The Namesake

            Although there was a good moral to the story, something to be learned at the end; although I do sincerely believe it was probably a good book, watching the movie The Namesake, was painful.  The storyline had a lot of potential to be interesting, but my god this movie was soooooo slow.  It was one of those quiet movies that took a long time to develop. There was no suspense, no comedy, and hardly enough romance. There was nothing that really made it intriguing, even the moral was vague, and in by no means profound enough to make a movie out of.  But there were some things I did like.

            I love how the Hindi culture uses colors. I loved all the beautiful vibrant, bright saris and the way their culture is so aesthetically pleasing. I liked all the body decorations and it’s always interesting to learn about other cultures, their rituals and how they do things. They way they did the arranged marriages were interesting and the marriage ceremonies were interesting.  I surprised to see that the grieving color in Hindi culture is white. It really showed how different the Gogol’s culture was from his American girlfriend’s when she showed up to the funeral ceremony, being the only one in black in a room full of people in white robes.  And of course I saw the moral of the story and I liked that too.

            So what about this message, this moral to the story?  The whole reason this movie was made.  Well the movie begins with Gogol’s father on a train reading, talking to an old man. The man encourages him to travel, but Gogol’s father is not particularly interested. Then the train crashes, he almost dies, and in that life changing traumatic episode he decides to see the world after all. Life is short. He marries Gogol’s mom, they move to America and then they give birth to Gogol. Another interesting thing I learned from this movie about the Hindi culture, they have two names. The nickname essentially, and the official name. While in the hospital they give Gogol his nickname first. In kindergarten Gogol decides he wants this to be his official name, but then regrets it later in life when he’s trying to pick up chicks, and when going into the work world. His father tires to show Gogol the importance of the name with a book by the famous writer Gogol, and later with a serious chat in the car. Gogol still changes his name, but then his father dies and he returns to his roots begins to appreciate his culture, and regrets changing his name.

            In a nutshell, the name was the name of the author of the book that Gogol’s dad was reading on the train. It was his favorite author, and along with the old man, it was that book that inspired him to see the world and move to America. “That’s what books are for, to see the world without ever leaving the page.” A quote of Gogol’s grandfather, that Gogol’s father said just before the crash. But the crash made Gogol’s father realize that his father was wrong. The name symbolized the moment that changed Gogol’s father’s life forever.  Much like the birth of Gogol. The name inspires Gogol’s father and helps him memorialize and incident he will never forget. When googol realizes the importance of his name he realizes that, of all the names he could have been given his father gave him the name that was the most important to him. He was given the name that embodied all his hopes and dreams, because Gogol was his hopes and dreams.  Gogol realizes it is an honor to have that name.  Through the legacy of that name he learns to appreciate his family, his culture, and why he was born in America, and that is the moral of the story.