Ashoke find it strange that Gogol doesn’t date? It’s not normal to
date in Indian culture.

11. How does Gogol try out his new name for the first time? He meets Kim at a party and
introduces himself as Nikhil. How does his own recollection of the incident show that
from this point on he will be living with a double identity? When he recounts his first
kiss, he tells his friends that it wasn’t Gogol that kissed the girl. It was Nikhil.

Chapter 4 - 1982

B. Working with Quotes

Read the following selections from the book, and then consider the questions that follow each one.

1.

“On the final leg of the trip there are only a few non-Indians left on the plane.
Bengali conversation fills the cabin; his mother has already exchanged addresses with the family
across the aisle. Before landing she slips into the bathroom and changes, miraculously in that
minuscule space, into a fresh sari. A final meal is served, an herbed omelette topped with a slice of
grilled tomato. Gogol savors each mouthful, aware that for the next eight months nothing will taste
quite the same. …And then the frosted doors slide open and once again they are officially there, no
longer in transit, swallowed by hugs and kisses and pinched cheeks and smiles. There are endless
names Gogol and Sonia must remember to say, not aunt this and uncle that but terms far more
specific: mashi and pishi, mama and maima, kaku and jethu, to signify whether they are related on
their mother’s or their father’s side, by marriage or by blood. Ashima, now Monu, weeps with relief,
and Ashoke, now Mithu, kisses his brothers on both cheeks, holds their heads in his hands. Gogol
and Sonia know these people, but they do not feel close to them as their parents do. Within
minutes, before their eyes Ashoke and Ashima slip into bolder, less complicated versions of
themselves, their voices louder, their smiles wider, revealing a confidence Gogol and Sonia never
see on Pemberton Road” (81-82).

How does the visit to India involve a great sacrifice for Gogol and Sonia and give them at
the same time the opportunity to see their parents for who they really are?

During the visit to India, Gogol and Sonia sacrifice many of the basic elements of
American culture – from food, to language, and many other elements. At the same time,
their parents are re-connected with the familiar, beloved elements of their native Bengali
culture. Whereas in the U.S., Gogol and Sonia see their parents as cultural outsiders
(especially their mother), in India the children see their parents in their native culture,
where they behave naturally and confidently, and they are surrounded by loved ones.

2.
“Of all the people who surround them at practically all times, Sonia is his only ally, the only person
to speak and sit and see as he does. While the rest of the household sleeps, he and Sonia fight
over the Walkman, over the melting collection of tapes Gogol recorded back in his room at home.
From time to time, they privately admit to excruciating cravings, for hamburgers or a slice of
pepperoni pizza or a cold glass of milk” (84).

How can your sibling, the one you fight and quarrel with throughout childhood, be your
closest friend in the world? How do Sonia and Gogol realize the allegiance they have to
each other when they spend eight months in India?

Answer will vary depending on your family experiences.

Generally, siblings quarrel throughout childhood but tend to bond together as they
mature. Siblings come to realize that “blood is thicker than water,” as the saying goes.
Blood ties connect people more closely than friendship ties. In India, Sonia and Gogol
also realize that they share cultural ties because they are both more American than
Indian.

3.

“Though they are home they are disconcerted by the space, by the uncompromising silence that
surrounds them. They still feel somehow in transit, still disconnected from their lives, bound up in
an alternate schedule, an intimacy only the four of them share. But by the end of the week, after
his mother’s friends come to admire her new gold and saris, after the eight suitcases have been
aired out on the sun deck and put away, after the chanachur is poured into Tupperware and the
smuggled mangoes eaten for breakfast with cereal and tea, it’s as if they’ve never been gone…Once
again they are free to quarrel, to tease each other, to shout and holler and say shut up. They take
hot showers, speak to each other in English, ride their bicycles around the neighborhood. They call
up their American friends, who are happy enough to see them but ask them nothing about where
they’ve been. And so the eight months are put behind them, quickly shed, quickly forgotten, like
clothes worn for a special occasion, or for a season that has passed, suddenly cumbersome,
irrelevant to their lives” (87-88).

Imagine if Ashoke and Ashima knew how their children felt about the time spent in India
- eight months that are “quickly shed, quickly forgotten, like clothes worn for a special
occasion, or for a season that has passed, suddenly cumbersome, irrelevant to their
lives.” How do you think they would react? Would they be shocked by their children's
attitude, or is their attitude something they are aware of?

Answer will vary depending on your opinion.

Study Guide – The Namesake – Chapters 5-6

Chapter 5 – Comprehension questions
1. Where does Gogol pursue his undergraduate studies? Yale

2. What decision does Gogol make about his name before leaving home? To change his
name

3. What reasons does Gogol give his parents for this decision? He says people don’t take
him seriously. He also explained to his parents the story of the writer Gogol’s life.
And he said Nikhil was the name his parents had chosen for him when he was
five.

4. What courses does Gogol take in his first semester at college? Intro to Art History,
Medieval History, Spanish, Astronomy, Drawing. Why doesn't he tell his parents
about the fifth course he takes in drawing? They would consider it frivolous. What kind
of career are they hoping he will choose? Engineer, doctor, lawyer, or economist
 5. To what field does this drawing class lead him? Architecture Why? He loves the
architecture of the Yale U. buildings. He takes an introductory architecture class.

6. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in his sophomore year, whom does Gogol meet on
the train between New Haven and Boston? Ruth, a fellow Yale student Why does he find
his own upbringing "bland" (111) in comparison with hers? She was raised on a
commune. Her parents are divorced. Her father and stepmother raise llamas, and
her mother is an anthropologist in Thailand. His own mono-cultural upbringing
seems boring in comparison. What ensues after Thanksgiving break? Gogol and Ruth
are not together anymore. She went to study in England and wants to stay there.
They argue and admit they’ve changed; then they break up.

7. How does Sonia, "revealing a confident, frequent, American smile" now that "her braces
have come off her teeth" (107), seem to be more "American" than Gogol was at her age?
She goes to parties, which he didn’t do at her age. She wears American-style
clothes and hair. She also fights with her mother.

8. How does Gogol's meeting with his cousin Amit give us a clear view of his conflict with his
cultural identity? Gogol does not relate to the Indians who think of themselves as
“marginal” ABCD’s (American-born confused deshis), people of Indian
background who don’t fit into U.S. society. He also doesn’t want to join Amit’s
Indian organization and be forced to attend Indian cultural events, which he
doesn’t enjoy.

9. Why does Gogol spend Thanksgiving of his senior year alone with his father? He and Ruth
are no longer together.

10. What happens on Gogol's train ride to Boston that makes Ashoke tell Gogol the full history
of the reason for his name? Gogol’s train is delayed because a man has jumped in
front of the train and committed suicide. Ashoke is concerned, and then tells
Gogol the story of his own earlier train experience. How does he react to the story?
Gogol is angry that his father “lied” to him by withholding this important incident
from his son. Then he feels sorry for his father having experienced the tragedy.
How does his father assure Gogol that his name has always had a positive association in his
mind despite the tragedy that brought it into being? He says that Gogol reminds him of
everything that followed the train accident.

Chapter 6 - 1994 – Comprehension questions

1. Where does Nikhil get a graduate degree in architecture? Columbia U. Why does he
choose to study in New York rather than in Boston? He doesn’t want to attend his
father’s alma mater; he wants to live in a new city, farther away from his parents.

2. How does he meet Maxine Ratliff, and how does his relationship with her transform his life?
They meet at a party. Gogol’s life then becomes completely wrapped up in Maxine
and her family.

3. What are Maxine's parents, Gerald and Lydia, like? Wealthy, liberal. How does Nikhil
think they are different from his parents? Maxine’s parents don’t mind that their
unmarried daughter sleeps with a man. At dinner, few dishes are served. At a
dinner party, the mother and father are at the center of the action; the mother
doesn’t serve dozens of dishes, as Gogol’s parents would have done. Also, Gerald
and Lydia show their affection in public which Gogol’s parents never do.

4. Why does Nikhil believe that his immersion into Maxine's family is like a "betrayal" (141) of
his own? Gogol’s parents don’t know that Gogol spends so much time with Gerald
and Lydia. He feels his parents are not as secure as Gerald and Lydia are.

5. How does the "truth" of his relationship with Maxine "seep out" (144) and why does Maxine
eventually meet his parents? Gogol explains to his mother why he can’t return to
 Massachusetts to see his father off on his trip to Ohio. Gogol is going on vacation
with Maxine to New Hampshire. Maxine eventually meets his parents when they
travel from NYC to New Hampshire.

6. What warnings does Nikhil give Maxine before they go to his parents' house? He warns
that they won’t be able to touch or kiss in front of his parents or drink wine at
lunch. How does Maxine's visit with Nikhil's parents turn out? The visit goes very well.
Maxine is charming, asking both parents questions about their work, and
complimenting Ashima on her cooking.

7. When spending time in "paradise" (152) with Maxine and her family, why doesn't Nikhil
have "nostalgia" (155) for the vacations he has been on with his family? Gogol
remembers the careful preparations that his father always made when they
traveled. In contrast, Gerald and Lydia leave on holiday with only a brief note to
Maxine and Gogol.

8. How does Maxine hear Nikhil's pet name for the first time? When Gogol is leaving
Ashoke’s home, Ashoke calls him Gogol. How does she react when Nikhil explains the
difference between his pet name and his good name? Maxine thought it was “the
cutest thing” she’d ever heard.

9. How does Nikhil celebrate his 27 th birthday? Lydia and Maxine plan a special dinner
party at their vacation home in New Hampshire. Strangers (to Gogol) attend.