Throughout Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, themes of marriage, love, and intimacy are carefully woven into the lives of the Ganguli family; namely Gogol and his parents. The novel begins with Ashima and Ashoke, Gogol's parents, and the beginnings of their arranged marriage, and for a few brief chapters follows the development of their intimacy and relationship. Shortly after they move to America, Ashima gives birth to Gogol and the perspective turns to him. Gogol struggles with his identity as he progresses through public school and has several brief affairs with girls, until he manages to form serious relationships with Ruth, Maxine, and finally Moushumi. The anthology of her relationships compared to her parents' relationship profoundly shows how love comes differently to different people in this story. Although there are several central themes in the novel, love is one of the most defining and defining of all. The major theme of love in The Namesake manifests itself through its most important relationships with women, such as Ruth, Maxine, and Moushumi. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Gogol's first major relationship in the story is the relationship he shares with Ruth. Although this relationship does not last long, it is one of the most significant in the novel. Gogol meets Ruth on a train trip to New Haven to see her family, and quickly becomes infatuated with her and everything she represents. Ruth, also a student at Yale, is an eccentric white American who embodies everything her parents are not, and Gogol gets his first glimpse of American love. About a year after they started dating, Ruth began studying abroad at Oxford for a semester, but when she became enamored with the culture and professors, she decided to stay for another term. After spending so much time apart, Ruth and Gogol find themselves arguing and often at odds with each other's new identities, stating that "her speech was peppered with words and expressions she had learned in England, such as ' I imagine” and “I suppose” and “probably”…. [b]ut within a few days of being together again in New Haven, in an apartment he had rented on Howe Street with friends, they had started fighting, both finally admitting that something had changed” (Lahiri 120). The relationship ends between the two and Gogol feels alone on campus. This first connection that Gogol makes is imperative because it sets a precedent for the women he will seek out for his future relationships, that is, he will actively seek out Anglo-American, liberal, and scholarly women, and because she introduces him to love. in its entirety. Ruth draws a striking comparison with Gogol's parents' relationship and their cultural practices. Gogol, being unfamiliar with love, instantly falls in love with Ruth and becomes enveloped by the comfort Ruth brings him in their relationship, allowing him to further distance himself from his parents' lives and culture (Lahiri). The relationship that Gogol participates in is his relationship with Maxine. In this relationship, Gogol finds initial comfort in the separation he gains from his family and culture, and the freedom that comes with it, until it ultimately becomes a symbol of guilt and death of his father. Shortly after receiving his architecture degree, Gogol is in New York at a lush party when he meets Maxine, a young and attractive Anglo-American woman who fits the rebellious woman typethat he has been searching for since adulthood. Gogol appears to be enamored of Maxine's life and lifestyle, rather than Maxine herself, and he quickly becomes envious of her identity. Maxine lives her lavish life unapologetically and is completely comfortable with her identity, something Gogol has struggled with since birth. Maxine and his family represent freedom from his family's lifestyle and the inevitable confrontation he will have with his own identity. Their relationship is strong, until the first conflict that arises in Gogol's consciousness. This first problem occurs when, on his 27th birthday, he and the Ratliffs are at their New Hampshire cabin celebrating. He is surrounded by strangers who he thinks will forget him the next day, and Pamela, a family friend of the Ratliffs, makes racist comments about him being Indian and assuming he can't get sick because of this. She questions her origins and Lydia, with good intentions, states that Gogol (Nikhil) was born in the United States, but she herself immediately questions it. Gogol is irritated by the comments, but then understands that he is incredibly different from the Ratliffs, even though he has lived with them for a long time. The next and final pivotal point that occurs between Maxine and Gogol is the death of her father. Gogol immediately feels guilty for not spending more time with his family and therefore associates this guilt with his relationship with Maxine. Gogol spends a lot more time with his family, which upsets Maxine, and the relationship ends (Lahiri). This relationship is crucial to Gogol's development as a character, as well as his perception of love and family. Gogol tries to separate himself from his family and their cultural traditions, which Maxine's relationship with him allows, but he soon realizes that he and Maxine, along with all of his other Anglo-American girlfriends, are too different and that the women he has been with cannot relate to his background, his identity, or the emotions that accompany them. This relationship leads him to accept his family more, with the feeling of having taken them for granted after the death of his father, and to turn to them to find a true sense of identity. Following his relationship with Maxine Ratliff, things seem to be going better. good for Gogol as he returns to his family and connects to his heritage, and after a brief affair with a married woman, Gogol's mother sets him up with Moushumi. The two share a few dates, including one in which Gogol buys her an expensive hat, and several months later they begin dating. Moushumi, who spent most of his youth in England and Paris, is very different from Gogol and this appeals to the "type" of women he usually seeks. Moushumi tells Gogol her life story, followed by an introduction to her ex-fiancé Graham and a brief explanation of how their relationship ended the summer before they met Gogol. Gogol and Moushumi marry as per their family's request, half-awkwardly realizing that the sari Moushumi wears is from her previous engagement. A few months later, they both stay in Paris for a conference that Moushumi is attending, and Gogol begins to feel like a tourist both in Paris and in Moushumi's life. The couple attend a party where Moushumi betrays Gogol's trust by exposing his reputation. The story then shifts to Moushumi's point of view, and his high school crush is introduced in a flashback that provides some serious foreshadowing to the plot, followed by Dimitri's cell phone number being written down and his contact . The two begin to have an affair, and the two break up after.