Hi Everyone!! This article will share Gogol’s First Day Questions & Answers.
This is an excerpt from ‘The Namesake’ by Jhumpa Lahiri. In my previous post, I have shared the questions and answers of Hope Is The Thing With Feathers so, you can check that post as well.
Gogol’s First Day Questions & Answers
Word Galaxy
- Immunization record – a list of preventive medicines given to a child as protection against certain diseases
- Answer to – respond when his name is called
- Clutching – holding tightly
- Bilingual – able to use two different languages
- Accented English – English spoken in the Indian way
Question 1: Which sentence in first paragraph shows that in Gogol’s mind a new name is a new person different from him?
Answer: Following sentence in first paragraph shows that:
‘He is afraid to be Nikhil – someone he doesn’t know and who doesn’t know him.’
Question 2: Gogol’s parents try to remove the boy’s fears by
(a) teaching him something.
(b) making a promise.
What do they teach and promise him?
Answer: Gogol’s parents tell him that having a new name is a part of growing up. They teach him to write his new name so that he gets used to it. They promise him that they will always call him Gogol at home.
Question 3: What shows that the principal at first thinks the boy is just nervous and tries to win his confidence?
Answer: Mrs Lapidus bends down so that her face is level with Gogol’s. She does this to assure him that he need not be afraid.
Question 4: How does Ashoke try to show the principal that Gogol is bilingual? What does he in doing that reveal to the principal?
Answer: Ashoke speaks to Gogol in English asking him to respond to Mrs Lapidus. When he does so, he addresses him as Gogol and Mrs Lapidus hears the name for the first time.
Question 5: When does Gogol begin to speak to the principal – after his father has left or before? What do you think that shows?
Answer: Gogol speaks to Mrs Lapidus only after his father leaves. He is nervous as his father insists on him being called Nikhil. Gogol however wants to be known by the name he is used to.
Question 6: Can you guess from 35 paragraph what little Gogol found specially interesting in school?
Answer: The art class is Gogol’s favourite hour at school.
Gogol’s First Day Questions & Answers
Question 7: Read the lines and answer the questions:
i. Mrs Lapidus nods. “The reason being?”
(a) The nod means she accepts. What does she accept?
Answer: She accepts that Ashoke wants him to be known as Nikhil.
(b) She then asks for the reason. Reason for what?
Answer: She wants to know the reason why the parents want him to be known as Nikhil at school.
(c) Is Ashoke able to explain the reason? What does he say and what effect does it have on Mrs Lapidus?
Answer: Ashoke struggles to explain why he wants his son to be known by a different name at school and a different one at home. He says that Gogol will eventually get used to it. Mrs Lapidus is neither convinced nor does she approve.
Question 8: Read the lines and answer the questions:
She has not had to go through this confusion with the other two Indian children in the school. She opens up the folder and examines the immunization record and the birth certificate.
(a) Who is ‘she’ in the above lines and what was the confusion?
Answer: ‘She’ in the above lines refers to Mrs Lapidus, the Principal of the school where Gogol is admitted. The confusion was about Gogol’s name. His father called him Nikhil while the records had the name Gogol.
(b) What did she see in the school records?
Answer: She saw that the documents she had did not feature Nikhil anywhere. It had the name Gogol both in immunization record and the birth certificate.
(c) How does the parent react to the situation?
Answer: The parent was insistent that the school record should maintain Nikhil as his name and not Gogol.
Question 9: Why was Gogol very unhappy about a new name given to him?
Answer: Gogol was happy with his original name as he was used to it. Gogol did not want himself to be called Nikhil just in school while everyone in the family knew him as Gogol. He might have been happy if that name was used by everyone both in the family and outside. He could not identify with the new name given to him and felt that Nikhil was a stranger. He did not want to look at himself as a stranger.
Question 10: What effort does the Principal take to make Gogol comfortable in school?
Answer: Being an American, Mrs Lapidus was confused about why Mr Ganguli was insistent on a different name for Gogol at school. She was unable to understand where the new name would fit in Gogol’s records. She also observed Gogol’s discomfort in using a different name for school alone. She took the responsibility to help the child. She tore up the old registration form and typed a new one with Gogol as the name. Mrs Lapidus then took Gogol to the classroom where there were a number of students with nicknames. She also made it a point to inform the parents that due to their son’s preference, his original name had been retained.
So, these were Gogol’s First Day Questions & Answers.