The Namesake and The Overcoat

These two stories need to be brought together when. Both are about transformation and the failure of each character to be able to successfully do so. We see in both stories and instant where they work for a particular goal; i.e. a legal name change in one story and a new cloak in the other. In both stories the main character gets to that goal only to have it be less fulfilling than they had hoped. Throughout the rest of both stories, our characters struggle to find their true identity when in fact they already have it. They are simply not happy with what they have become and where they have come from. There are many parallels throughout both stories thank link the two of them together. I think that the ultimate failure of finding that identity truly defines both characters. It really shows them what they already know.