After finishing this book, my initial thought and reflection of this novel was a cliche everyone is familiar with such as “what goes around, comes around”, in better terms known as karma. As cheesy as this sounds, the message being said here still stands true to its meaning. This is a saying that can affect all of us throughout our whole life time. As readers, we learn in the 8th chapter that Gogol, or should I say Nakhil is having an affair with a married woman he meets at the bar named Bridget. Gogol knowing full well that Bridget is a married wife to a professor that teaches out in Brooklyn Heights, still chooses to meet up with her twice a week to help her cheat on her husband. Disregarding the consequences, Gogol knows that there is no chance they will be caught with the affair they are having, which motivates them to continue the interaction they are having. Throughout chapters 9-11 we figure out that Gogol ended the relationship he had with Bridget because of the guilt he had for her husband. A year later Gogol’s able to restore the friendship he had with his old friend Moushumi and evidently ends up marrying her overtime. Gogol's deeds don't get overlooked becomes essentially what he did to others happened to him. Moushumi’s desire to be with Dimitri lead to the Monday, Wednesday and Friday late night affairs they had that lasted for a month. In a superstitious mindset Gogol had what was coming to him. Personally I feel that you get what you give, and Gogol got what was coming for him. “This is what upsets her the most to admit: that the affair causes her to feel strangely at peace, the complication of it calming her, structuring her day”(Lahiri, 266). Without Moushumi knowing anything about Gogol's past with Bridget, she is able to do exactly what he did when he was in Dimitri's shoes. The reasoning of why she has no sympathy from this situation is the “universe” trying to get back at Gogol's actions. I can connect to this idea because I've witnessed this concept happen to my pet cat. As a kid my cat would always chew on toys and put anything in his mouth. Over time my family members and I would always try to correct him by taking them out of his mouth but he'd continue to do the same behaviours as always. it didn't take too long before he chewed on something and then turned very ill for a couple of weeks. I'm not only referring to my personal experience but this goes to show that there are such things as positive and negative types of karma, and are basically determined with your own moral beliefs and values.

In all honestly, other readers including myself have seen Gogol develop to a more rebellious and less traditional character. By drawing apart from his traditional Indian background, I feel that this is the result of the environment he is in by having his surroundings (peers) transform him into the identity he is long searching for. Most likely theorists would be interested in this topic because it brings up the nature vs nurture debate. I personally agree with the nurture side of the argument because Gogol is living proof of this debate. A prime example from the book that illustrates this reasoning is Gogol trying to convince his parents into changing his name to Nakhil. In the Bengali culture, it is unheard of and even looked down upon to switch your birth given name. It evidently shows that he has taken more of the western culture to have more free will into creating the identity you want to be, one of which is the preference in your name. "It's our way, Gogol, his mother maintained. It's what Bengali's do. But it's not even a Bengali name. He told his parents what he'd learned in Mr. Lawson's class, about Gogol's lifelong unhappiness, his mental instability, about how he'd starved himself to death" (Lahiri, 99-100). The conversation Gogol's having with his parents clearly shows the transformation he has went through on adapting the American lifestyle that he is exposed to everyday. To the readers that have seen the movie "Mean Girls", they can connect the plot to this exact situation. In the movie Cady represents Gogol by her being the new girl in a completely different country. she ultimately changes her beliefs due to the fact that she is associating herself with different cliques and/or groups. This shows overtly by her changing her appearance in order to fit into the group that she thinks she belongs in. As you can tell this movie and this book both have common approaches to showing the reader how the development of a personality is obtained, and I feel that this could ultimately either benefit or destroy the morals of a person

"New on Netflix: House M.D., Titanic, Mean Girls, The Bible Miniseries." 
Reel Life With Jane. N.p., 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

"Peer Pressure for Teens Paves the Path to Adulthood." 
WSJ. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

It just goes to show the diversity of culture we have around the world today. By only comparing two ethnic groups you can find either some common similarities or major differences of how they perform the same custom. While I was reading “The Namesake” in the first two chapters, it helped me understand the key concepts of having children in the Indian culture, specifically concerning their naming process. The first issue Ashoke and Ashima faced was determining the name of the child, which to them was not a priority at the time after Ashima’s pregnancy. In order to leave the hospital, the doctor will need all documentation to be completed including the child's name to keep on file and on the birth certificate. In Indian culture, they want to choose a meaningful name that gives character as well as preferred qualities in the hopes of having the child live up to its name. “Good names tend to represent dignified and enlightened qualities”(Lahiri, 26). Personally I agree with the opinion of having meaningful names instead of whatever fits right. My mother named me Daniel after the biblical figure in the holy text of Christianity. My mother liked this name because some of the qualities associated with Daniel from the bible are courageous, full of loyalty and a respectful man, which my mother hopes that I will follow. I can connect to the naming process of the Indian culture which by reading this book, helps me understand the difference in culture that they have to the Americans.