SOF Final Podcast

The podcast episode discusses the novel "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri, focusing on the main character Gogol and his struggle with identity. Gogol has both a pet name and a proper name, which reflects the Bengali culture. The podcast also explores the experience of first-generation immigrants, like Gogol's parents and the guest, Leigh Vang. Leigh shares how her family had both Hmong and American names and the challenges they faced while immigrating to the US. The discussion highlights the importance of learning about the culture and language of a new country before moving there. Hello, hello, hello, welcome back to our podcast. My name is Bianca Guirguila, and I'm here with the rest of the team, which is Zach, Sid, Angel, and Brian, who will be doing the interview portion of this wonderful episode. And we're just so happy that you're here and listening to what we have to offer you. So in this podcast, we decided to take a dive into the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, called The Namesake, which is a lovely story where a couple, Ashok and Ashima, have immigrated from India to the United States, and they had beautiful children, two of them, the first born being Gogol, and his sister, Sanya. And what this story really talks about and dives into is just how Gogol finds his identity in his name. In India, they have pet names, and then their proper name, their formal name. And Gogol was named Gogol after a Russian author that his father cherished very much because it was a part of his traumatic past. And we just see that Gogol is, at first, very excited and happy to have this name and this identity in his name, but his proper name that his parents gave to him was Nikhil. And as he grew older and got more into his adolescent years, the young kids were making fun of him and his name, so he decided to switch to his proper name, Nikhil. And there is just a snowball effect of him figuring out his identity and who he really is. Is he Gogol? Is he Nikhil? Is he part of his Indian culture, his heritage, or does he want to get rid of that and get rid of his Indian culture and heritage and become fully American? So we just see this constant back and forth of who does he want to be and him trying to figure that out. And in this beautiful process and beautiful journey, we see his story grow and his persona grow as well. And at the end, he does come back to his pet name, Gogol, which is a sweet sentiment to his father and to his family and to his culture. And he realizes why he was named that, because his father named him Gogol after, like I said, a Russian author, which was a book that he was reading and in a way it saved his life when he got into that accident and when he realized that a part of him will always be that Indian culture and that Indian heritage and his family, that's when he, I feel like, opened up more to his true identity and his true purpose in life. So all in all, that was a quick rundown of what The Namesake is, and we were able to really just dive into that and learn and read and just assess the book and the novel and the characters one by one, and it was such a beautiful, a beautiful journey to go through. So in the next portion of the podcast, we're going to have Brian interview his wonderful fiancée and her being a first-gen child here in the States, she's going to talk about her experience and her family's experience and what it was like for her, similar to Gogol being a first-gen immigrant in the States. So we will see you in the next portion of our podcast. Welcome back to our podcast. Today I'm joined by Leigh Vang. Hi Leigh. Hi Brian. So we're going to discuss the book The Namesake today by the author Jhumpa Lahiri. The first element of the book I'd like to discuss is how one of the main characters, Gogol, has both his pet name Gogol and his good name, Mikhil. So I should explain this first. His family is of Bengali origin, and Bengali families have a pet name that's used within the household and a good name that would be used at school and at work and other public settings. How does your two names connect to how this character has two names? Yeah, so I have a phone name, Linda, and I have an American name, Leigh, and my American name is used at school, at work, basically anywhere where my Hmong name is only used with close relatives and people who are in my internal circle. I see. Now is there a cultural reason why you would have two names? Is this something that all Hmong American families do or just your family? How did this happen? A lot of first-generation Hmong Americans who come over from Thailand and from Laos, we have Hmong names and American names, and when they first came over, they realized that a lot of Americans couldn't say our Hmong names, so they opted for giving their kids a Hmong and American name, and the American name would only be used in important settings as in work, school, where the Hmong name would be used at home with their cousins and relatives. I see. Now, the character we were discussing, Gogol, when he went to school, his parents tried to implement his good name, Nikhil, but the teachers noticed that he responded to Gogol, and they decided to start calling him Gogol. Was there ever something that happened in school where you had both of your names used at once or anything similar? Yes, actually. When I was in kindergarten, I was only informed of my home name, which is Lien Da, because all my relatives and parents, they all called me that, so when I went to school, I didn't realize that my American name was Lien, so the whole entire time during my kindergarten year, I was being called Lien Da, and then at one point, my teacher pulled me aside and started asking me questions of why that was my name and all that stuff, why it was spelt different than what it was on paper, and I was just like, that's my name, that was how my parents spelt it to me, and it was this whole controversy thing, and then I went home that day, told my parents about it really proudly, and then my dad told me and was like, no, Lee Vang is your given name, and he ended up having me write my name repetitively in a notebook for hours, until I memorized it. I see. Now, in the book, Gogol's parents tried to have the teachers use his good name Akil, but they decided since Gogol appeared more comfortable being called Gogol to go with that name, how would your parents have responded if your teachers had decided to let you go by Lien Da instead of Lee? My parents would have been fine with it, but then over time, they would have been more stricter on us on having our actual names be recognized and memorized in our brains and respond to it as, you know, they'll be what's used in the real world instead of our pet name. So they wouldn't be okay with it being done the way it was in the book, where the teachers went with Gogol's wishes and called him Gogol. No. I see. So let's move on to another element in the book, which is his parents' immigration to America. Your parents immigrated as well to America, and what was that experience like? What drove them to immigrate, and what was that process? For my parents, one of the biggest reasons why they wanted to immigrate was to give their kids more of a chance and a better lifestyle, so they got a sponsorship from my auntie in Minnesota and came over into the U.S. for just a better opportunity. And what were some challenges that they experienced while immigrating, and were there any social norms that they struggled to adapt to? They struggled a lot with the language and just trying to adapt to the way everything is done in the U.S., as over there, the currency is also a lot different from in the U.S., and the laws are also different, so they had to learn how to implement all that, learn all the laws, learn how everything runs in the U.S., and it was also very complicated for them to do all that, not knowing the language, and raising two kids, too, as well as being teenagers, going to school, going to work, yes, it was a big struggle. I see. Now, on top of being, as you said, teenagers, having children, many things that their American peers wouldn't have had, they were also adapting to a new land, new food, new environment. Was there anything that your parents had to adapt to there that they struggled or they excelled at? Yes, actually. A lot of the struggling was education, as my mom, at a young age, she had to give up her education, as she had to take care of my two older brothers, and then along the way she had my third older brother and my sister and me, so they didn't have the ability of having daycare and people there to watch their kids, so they had to trade off and learn how to work around all that stuff, school and work, and food-wise, my mom couldn't integrate to American food, so she still likes a lot of Asian food, where my dad has learned how to integrate with it, learn how to eat a lot of, like, Americans like to eat a lot of bread, and so my parents had to learn how to eat gluten and stuff. That's really interesting. Thank you for talking about that, Leigh. Now, let's end this with one final question. With your experience here, your family's experience immigrating, what advice would you give to others who are considering moving to another country? The advice I would give to others to move to another country is, learn the culture and the language of there first, or at least learn something about it first before moving there, as that would help you in the long run, moving to a different country, as, you know, once you get there, it's not easy to turn back. Well, thank you for coming on our podcast, Leigh. Thank you for being so willing to discuss your life, your family's life, and being willing to answer all of these questions. I really appreciate it. Yes, thank you.