The Namesake Group

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anitabolo
anitabolo

Why is this book called The Namesake?

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Posted by anitabolo on Sunday May 4, 2008 at 9:00 PM and tagged with the namesake, theme, title.

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  1. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Webster's defines "namesake" as "one who is named after another or for whom another is named." For instance, anyone with Jr. in his name is a namesake of his father.

    Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, who emigrate to America from India, name their son Gogol in honor of the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. When he was younger, Ashoke survived a train wreck, and the only thing he was able to salvage from his belongings was a tattered copy of Gogol's novel The Overcoat. Ashoke wasn't necessarily a huge fan of Gogol. They couldn't take the baby home from the hospital without a name, and Gogol was the first one that popped into Ashoke's head.

    Therefore, the namesake of the title is Gogol Ganguli. The novel centers around his search for self as a first-generation American with a strange Russian name. 

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/namesake-salem

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    Posted by linda-allen on Tuesday May 6, 2008 at 7:48 PM