Ashima and Ashoke: The Namesake

Even though I'm only two chapters into The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, I already really enjoy it, and I can tell Lahiri has a gift for storytelling. Lahiri depicts scenes that are vivid and feel very real; as I read, I feel like I'm watching a movie on a big screen. Because of her ability to portray emotion so well through her descriptive writing, I connect with the characters on a personal level. For example, I loved the scene where Ashoke holds Gogol for the first time. "Ashoke has never seen a more perfect thing...Being rescued from that shattered train had been the first miracle of his life. But here, now, reposing in his arms, weighting next to nothing but changing everything, is the second," (Lahiri 24). Before reading that part of the second chapter, I was unsure of how Ashoke would handle becoming a father. He seemed a little distant from Ashima, frightened at the prospect of fatherhood, and too focused on work. But after I read that scene, where Ashoke holds the baby and claims he has "...never seen a more perfect thing" I saw that he would undoubtedly love and care for the child.

    I also like how Lahiri gives insight on the backgrounds of the couple: who they are, where they come from, how they got to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both Ashima and Ashoke traveled to America from Calcutta, India. They came from traditional Indian families, who paired them together for marriage. Although the marriage was arranged, over time Ashima and Ashoke learned to love each other. 

   They moved to America for Ashoke. This is clear when, after Ashima has the baby, she realizes that she does not want to raise Gogol in a such an unfamiliar place. She wants to raise him in India, where she had grown up, and where he would be surrounded by family and Indian culture. "[Ashoke] looks at Ashima, her face leaner, the features sharper than they had been at their wedding, aware that her life in Cambridge, as his wife, has already taken a toll," (Lahiri 33). Ashoke would do anything for Ashima because he loves her, but is he willing to give up his life in Cambridge just because of her homesickness? Ghosh, the man that Ashoke met on the train years ago - the train that would derail and kill most everyone on board, not counting Ashoke - told him that it was "'...his greatest regret, coming back [to India],'" (Lahiri 33). I don't think Ashoke would want to return to live in India, even for Ashima. 

  I also wonder what they will name Gogol, since it's only a pet name. Will they keep the name or change it? 

   I'm interested to see what will happen in the next few chapters. I can only hope that everything turns out well for Ashima and Ashoke, because as of right now I'm invested in their characters.