Thursday, November 11, 2010
Rossipoopoo
Throughout the course of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake, the internal and external conflicts involving Nikhil Ganguli and his undesired pet name "Gogol" seem to repeatedly resurface. Though I am not of Indian descent, and do not partake in Bengali cultural practices, I can empathize with the frustration Nikhil feels towards his Bengali pet name, Gogol, as many people call me Rossipoopoo, a name that I strongly dislike. Gogol suffers previous to his legal name change: " It dismays him that his parents chose the weirdest namesake" (76). Lahiri indirectly characterizes Gogol as extremely frustrated over his parents choice of name, revealing the internal conflict he struggles with in regards to the name. Personally, I can empathize with him, as out of all the possible nicknames that my friend could have derived from my name, she chose Rossipoopoo. I wonder why she chose such a weird name, and like Gogol, I feel a bit of frustration towards her, as many people have picked up on the name and permanently call me Rossipoopoo. Along with the weird name choice, Gogol faces much scrutiny due to his odd pet name, and classmates call him "Giggle"(67). Lahiri reveals the external conflict Gogol faces, as people call him "Giggles." Like Gogol, the people who unfortunately refer to me as Rossipoopoo have come up with a host embarrassing variations of Rossipoopoo. Some of these include Rossipoo and Rossipoopoopie, all of which I find disturbing. Therefore, I once again empathize with Gogol, or Nikhil, as the variations of Rossipoopoo cause me much embarrassment, as "Giggles" does for Gogol. Though Rossipoopoo holds no significance to my father, and does not hold any significance to my culture, I feel bad for Gogol. I understand that changing his name betrays his family and culture, but I understand his decision after dealing with the dreaded Rossipoopoo for years now.
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Sarah, I appreciate the fact that you can empathize with Gogol over his nickname. However, Lahiri does make a point of saying that "the only person chronically aware of and afflicted by the embarrasment of his name [...] was Gogol" (100). Nobody else gave his name a second thought, yet he continued to dwell over it in agony. So maybe the person to blame for his embarrassment is himself.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I, like you, can empathize with Gogol's struggles. I always hated my middle name, "Tame," growing up, so when asked what my middle name was during a Spanish lesson in third grade I lied and said it was "Theresa." I no longer feel any embarrassment over my name, which was my grandmother's maiden name, in fact, I really like having something unique that connects me to my grandmother. I think Gogol should learn to appreciate this special part of him. Although Rossipoopoo may not be one you need to grow attached to.
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