Friday, February 3 chapter 5, The Namesake

In class: listening to chapter 5

               Please respond to the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

               These are due at the beginning of class on Monday, 

after which they are worth only 50 points.

(disc 4, track 1)

The Namesake by  Jumpa Lahiri Chapter 5 content based 

questions. Please respond on a separate sheet of paper by 

weaving in the text and citing the page.  Due at the start of class

 on Monday.

1. Where does Gogol pursue his undergraduate studies?

2. What decision does Gogol make about his name before leaving

 home?

3. What reasons does Gogol give his parents for this decision?

4. What courses does Gogol take in his first semester at college?

Why doesn't he tell his parents about the fifth course he takes in 

drawing? What kind of career are they hoping he will choose?

5. To what field does this drawing class lead him? Why?

6. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in his sophomore year, 

whom does Gogol meet on the train between New Haven and 

Boston? Why does he find his own upbringing "bland" (111) in 

comparison with hers? What ensues after Thanksgiving break?

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 that age?

8. How does Gogol's meeting with his cousin Amit give us a clear 

view of his conflict with his cultural identity?

9. Why does Gogol spend Thanksgiving of his senior year alone

 with his father?

10. What happens on Gogol's train ride to Boston that makes 

Ashoke tell Gogol the full history of the reason for his name? How 

does he react to the story? 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?