'...they all come from Calcutta, and for this reason alone they are all friends.'
What is the main reason for the connection between the Ganguli's circle of friends?
100
32 years
What is the time frame of the novel?
100
Migration and the migrant experience, alienation, assimilation, exile, racial and cultural identity, loneliness and growth to maturity.
What are some of the themes and issues of the novel?
200
Nikhil
What is the name Gogol gives himself at university?
200
Pemberton Road
What is the name of the street where the Gangulis buy their home?
200
'For the sake of Gogol and Sonia they celebrate...the birth of Christ, an event the children look forward to far more than the worship of Durga and Saraswati.'
What shows the children are becoming Americanised?
200
reflections and flashbacks
What are the devices used to explore the background events and details of characters lives?
200
Loneliness
What concept does Lahiri explore primarily through Ashima?
300
Sonali
What is Gogol's sister's name?
300
Yale
What is the name of the university Gogol attends?
300
'But nothing feels normal to Ashima. For the past eighteen months,... nothing has felt normal at all.'
What is Ashima's response to the move to America?
300
Bildungsroman
What is the style where a text deals with the growth to maturity of a main character?
300
Growth to maturity
What concept is explored primarily through the experiences of Gogol?
400
Moushumi
What is the name of Gogol's wife?
400
Paris
What is the city in Europe where Moushumi 'escapes'?
400
'...there are also lots of ABCDs. He has no idea that there are this many on campus...He has no ABCD friends at college. He avoids them...'
What is the acronym of the group Gogol chooses not to belong to, and is used to distance himself from that group?
400
third person narrative
What is the device used by the composer to allow for the narrative to be told from the point of view of varying characters?
400
Alienation
What concept is explored through the various experiences of the Ganguli family?
500
Nikolai Gogol?
Who wrote 'The Overcoat'?
500
Ohio
Where does Gogol's father die?
500
'At times, his name, an entity shapeless and weightless, manages neverthelessto distress him physically, like the scratchy tag of a shirt he has been forced permanently to wear?'
What are the words used to express Gogol's discomfort at his unusual name?
500
The Namesake means naming someone after another person, with a definite importance to the namer, but for Gogol he only recognises this after the death of his father when he loses such connection.
What is significant about the title of the novel?
500
Cultural identity
What concept do the older Ganguli's struggle with as their children become 'Americanised'?