The Namesake by Jumpa Lahiri

The Namesake

by Jhumpa Lahiri

I will be returning on Monday, January 23. You will begin reading The Namesake with Ms. Newland.  Everyone is responsible for his or her copy. They are available in the library.

All class material will be available below. Please note the order.

Page 1.

Background material for Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

The Namesake is about the Ganguli family's life in America and their son Gogol's search for his identity. The parents, Ashoke and Ashima, were both born in Calcutta, India and the children, Gogol and Sonia, were both born in the Boston metropolitan area in the state of Massachusetts.

The story's conflict takes on not only geographic but also cultural proportions. As Ashoke and Ashima acclimate themselves to American life, their native-born American children grow up within the embrace of their Bengali parents, and Gogol and Sonia learn in many ways how their bicultural identity sets them apart from other children.

To understand how long the "journey" was that Ashoke and Ashima took from India to the United States, examine the map. Find Calcutta*, India. Draw a line from India to where you believe Boston, Massachusetts is located.

*Kolkata City in India

Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the capital of India's West Bengal state. Founded as an East India Company trading post, it was India's capital under the British Raj from 1773–1911.

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Background material Page 2

The Namesake is the author Jhumpa Lahiri’s first novel. In The Namesake, which received the New York Magazine Book of the Year Award when it was published in 2003, Jhumpa Lahiri describes first-generation American Gogol Ganguli's odyssey through the first thirty years of his life as he grapples with the burden of conflicting loyalties that his two opposing cultures, Indian and American, impose upon him.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri   Pre reading writing

In a well-written essay of approximately 250 words, share some of your family traditions and where they originated from. Use vivid imagery (sight, sound, smell, taste, sense); so as the reader can strongly experience these.

Please use lined paper.

 Begin with a MLA heading:

Your name

Instructor’s name

English 3- (3 / 7/ 8)

Date: day / month / 2017

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Name__________________________________   The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Chronology of Events for chapter 1Top of Form

Put these events into chronological order by using the numbers 1(first event) —> 13 (last event)

______Ashima tries to make her favorite Calcutta snack the right way in her apartment in Central Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

_____ Ashoke takes Ashima to Mount Auburn Hospital.

_____ Ashoke and his parents meet Ashima and her parents in their home in                        Calcutta.

_____       Ashima finds out Ashoke’s name.

_____        Ashima Bhaduri marries Ashoke and becomes Ashima  Ganguli                                                                          

_____        In the waiting room, Ashoke reads articles in the Boston Globe about the riots that took place during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and Dr. Benjamin Spock’s two-year sentence for having counseled draft evaders.

_____        Ashoke is almost killed in a train accident.

______      Ashoke begins to read Nikolai Gogol’s short story, The Overcoat.

______      Ghosh tells Ashoke about the importance of seeing the world.

______      Without telling his family, Ashoke applies to graduate schools abroad to continue his studies in engineering.

______      Ashoke has to learn how to walk again.

______      Patty gives Ashoke the news of his son’s birth while he is thinking about how Nikolai Gogol saved his life.

______      Ashoke sets out on a journey to spend time with his grandfather.

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 Name____________________________   The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri  Chapter 1 True or False   quiz grade.

Setting the Stage: Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - 1968

B. True or False?

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

_____  1. Ashima spoke English perfectly in her first years of residence in the U.S.A.

______            2. Ashima has no sense of adventure about her.

______            3. Ashoke's grandfather believed that you could see the world as an armchair traveler.

______            4. Ashoke’s family encouraged him to study abroad.

______            5. Ashima’s mother did not want Ashima to get married.

______            6. Ashima never heard Ashoke’s voice when she met him and his family.

______            7. Ashoke could be described as a bookworm.

______            8. 1968 was a relatively calm year in U.S. history.

______            9. Ashoke is very religious.

______            10. Ashoke suffers from claustrophobia.

______            11. Ashoke is very romantic and buys Ashima flowers whenever he can.

______            12. Ashima calls Ashoke by his first name.

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Name___________________________  The Namesake by Jumpa Lahiri

Point-of-View Writing      Chapter 1

Write a paragraph with a minimum of 100 words on one of the following topics.

Begin with a MLA heading     Use lined paper       writing grade!

1.    You are Ashoke. Explain why you didn't take your grandfather's advice and continue to see the world as an armchair traveler, only through books. Talk about the train accident and how your period of convalescence made you want to pursue your graduate studies abroad and see the world during your youth, as Ghosh had urged you to do, before it would be "too late" (16).

2.    You are Ashima. Explain how your first meeting with Ashoke and his parents was an expected event in your life. Talk about your mother's efforts to make you look as beautiful as possible at this meeting and why you laughed to yourself when you heard her "salesmanship" (7) about your knitting talent. Explain how stepping into Ashoke's shoes put you at ease and why Ashoke's mother's look of approval made you feel good. Then write about your wedding day. Describe how you were dressed and why, when you were carried to meet your groom on a piri that was decorated by your father, your head was "bent low until you had circled [Ashoke] seven times" (10).

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Summary of chapter 1

1968

• It is August 1968. Ashima and Ashoke are in their apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Ashima tries to make her favorite Indian snack, while Ashoke studies for his electrical engineering degree in the bedroom.
• Ashima starts to go into labor.
• The couple heads to the hospital, and after checking Ashima in, Ashoke heads to work. He's not staying for the birth.
• While talking with a nurse, Ashima uses an Indian English idiom, but the nurse thinks she has made an error, which reminds Ashima of how she met her husband.
• Some years ago, back in Calcutta, Ashima was a nineteen-year-old college student working as an English tutor.
• When Ashima's mother invited a bunch of potential suitors for Ashima over to the house, one of them turned out to be Ashoke, who came to the house with his parents in tow.
•  Ashima saw Ashoke's shoes in the hallway, and couldn't resist trying them on before she met him.
• They marry. Ashima thinks back on that moment every Sunday, when Ashoke polishes his shoes. And apparently she's thinking of it now, while she's in labor with their first child.
• Meanwhile, Ashoke has returned to the hospital at 4:30 a.m., where he paces the waiting room.
• His slight limp on his right foot reminds him of his accident.
• Back in India, he was on his way to visit his beloved grandfather, who had introduced him to the great works of Russian literature. His grandfather had recently gone blind, though, so he was going to give all his books to an eager Ashoke, who was on his way to pick them up.
• So, on October 20, 1961, Ashoke was on a train from Calcutta to Jamshedpur, and one of his compartment-mates was a middle-aged Bengali businessman named Ghosh, who encouraged Ashoke to travel the world.
• As Ashoke was reading Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" in the early morning hours, the train crashed. Half buried under the rubble, Ashoke was nearly missed by the rescuers until a page from Gogol's short story caught their attention. Gogol to the rescue.
• After a year of recovery, Ashoke returned to college and graduated.
• Having taken Ghosh's advice, Ashoke applied for graduate school at MIT. Time for some world travel. He only told his parents his intentions when he was awarded a fellowship, and it was too late for them to convince him not to go.
• In the midst of all these memories, a nurse walks in to the waiting room. Is he a proud papa.

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Chapter 2 pages 22-47

Comparing Cultures Name___________________  Chapter 2

Please read pages 22-29 and respond to the following in complete sentences.

Setting the Stage

1a.  Who usually chooses a child’s name in the United States?

1b. Who usually chooses a child’s name in Bengali culture?

2a. When does a child get a name in US culture?

2b. When does a child get a name in Bengali culture?

3. Can people name their child after another family member in US culture?

4. Can people name their child after another family member in Bengali culture?

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chapter 2 explaining reasons Name___________________________

Complete the following sentences based upon your reading of chapter 2

1. Ashima and Ashoke cannot name Baby Ganguli because they

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2. The baby cannot leave the hospital because he

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3. Bengali parents cannot name a child after another family member because each

name _____________________________________________________________________

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4. Benglais actually have two names because one name is 

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5. Ashoke and Ashima agree to give their baby the name Gogol because 

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Chapter 2 cumulative assessment.   Name________________________________________

Part 1. Imagine you are Ashima.  Please respond to the following statements by writing negative or positive as to how you would feel as Ashima starting your life in America.

1. the frigid winter                                                              ________________________

2. her  three-room apartment                                          ________________________

3. roaches in the bathroom                                              ________________________

4. powerful cooking gas                                                     _______________________

5. hot tap water                                                                   _______________________

6. leafless streets                                                                  ________________________

7. cold drinking water                                                         ________________________

8. dog urine and excrement in the snowbanks              ________________________

9. no amenities, no help, in the apartment                    ________________________

10. caring neighbors                                                           _________________________

Part 2. You are Ashima. You have just arrived in America, and you want your family in India to know that all is well with you. Write a letter to the family describing what is positive about your life in America. Weave in textual evidence from chapter 2.  Minimum 200 words. Please proof read for correct language conventions. Use lined paper, beginning with a MLA heading.

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THE NAMESAKE CHAPTER 2 SUMMARY

• At 5:05 in the morning, Ashima and Ashoke welcome their son into the world, and while they're still in the hospital, three Bengali friends visit them.
• Having allowed Ashima's grandmother to name their child, Ashima and Ashoke have to wait for the grandmother's letter, since neither family has a telephone in India. But over a month has gone by, and there's still no letter. So what in the world are they supposed to call the baby?
• Ashima spends three days in the hospital. Still no letter. Finally, since the hospital won't discharge the baby without a name, Ashoke decides to name him Gogol.  It's forever entered into the birth certificate bureaucracy.
• When they return home, their landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery, come downstairs from their apartment to see Gogol. The Montgomerys bring their two young daughters along.
• At first depressed and overwhelmed by the burden of caring for a new one, Ashima soon begins to develop some independence and goes out into the world. She shops, she takes her son out on walks.
• In November, Ashima and Ashoke receive a letter from Ashima's father dated three weeks before, which tells them the sad news that Ashima's grandmother had a stroke. The chances of ever getting that letter from grandma with Gogol's name in it are looking pretty slim.
• In February, Ashima and Ashoke celebrate Gogol's annaprasan, or rice ceremony, at which a baby is fed rice for the first time. While Gogol totally digs the rice pudding, he does not enjoy the end of the ceremony, in which some dirt, a ballpoint pen, and a dollar bill are set before him. According to tradition, his choice will determine his future career.
• Unfortunately, little Gogol doesn't pick anything – he just wails.
• Now it's August, and Gogol is one year old. Ashima and Ashoke are eagerly planning a family visit to Calcutta in December.
• After a trip into Boston with Gogol to buy gifts for her family, Ashima accidentally leaves all her bags on the subway. When Ashoke calls up the lost and found the next day, they find that some ridiculously nice person has saved the bags and turned them in.  
• One night, Ashoke and Ashima are awoken by a phone call from Rana, Ashima's brother in India. Ashoke speaks to Rana first, and then he hands the phone over to his wife.
• After they get off the phone, Ashoke realizes that Rana hasn't told Ashima the bad news: her father has died of a heart attack.
• Six days later, Ashoke, Ashima, and Gogol head for Calcutta, feeling pretty blue.

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