The Namesake-Week 2 Post B

"The Namesake" gets very interesting when the point of view goes from Ashima to Ashoke, but still in the third person. The narrator goes back to when Ashoke was a young college student, and constantly reading. Ashoke's parents always said, "Your going to die reading a book,"and this is very interesting because he really almost does. When Ashoke's grandfather is ill, he asks Ashoke to come spend time with him (mostly because he had a huge collection of books he knows Ashoke would love). So Ashoke boards the train out of Calcutta and on the way to where his grandfather resides. On the way Ashoke stays up all night reading his favorite piece of literature by the famous Russian writer, Gogol, which plays a role in the novel later, but while he is lying in his cabin reading he is thrown across the country side in seconds from a horrible train crash. Ashoke is terrified for his life, and is lost within the rubble. When search and rescue come, they almost miss him, leaving him there to die, but after raising his hand out of the rubble they take notice of him and get him out. After the train wreck he was left in bandages, lying in bed for months unable to move, but once he is healed he announces to his parents that he is going to attend MIT. A huge shock and disappointment hits the family, but he carries on to America anyways. That is the story of how Ashoke almost died reading a book like his mother said, and Ashoke will continue to have nightmares of that day for many years after. All very intriguing.

- Grace