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The Namesake Essay

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WR098 Layan AlSharif Essay 3 Outlooks on Modern Marriage The modern concept of marriage is different than what it was many years ago. The realities of love and marriage are constantly being challenged by highly educated and working women. Jhumpa Lahiri, through her novel The Namesake, narrates the story of the Gangulis: a Bengali family who immigrates to America. Ashima, the mother, gives birth to Gogol who represents the second generation of the immigrant family. The novel examines one outlook on modern marriage: using love to satisfy temporary needs rather than having a relationship dependent on actual feelings of trust and loyalty. Lahiri shows this outlook by providing a detailed view into Gogol’s series of unsuccessful romantic relationships, …show more content…

In this essay, the author

  • Analyzes how jhumpa lahiri's novel the namesake examines one outlook on modern marriage: using love to satisfy temporary needs rather than having a relationship dependent on actual feelings of trust and loyalty.
  • Analyzes how christina larsen challenges the whole idea of marriage through her essay "the startling plight of china's leftover ladies." andrew guest proves that marriage does not guarantee happiness.
  • Analyzes how gogol uses love and marriage as a means of rebelling against his past and trying to form his identity in the namesake.
  • Analyzes how gogol's second relationship, more intense, is with maxine, the opposite of the type of girl his parents would want him to marry.
  • Analyzes christina larsen's view on modern marriage: postponing or abandoning it for independence and success. in the namesake, ashima sacrifices her work and social life to take care of her family.
  • Analyzes how andrew guest challenges the widely spread belief that marriage is the key to happiness and that unmarried people are unhappy.
  • Analyzes how the institutions of love and marriage are going through critical transitions. lahiri, larson, and guest introduce perspectives on modern marriage.
  • Opines guest, andrew, "pursuing the science of happiness." globalization: a reader for writers. ed. maria jerskey.
  • Explains larson, christina, and maria jerskey's globalization: a reader for writers.

Unlike his parents, he uses love as a mean of rebelling against his past and trying to form his own identity. Gogol’s love life is intense and filled with openly sexual relationships with three different women. As Gogol grows older and passes through different life stages, his outlooks on life and self-identity change. Therefore, the women he is attracted to represent his development; each signify a stage in his identity crisis. Gogol’s first relationship is with Ruth. This relationship represents Gogol’s life stage as a college student at Yale. In this new place, where he is nervous about introducing his origins, and fears being rejected as an immigrant, Ruth “expresses interest, asking about his visits to Calcutta” (The Namesake,111). He feels closely attracted to her as he “begins to meet her after her classes, remembering her schedule” (The Namesake,113). The identity she represents is that of a typical Yale student, and therefore, he finds himself attracted to her. However, when she returns from a trip to England, she is back with a new identity; one full of British phrases which does not fit Gogol’s identity. Their relationship ends as they both realize that they have …show more content…

Their entire definitions of love and marriage are being re-examined as we pass from one generation to another. The outlooks on modern marriage are introduced by Lahiri, Larson, and Guest. Lahiri shows how love these days is used as a temporary satisfying tool. Larson suggests that marriage is not required anymore, in contrast with the past, and Guest proves that marriage does not guarantee happiness. We live in a world where divorce is widespread, and many suggestions are being made to update the traditional family and marriage model. The future of the concept of marriage is hard to predict, and young adults are confused on the idea of marriage, but who can blame

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      In this essay, the author

      • Explains that young americans are influenced by a tidal wave of opinions and life choices without much relevant advice from older generations. premarital cohabitation has increased significantly in the past couple of decades.
      • Explains that premarital cohabiting individuals view cohabitation as the "safe" choice without realizing that many are setting their relationship's up for failure.
      • Explains that premarital cohabitating couples in the united states plan on getting married within a five year time frame, with 44% ending their relationship within five years.
      • Explains that demographics, such as age, economic and educational levels, are taken into consideration when examining couples, and the outcome and quality of their relationship. scholars have distinguished two likely explanations for why cohabitation doesn't end in successful and high quality marriages.
      • Explains the selection effect, which means that individuals come into a relationship with certain qualities and beliefs about relationships that may prove dysfunctional with time.
      • Explains that the cohabitation effect, or the experience explanation, is the only behavior of living together before marriage that has a negative effect on individuals psych and attitude toward their partner and their relationship.
      • Explains that not all people are affected in the same positive or negative ways when cohabiting. age, maturity, length of relationship before and during cohabitation, upbringing, economic and educational levels, all play a factor.
      • Explains that cohabitation is more common among those of lower educational and income levels, according to "the state of our union project".
      • Opines that young people's money saving strategy is a benefit, basing their cohabitation, and the stresses that come with it, on monetary value.
      • Explains that low economic status coupled with cohabitation results in a two in three greater chance of having children. monetary stressors, magnified due to the poor economy, encourage premarital cohabitation, but this decision tends to create new relational issues.
      • Explains that premarital cohabitation continues for many reasons and effects individuals in different ways, but four possible reasons have emerged from scholarly research that suggest that the current american society is to blame.
      • Explains that popular shows such as "friends" and "new girl" paint an exciting and romantic picture of premarital cohabitation and sexual activity for film goers.
      • Explains that the media's number one concern is to create audiences and to sell their product and in doing so influence and create culture.
      • Analyzes leon festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, which states that people have an 'aversive drive' that causes people to avoid opposing viewpoints, seek reassurance, and change private beliefs to match public behavior.
      • Explains that americans are losing or turning away from religious practices, citing pew forum's u.s. religious landscape survey.
      • Argues that loss of religion in america has influenced the growth of cohabitation.
      • Explains that children of divorced parents have a higher chance of premarital cohabitation in their lives. many millennials saw their parent’s relationships end in divorce before the age of twenty.
      • Explains that the social exchange theory, introduced by albert bandura, is defined as the role of observation and the mimicking or imitating of behaviors observed in others.
      • Explains that divorced children are more likely to cohabitate before marriage. however, cohabitation is not an effective way to increase your odds of success in marriage and may even increase the chances of eventual divorce.
      • Explains that american society has been infiltrated with the lie that "premarital cohabitation is the safe decision". the pressure that non-cohabitating individuals feel increases the percentage of cohabitors.
      • Explains that the nuclear family's structure has disintegrated and been reshaped into an unstable relational environment. premarital cohabitation results in higher rates of marriage dissolution.
      • Recommends self-assessing personal cohabitation decisions and expose the lie.
      • Opines that to expose the lie means to accept scholarly research that strongly discourages premarital cohabitation. it is easy for individuals to talk themselves into behaviors or life choices that are not good decisions.
      • Cites bandura, a., crowther, l. and friedinger's cognitive dissonance theory.
      • Cites gerbner, g., and hardy, m. on the effects of media on children.
      • Explains the possible consequences of divorce for children. utah divorce orientation, utah state university.
      • Cites manning, cohen, and mccombs, m. (2012). premarital cohabitation and marital dissolution.
      • Explains pew forum's u.s. religious landscape survey.
      • Cites thornton, a. department of health and human services. attitudes, values andnorms related to nonmarital fertility.
      2936 words
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    • Importance Of Being Earnest: Marriage In Victorian England
      analytical essay
      Marriage in our generation is a commitment and a promise that two people make to be

      In this essay, the author

      • Explains that it was just a way to gain social class if the individual didn’t have any, or to keep social.
      • Explains that married for social class or to gain or keep wealth. they both married wrongly.
      • Explains that in victorian england, marriage was not a relationship of commitment or understanding, but how to gain power and wealth by marrying someone of higher status than the other individual.
      • Analyzes how the name "earnest" is used to describe the role of men who make themselves look worthy of marriage but in reality they are deceiving the people.
      • Opines that jack believes he is living up to the victorian idea, but also wants to escape society and the pressure of society.
      310 words
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