Two Important Motifs

The novels Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Namesake by Johnathan Safran Foer and Jhumpa Lahiri both involve characters that try to get on with their lives by accepting their past. Throughout the novels motifs like the key and Gogol’s name invoke remembrance in the main character that carries them through the novels.

In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oscar goes on a journey to bring him closer to his father and to get over his recent death. He finds a key in his father’s closet and spends an entre eight months searching for a lock that fits it. The key that Oscar finds drives him to remember his father and how he always gave him scavenger hunts so he goes on this journey to find the lock to help him understand his father and hopefully get over his death.

In The Namesake, Gogol struggles in his labyrinth through life to become the first generation of American in his family and tries to split himself from his Bengali parents because of the embarrassment his origins. The motif that causes him to constantly be reminded of his embarrassing origin is his name and no matter how far he distances himself from his family, he always has his name. This causes him to legally change it and he finally moves away to college.

On his way back home, a man jumped into the train tracks and caused the electricity to go out. Later that day, Ashoke finally explains the origin of Gogol’s name and that makes him regret his name change. Eventually after his fathers death, Gogol begins to slowly go back to his family and finally accept his name. The driving force through Gogol’s life and the subject that always brings him back to his origin, is his name.