Sudden Death

Throughout this novel, The Namesake, I have found the repeated idea of needing a huge event to make a lasting change in one’s life.  From Ashoke’s near-death experience in a train accident to Gogol’s reaction to his father’s death years later, monumental events have acted as catalysts in the Ganguli’s lives, causing a reevaluation of morals and priorities (13-21,180-182).  Only Moushumi, however, seems immune to these life revelations in the face of death.  My class never discussed the odd parallel between Moushumi’s encounter with the sudden death of her secretary, Alice, and the unexpected heart attack of Ashoke, Gogol’s father.  Unfortunately, the parallel ends here.  The horrible early death of his father struck Gogol and evolved him into a more family-based, mature, empathetic man.  While Moushumi understandably suffered a lesser devastation because of her comparatively distant relationship with Alice, still she shows little to no shock or sympathy from it.  A surprising death, no matter how well-known the deceased, should illicit some emotion in a person.  I felt so angry at Moushumi for having such little feeling in this section.   Not only does Moushumi not experience a life-changing shift out of this death, as other characters have throughout this book, but she loses maturity.  The most immediate effect of Alice’s death: her reconnection and affair with Dmitri Desjardins.  In contrast with the mature figures of Gogol and Ashoke, Moushumi makes poorer and more immature decisions after the would-be life-altering event of an unexpected death.  Some classmates wondered why people need such large events to evoke change in one’s life, but at least Gogol reacted after that huge episode, as opposed to having no response at all, as Moushumi did.