The Ganguli. This book begins with Ashoke and Ashima and their lives starting after marriage. When they arrive in America, Ashima gives birth to a boy named Gogol and later a daughter named Sonia, and that's when the book's narrative changes. An important part of the novel is how Gogol struggles to understand who he is and his identity. Gogol also enters into relationships with girls, which shows readers that intimacy/love is one of the most important themes. Throughout the novel Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri the theme of love and intimacy is shown to us living through Gogol's family and relationships. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Gogol is in a serious relationship with a woman named Ruth. He meets her while on the train home to visit his family and easily falls in love with her. “In the fall of his sophomore year, he boards a particularly crowded train at Union Station… A girl sits by the window, reading a folded issue of the New Yorker” (Lahiri 109). Ruth also attends the same school as Gogol. After they start dating for a while, they spend a lot of time apart. “He can't imagine having parents like that, a background like that, and when he describes his own upbringing it seems bland by comparison. But Ruth expresses interest” (Lahiri 111). For him it was really exciting to date a girl with a family so different from his. In this relationship it's like we find new people because Gogol and Ruth start to behave so differently. The relationship obviously doesn't work and Gogol vows to be with a woman who alone can show him the true meaning of love. He's only with her because he's never had a taste of love in his life. He is also in another relationship with a woman named Maxine. “She approaches him again while he is idle… Her name is Maxine. She leans against a column as she speaks, smiling easily at him, drinking a glass of champagne” (Lahiri 128). In this specific relationship he becomes sad because she distances him from his family and also from the culture he grew up with. “Sometimes, as the laughter at Gerald and Lydia's table swells, and another bottle… he is aware that his immersion in Maxine's family is a betrayal of his” (Lahiri 141). Gogol loves the life Maxine lives and that's what attracts him. Gogol's father dies and that's when he feels so much guilt for not spending more time with his father and family. This is an important thing in the novel because Maxine allowed him to be distant from his culture, which he wanted to be, but it helped us see him evolve as a character. This relationship he had with Maxine helped him understand how much he needs his family and how much they need him. His next relationship ends up being arranged by his mother with a woman named Moushumi. “But his mother insists, reminding him, the next time they talk, that his parents are coming to his father's funeral” (Lahiri 192). She has spent much of her life in other countries and is a different kind of girl that Gogol would date. Gogol and Moushumi get married because their parents want them to and she ends up with something she had in common from her old marriage. When Moushumi and Gogol go to Paris she betrays him by telling people his real name. “She agreed to have an early dinner with Dimitri that evening…he considers their time together perfectly normal” (Lahiri 264). Moushumi then starts having a relationship with Dimitri, her high school crush, and ends up telling Gogol, which obviously leads to them breaking up. This relationship made him realize that the only thing.