Identity: Gogol struggles throughout the novel with his dual identity - American and Bengali. He changes his name in an effort to do away with any negative connotation there is with the origin of his name. Nikolai Gogol was considered an eccentric man and Gogol Ganguli does not want to be associated with the weirdness of Gogol the author. However, he feels this way because he does not know the true origin of his namesake. This theme is relevant to the title because the namesake means different things to...

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