Question

Read the excerpts from The Namesake.

Excerpt 1: But Gogol doesn’t want a new name. He can’t understand why he has to answer to anything else. “Why do I have to have a new name?” he asks his parents, tears springing to his eyes. It would be one thing if his parents were to call him Nikhil, too. But they tell him that the new name will be used only by the teachers and children at school.

Excerpt 2: Mrs. Lapidus studies the registration form. She has not had to go through this confusion with the other two Indian children. She opens up the folder and examines the immunization record, the birth certificate. “There seems to be some confusion, Mr. Ganguli,” she says. “According to these documents, your son’s legal name is Gogol.”

Which statement best tells how the internal and external conflicts in each excerpt are the same?
Neither Mrs.Lapidus nor Gogol’s parents understand Gogol’s discomfort with using a new name in school.
Neither Gogol nor Gogol’s parents understand Mrs. Lapidus’s instructions for kindergarten registration.
Neither Gogol nor Mrs. Lapidus understands why Gogol’s parents want him to attend American kindergarten.
Neither Gogol nor Mrs. Lapidus understands the cultural schooling traditions experienced by Gogol’s parents.

Answer 1

Answer: D

Explanation: Right

Answer 2

The correct answer is D. Neither Gogol nor Mrs. Lapidus understands the cultural schooling traditions experienced by Gogol’s parents.

Both excerpts express Gogol and Mrs. Lapidus confusion about this naming problem. In India is custom that a kid gets two names, one pet name used by the family and a name to be used in public, this one chosen by an elderly in the family. Gogol's grandmother sends a letter with the public name that never arrives and the name Gogol, chosen to be the pet name, is written in the birth certificate, since the parents cannot leave the hospital without it. So Gogol goes through life with his pet name but when the time arrives to go to the kindergarden, their parents give him a public name, one that is not in the birth certificate. Therefore the teacher's confusion, who must respect the official documents, and Gogol's, who has always had one name and doesn't understand why he needs a different one to be used in public.