Love

A significant issue in the The Namesake is love, specifically dating and marriage. During Gogol's youth, he does not date anyone even though he may have had some crushes on girls. In Indian culture, it is traditional for love to be arranged specifically in the form of arranged marriages. Gogol's parents have never been on a date and have never danced so they see no motive to encourage him to go find love. His first taste of love is when he kisses a girl named Kim at a college party. He not only tells people he kissed her, but also says that it was Nikhil, his American name. As time progresses, he becomes involved in love interests with a girl named Ruth that he met in college. After she spends two semesters in England studying literature and returns, Ruth and Gogol began fighting and admit that something had changed between them and so they break up. Gogol's next love interest is with Maxine who he meets at a party. However, he begans to lose interest with her after his father's death for he has to deal with his emotional complications. His final love was Moushumi in which Gogol's mom set up a meeting for Gogol to have a relationship with her. Both are Indian so they have a similar cultural background, but Moushumi is not happy and begins to have a love affair with another man. Gogol finds out and divorces her. Love in The Namesake displays a sense of hopelessness for Gogol for he can never be happy again.