ipl-logo

Symbolism In The Gogol's Heart

1040 Words5 Pages

The heart is one of the most important organs in the body and represents what the character loves the most. Gogol Ganguli’s heart represents his character development throughout the story using placement, colors, and symbols. The left side of his heart is outside of his body and a rich shade of red-orange. By placing the left side of the heart outside of his body, it is symbolizing that for the first part of his life he was trying to blend in, be someone he is not. The red-orange color indicates desire, sexual passion, and thirst for action which are all traits that represent Gogol within the first half of his life. The right half of his heart is inside of his body where the human heart normally is located, in the chest. This shows that in …show more content…

Gogol’s desires and aspirations are constantly evolving throughout his life. At the beginning, he was just confused with the conflicting cultures that were surrounding him at home and at school, so the bottom part is riddled with question marks. The middle section of the spine is decorated with lipstick marks to represent the period in his life where he was romantically involved with Maxine. Finally, the top part of the spine includes the colors of the Indian flag and the word family in Bangla to represent the shift in his life where he focuses more on family relationships rather than romantic …show more content…

Gogol is holding hands with people that represent each culture he feels connected to. In his right hand is a hand that represents American culture, because he’s not just connected with the culture, but also the people within that culture. His left is holding onto a hand with the colors of the Indian flag to represent the cultural practices and people of his family and relatives. On his left hand ring finger there is a broken wedding ring to symbolize his divorce, showing that even cultural similarities don’t guarantee a flawless relationship. Altogether this shows that Gogol feels a strong connection to both of these ways of life and is trying to blend them together to combine the things that are important to

Show More
Related

  • Ego Psychology: Case Conceptualization Of Ashoke's Travel Experiences

    1905 Words  | 8 Pages

    His family wants him to follow his father’s footsteps and become an engineer, but he wants to pursue architecture. His mother wants him to follow Bengali culture, such as marrying someone from the same background. Regardless of his parents’ desires, he focuses more on his friends and American culture than his own family’s values. When his father passes away, he begins to cherish his family values. Gogol is very caring and committed to his passions.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Terrible Vengeance

    980 Words  | 4 Pages

    Looking with the benefit of hindsight, things changed much neither during Gogol’s time not after him. Descriptions of Captain Gorobets’ individual guests are even more marvelous and edifying: On his sorrel stallion arrived Cossack Mikita, who kept

    Read More

  • The Namesake Thesis

    764 Words  | 4 Pages

    Not only does this make him drift from his family, but drift from his Indian Culture. “At times, as the laughter at Gerald and Lydia’s table swells, and another bottle of wine is opened, and Gogol raises his glass to be filled yet again, he is conscious of the fact that his immersion in Maxine’s family is a betrayal of his own” (141). Gogol has been following the “American” ways with Maxine’s family and he has become aware of the disconnection between him and his culture. It seems as if he is starting to feel quite guilty because of this and he feels as if he is being

    Read More

  • Cultural Dissonance In Native Speaker And The Namesake

    1354 Words  | 6 Pages

    For instance, when the children write a discriminatory message in their mailbox. In addition, his parents were in an arranged marriage, and he despised their relationship. Their marriage serves as a reason for him pushing away from their traditions. Following their customs, his parents didn’t show affection openly. Gogol claims, “Gogol is reminded that in all his life he has never witnessed a single moment of physical affection between his parents.

    Read More

  • The Namesake Gogol Identity

    1523 Words  | 7 Pages

    Gogol, the son of Ashima and Ashoke, was born in America and spends the first half of his life trying to run away from his Bengali roots. Although Gogol does not feel as lost and detached as his parents in America, he has a difficult time trying to balance the Bengali culture he was born into as well as the American culture he sees and experiences all around him as he is growing up. Throughout the novel, The Namesake, Gogol struggles to develop his identity due to the clashing of Bengali and American culture in his life. Gogol’s first obstacle in his search for self-identity occurs only a couple days after his birth, when his parents must decide on a name in order to be released from the hospital. Ashima and Ashoke eventually decide on Gogol, after the writer who saved Ashoke’s life during a train crash.

    Read More

  • Gogol's Life: A Brief Film Analysis

    752 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the girls that shaped Gogol is Ruth. Gogol meet Ruth in class as a student at Yale. One day leaving Yale, Gogol sat next to Ruth on the train and began talking to her. After a short time dating each other, Ruth decided to move to Oxford for a semester and then decided to stay the summer. When Ruth returns and goes back to Gogol, things don’t turn out very well.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Amir's Move To America

    433 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gogol’s relationship with his family, as previously mentioned, was a rocky one. Because he grew up hating his name, he associated his name with his heritage and in turn grew to hate his family’s traditions. When he grows up, he tries to separate himself from these traditions by avoiding the Bengali themed parties his parents throw and immerses himself in American traditions. “He didn't want to go home on the weekends, to go with them to pujos and Bengali parties, to remain unquestionably in their world,” (Lahiri 126). This active rebellion of Gogol’s peaked at the time that he was dating his girlfriend, Maxine, and also when he changed his first name to Nikhil.

    Read More

  • Goya The Third Of May Analysis

    972 Words  | 4 Pages

    For instance, the man in the white shirt is a martyr to Spain, and in fact, his arms are raised up as if he is hanging from the cross and under close speculation, we can see small indentations in his palms that are a reference to the stigmata that the Christ received on the cross. Goya is using this historical tradition in painting for the representation of this event from his subjective modern viewpoint. It isn't about a message from the Pope or a person in power. It was not a painting made for a patron which is common during the era which this picture was finished. There’s even a sense that the Spanish resistors in the art are not depicted as heroes as we will traditionally think of in a history painting.

    Read More

  • When We Talk About Love By Raymond Carver Analysis

    1396 Words  | 6 Pages

    Although the heart is used with its concrete meaning as symbols in the short story, they are interpreted by more abstract meanings. For instance, the story begins with the use of the heart as a symbol by the character, Mel McGinnis who is a cardiologist - a heart doctor; thus, it gives him the right to speak first. He talks more than other characters in the short story yet; he cannot come up with a clear definition of love.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Relationships In The Namesake

    1105 Words  | 5 Pages

    However, as time passes, they begin to nurture a love for each other. This is only the beginning of a series of relationships in “The Namesake.” The primary one, centers on Gogol and his tight relationship between his Indian-cultured parents. At first, Gogol is completely in disgust at his parents and their background. This is evident during the beginning of their trip to India.

    Read More

  • The Namesake Relationships

    1229 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gogol’s serious relationships began after he legally changed his name to Nikhil. The significance of relationships and marriage in the novel is purely based on intimacy and defining one’s identity. Gogol’s relationship with Ruth was his first real relationship. They

    Read More

  • The Joy Of Cooking Poem Analysis

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    To describe the heart, the speaker says that it is "firm and rather dry” (10). This description of the heart shows that the brother truly does not have feelings, and cares for no one but himself. This description really makes the brother out to be cold-hearted. Magarrell also uses cooking terms in order to describe how she handles her brother’s heart.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Realism In 'The Nose And The Overcoat'

    1578 Words  | 7 Pages

    The confusion between dream and reality in "The Nose" allow Gogol introduce the reader to a new space, where he would take for granted even the most dramatic plot twists. At the same time such a thin borderline between reality and fantasy, where neither

    Read More

  • Vegetarianism In Gogol's Dead Souls

    1951 Words  | 8 Pages

    Both the narrator and the protagonist, Chichikov, ignore the individualities of people of lower social standing, the architype of which is the Russian peasant. Gogol tacitly contributes to the idea of people easily blurred into anonymity in a crowd by introducing countless peasants whose stories are not returned to or

    Read More

  • Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake Analysis

    703 Words  | 3 Pages

    Born in America, immersed in mainstream American culture, but raised by parents who retain strong Indian traditions; in result, he struggles with his identity. As he grows up he questions who he truly is, and where he truly belongs. His past struggles all have an effect on his romantic relationships throughout the novel. Gogol’s three key relationships are animated by themes of belonging and alienation. Gogol’s first serious relationship is with Ruth,

    Read More

More about Symbolism In The Gogol's Heart

Open Document