Notes on the film The Namesake (based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, directed by Mira Nair, with screenplay by Sooni Taraporevala) 1. Many of you wrote about the significance of: Journeys Transportation Shoes (human connections, journeys, identity shifts) Ashima’s name (means without borders) The film being dedicated: “For our parents who gave us everything.” Stillness and motion in the film The New York City setting Kolkata setting Rituals like the funerals and weddings, stateside and in India National identity (as a theme) Names (places, traditions, emotions they give rise to) Rebelliousness (as a theme) The “book” by Gogol as it shows up in the film (and his story “The Overcoat”) Bridges (connectors, dividers--fluidity/rigidity) Color (and its absence) Generational divides/differences Gender divides/differences Cultural divides Cultural borderlands Dialogue in Bengali Music (American and Indian) Storytelling What it means to “follow one’s bliss.” 2. Some of you made comparisons between Gogol and Rachel (Yezierska’s work); Gogol and Milkman; Ashima and Pilate. 3. What other characters from the Coming of Age stories and memoirs might be compared to the characters of the film? Some memorable quotations from the film: Ashoke to Ashima on their return to India: “Think of your mother; think of your son. They need you to be strong.” Ashima, joking about her children: “I’ve given birth to strangers.” Ashima to Ashoke while wandering around the grounds of the Taj Majal: “You want me to say I love you like the Americans.” Ashoke to Gogol after his graduation: "We have all come out of Gogol's overcoat." Ashoke to Gogol when explaining the origins of his name: “I just wanted to get back to my book.” After Gogol asks his father if every time he hears his name, he thinks of that train crash: “Not at all. You remind me of everything that followed. Everyday since then has been a gift . Gogol.” Max to Gogol (or Nick) after meeting his parents: “Your parents are so different.” Gogol to Max after his father dies: “I don’t want to get away.” Her reply: “I don’t know you anymore.” The poem from which Ashima recites: "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed---and gazed---but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. William Wordsworth .