“Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself” –Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)
In the wake of the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, my thoughts have almost exclusively centered on this epic series. Therefore, I find it very appropriate that my blog post do the same. The quote I pulled from the first book of the series Dumbledore says to Harry in regards to Voldemort, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to most of the wizarding world. I believe this relates extremely well to The Namesake: Gogol hates and even fears the name Gogol, especially in his teen years when he only wants to distance himself from his namesake. Later on, the protagonist fears the persona of Gogol—the “thing itself”—in a way, because he does not want to return to his inexperienced, shy self. For the first few days of his life, Gogol was “not-to-be-named” as well, due to a delay in his grandmother’s letter. To further equate him to Voldemort, they both change their name and identity when they turn into adults: Tom Riddle to Lord Voldemort and Gogol Ganguli to Nikhil Ganguli; and both name changes represent a shift toward self-obsession and escape from childhood and their fathers. I do not mean to say that Gogol links to the Dark Lord (not you Chase) and should thus get hunted down and killed as soon as possible. To be honest, I just enjoy making the connections. It is interesting then, to study their points of difference; mainly, Gogol is not a blood-thirsty, egomaniacal, mad supremacist. Partly, I think he owes this to a much better childhood: one not spent in an orphanage suppressing his magical abilities as Riddle did. More importantly though, Gogol does not end up as such a maniac because he keeps his mind open and allows himself to accept his namesake later on in life. Tom Marvolo Riddle, on the other hand, rejects and kills his lineage and namesakes and refuses to even understand them. I think the lesson to most pull away from this connection is to keep an open mind and just start to read, as the last line of The Namesake preaches.
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| J.K. Rowling's epic series Harry Potter offers more than just a thrilling read |
Mary Beth, as a huge Harry Potter fan myself, this blog made me very happy as you both paralleled and contrasted these two seemingly separate characters. I agree that the title "He-who-must-not-be-named" was something to cover up an underlying fear of most of the characters. Gogol comes to accept the name, "Gogol," even if he does not rename himself that, and this took a lot of courage. The other characters in Harry Potter should follow Harry's (and Gogol's) example and not fear a name so much, but face their the thing itself.
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