Throughout The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri cultural differences are seen. They are closely related to names and identity. Your identity is shown through your name and sometimes people may not be able to see themselves as their name shows them. Many cultures think certain names are ordinary but they also see names that are not ordinary or weird in some way. Throughout the book, you see the distaste Gogol has for his name. He does not like it and goes to great lengths to change it, although still maintaining part of his Bengali and Russian roots. Also seen is the distaste for his culture not wanting to keep in touch with the Bengali language trying to assimilate to American culture, which can be seen throughout the novel as conflicting with one another. First, each nationality determines the name of their child in a different way. This first passage shows opens up light on this topic. It states, “The sign of respect in America and Europe, this symbol of heritage and lineage, would be ridiculed in India. Within Bengali Families, individual names are sacred, inviolable. They are not meant to be inherited or shared” (Lahiri, 28). The cultural conflict in this passage is due to the name’s significance. The American culture does not use names so often as a way to standout and be its own. You see names, which Americans possess that are the same. James, John, and Robert are all commonly used American names. You do not see the name Gogol used too often. This quote shows how Gogol’s name is meant to standout and be different. Its it not supposed to be common or sound nice like American names, but standout and be sacred to the person and their family. It is not supposed to be looked at like anyone else’s name. The name is of greater meanin... ... middle of paper ... ...nd this was a different person it would have created an even greater cultural conflict being that they would not be able to even interpret what was being said on the phone. The cultural conflicts that Asian Americans (mostly Bengali’s as seen in the book) face in America is seen through their names and how they go through their everyday life. Going to and from a place by transportation and interacting with many other non Asian Americans, the cultures clash as well. Everyone’s identity is shown through his or her name. Gogol’s name stands out and creates cultural conflict in America due to its uniqueness. Lahiri displays many aspects of cultural conflict throughout the novel, but a focus on these two topics the most. Being Asian American your roots are tied back to your home country and sometimes the person whose ancestors came from that country can be embarrassed.
Jhumpa Lahiri in The Namesake illustrates the assimilation of Gogol as a second generation American immigrant, where Gogol faces the assimilation of becoming an American. Throughout the novel, Gogol has been struggling with his name. From kindergarten to college, Gogol has questioned the reason why he was called Nikhil when he was a child, to the reason why he was called Gogol when he was in college. Having a Russian name, Gogol often encounters questions from people around him, asking the reason of his name. Gogol was not given an Indian name from his Indian family or an American name from the fact that he was born in America, to emphasize that how hard an individual try to assimilate into a different culture, he is still bonded to his roots as the person he ethnically is.
Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of America, but instead as an alien, outsider, and the like. Therefore, Asian Americans and other immigrants feel the need to mask their true identity and imitate the native language as an attempt to fit into the mold that makes up what people would define how a native of America is like. Throughout the novel, Henry Park attempts to mask his Korean accent in hopes to blend in as an American native. Chang-Rae Lee suggests that a person who appears to have an accent is automatically marked as someone who is not native to America. Language directly reveals where a person is native of and people can immediately identify one as an alien, immigrant, or simply, one who is not American. Asian Americans as well as other immigrants feel the need to try and hide their cultural identity in order to be deemed as a native of America in the eyes of others. Since one’s language gives away the place where one is native to, immigrants feel the need to attempt to mask their accents in hopes that they sound fluent ...
Lahiri, a second-generation immigrant, endures the difficulty of living in the middle of her hyphenated label “Indian-American”, whereas she will never fully feel Indian nor fully American, her identity is the combination of her attributes, everything in between.
Language is the most obvious determinant of ethnic identity, especially in the United States. Language barriers were particularly apparent in The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston. The main character’s family in this novel was Chinese and represented the first generation of immigrants for this family. Due to the fact that the entire family spoke Chinese, they were forced to find housing in an area where it was possible to carry on a normal life without speaking English. This area turned out to be Chinatown, in San Francisco. Living in a haven geared to one culture would limit the ability of younger generations to expand past the boundaries of Chinese culture and become ‘Americanized’, which served to preserve many aspects of Chinese culture even further, and truly defining the children of Chinatown, an...
White-man-ian grasp of immigrant public is the medieval and modern strength of the background within which the challenges of numerous immigrant communities occur. Lee is effective in depicting the value frequently exacted by America's existing desire to monoculturalism by sensitively delineating a representation Korean American's ethnic self-evisceration, and by casting this character's young understanding as being a single created from this kind of far-away viewpoint that it makes it possible for minor reason of the particulars of societal oppression, of the origins in the exact same white colored glare Henry so unwittingly acquires.
“For by now, he’s come to hate questions pertaining to his name, hates having constantly to explain. He hates having to tell people that it doesn’t mean anything “in Indian” (Lahiri 76). From this quote from the book Gogol is tired of his name and tired of people thinking it has something to do with being Indian, when they don’t know the real meaning of his
Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture. As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.
People from foreign ethnic group have names that is difficult to pronounce for native people. A typical response they get when they introduce themselves is a curious look and subsequently a question-- How do you pronounce your name again? The way a name is pronounced, it can shape how individuals see us and define our accomplishments. When an ethnic name is Americanized or changed or given nickname, it can change how people view his/her identity. Even in the job market, the employer is likely to hire candidate like them and sometime they judge a pool of potential candidates with the familiarity of name. As name can be connection to self identity and related to ancestry, people should not be biased based on name and how it is pronounced; people
We often don’t take the time to learn how to pronounce foreign words and names; in fact we sometimes make fun of them. Firoozeh says, “My cousin’s name, Farbod, means ‘greatness’. When he moved to America, all the kids called him ‘Farthead. My brother Farshid became ‘Fartshit’ (1). When Firoozeh’s family moved to America they all were discriminated against because of their foreign names, because of this Firoozeh changed her name to Julie. Once she changed it people were able to pronounce her name and would approach her.
When asked to define ones cultural identity people usually take the path that leads to their country of origin. They describe their beliefs and tradition which mirrors the values of people within that geographic location. But what about the people who are torn between two cultures? How would they define their cultural identity? This is the problem faced by Henry Park, the protagonist of the book Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee. Originally from Korea, he immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was little. However, his struggle of trying to find his acceptance into the American culture still continues. The book outlines his endless uncertainty of trying to define his cultural identity and his feelings as an outsider to the American Culture. Not being able to commit to either of the cultures leaves Henry confused regarding his true Cultural identity which Chang very artfully presents as a fuzzy line between the American and Korean Culture.
They convey or may not convey meaning. In any case, official names are kept with a great deal of care and practice. Ashoke Ganguli gives the name Gogol after the Russian writer whose book or page had been filled in as a rescuer of his life. He named his child Gogol for 3 reasons. Jhumpa Lahiri was born as Nalanjana Sudeshana.
Over the course of the novel, The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol is constantly moving, and by the time he is in his late twenties, he has already lived in five different homes, while his mother, Ashima has lived in only five houses her entire life. Each time Gogol moves, he travels farther away from his childhood home on Pemberton Road, symbolizing his search for identity and his desire to further himself from his family and Bengali culture. Alternatively, Ashima’s change of homes happens in order to become closer to family, representing her kinship with Bengali culture. Ashima has always had difficulty with doing things on her own, but by the end of the story she ultimately decides to travel around both India and the States without a real home as a result of the evolution of her independence and the breaking of her boundaries; in contrast, Gogol finally realizes that he has always stayed close to home, despite his yearning for escape, and settles into his newly discovered identity - the one that he possessed all along.
She has never had to experience the idea of fitting in with her own culture. Being American is simply natural and a way of life for her. Traveling to another country, especially to one that was nothing like she expected it to be, helped to her stumble upon some important insights. She states being away from her own culture did not change her but made her able to realize what values and habits were the most important to her. In the other story, author Patricia was of Korean descent, but was born and raised here in America. Due to her Korean descent Patricia never really knew for sure where she belonged. She used a name to describe it, “hyphenated Americans,” because she looks like she is from another country but was born and raised here. People right on the streets of New York will ask her where she is from and compliment her on her good English skills. This makes it difficult to truly identify as an American. To really know what values and habits are her own. Traveling to Korea, visiting what they have called her homeland, taught Patricia some important insights of her own.
As a result, literature has to follow certain guidelines to be classified as Asian American; being placed in a box limits many great pieces of work to gain the recognition they deserve. As Wong and Sumida state, Asian American Literature is a presentation of American culture within Asian American history and culture, rather than a representation of the entire culture. “Asian Americans” is a large and complex, pan-ethnic group of people making it difficult to classify them all under the same stereotypes. Many Asian American works portray Asian Americans as “perpetual aliens or castaways whose cultures tumble nicely and helplessly” (4). This is because Asian Americans create their own culture, a hybrid of Asian culture and American culture, they don’t fully fit in with American culture just as they don’t fully fit in with Asian culture. Asian American Literature is a reflection of just that, it doesn’t fit into specific guidelines, breaking away from the labels that others create and making its own impact by culturing its readers on being Asian American. Whether the author is Asian American or is solely writing about Asian American culture, it still classifies as Asian American Literature
I have read an account called " 'What's in a Name? " ", which is composed by Henry Louis Gates. This account demonstrates to us a youth experience of the creator that happened amid the mid-1950s. In the article, Gates alludes to an occurrence when a white man, Mr. Wilson, who was well disposed with his dad, called his dad "George", a name which was a prominent method for alluding to African Americans in those circumstances. In any case, Gates' dad needed to acknowledge this separation and couldn't make a move around then. By utilizing sentiment to bring out individuals' enthusiastic reaction, and utilizing suggestion, Gates effectively communicates his claim that name shapes individuals' discernments