Different angles and difficulties of movement and osmosis are investigated in The Namesake. Throughout the novel, Ashima (the mother) and Ashoke (the father) attempt to make their kids Bengali while the brother and the sister, Gogol and Sonia, demand that they are Americans. The conflicts must do with everything from giving the youngsters their names, to regardless of whether they ought to make intermittent visits to India. In spite of the fact that the parents wish that their youngsters would hold their Bengali legacy by keeping alive their dialect and wedding other Bengalis, Gogol and Sonia are hesitant to do as such. They are American, they demand. While living at home, the youngsters are faithful; however, just hardly emulate their parents' …show more content…
Gogol, at a certain point, analyzes people in general appearing of friendship that Maxine's parents show to the absence of such open indications of feeling of his own parents. At first, he interprets this as meaning that his parents don't have an indistinguishable sort of adoration from Maxine's parents. He feels good around Maxine's parents than he does around his parents. After his father's death, Gogol sees things in an unexpected way. His parents’ love could keep running as profound as that of some other couple. The only different is that their culture does not approve of public display. Love is viewed as a private expression. Gogol and Moushumi are both opposed to the idea of organized marriage, but then the two battle with relationships that turn bad. Gogol and Moushumi have opportunity of decision. Their decisions, nonetheless, don't work out. It is vague if Lahiri is creating an impression about the two alternatives—organized versus opportunity of decision. Perhaps, she may be making a statement on American culture in the 1980s and 1990s, and how divorce was easily obtained. On the other hand, she may be suggesting that readers characterize love by offering a few cases of what love can be and how to make it
...is an American by virtue but Indian due to her parent’s upbringing. That is the reason why she is referred to being an Indian-American author which she has embraced. Due to the fact Bengali marries within their caste, Lahiri married a Latin American Journalist Alberto Vourvoulias and have two sons, Octivian and Noor. After getting married, Lahiri does not feel the need to be shy about speaking in Bengali or any other language. Currently residing in Rome with her family to feel how immigrants adapt to change and to go experience what her characters and parents do in her short stories. Through writing, Lahiri has discovered the fact she belongs to both the worlds and the generations of Indian-American immigrants will change and bring intense joy. "It has been liberating and brought me some peace to just confront that truth, if not to be able to solve it or answer it.”
Forming the bond with the traditions plays a vital role in the process of identity formation. In The Namesake, Ashima is the kind of person who creates an atmosphere in which continuity of traditions and values can be preserved as Chowdhury argues in her article, “[Immigrants] create close relationships with other immigrants and form a bond similar to the bond between extended family members [in their home country]” (2). Ashima holds the rice ceremony for her kids, at the same time it acts as a way to reject the idea of assimilating into American culture quickly. On the other hand, Gogol begins rebelling his parents on keeping their home outdated with traditional ceremony and food. “He grows bored of eating the same thing day after day, and one evening he discreetly pushes the remaining food to the side” (The Namesake 55). The two characters have different degrees in forming the bond with their own tradition due to the generation gaps. Similarly, Chowdhury states that the first generations were brought up with a certain set of traditions and norms, which enable them to maintain in the U.S whereas the sec...
There he makes this identity of himself to try to totally forget his parents’ cultural identity. He changes his name to Nikhil and later ends up moving to New York with a girl by the name of Maxine. “He is overly aware that they are not used to passing things around the table, or to chewing food with their mouths completely closed. They avert their eyes when Maxine accidentally leans over to run her hand through her hair” (Lahiri 277). This quote is describing Maxine and Gogol having a meal with his parents. This whole scene is very awkward for both because Gogol’s parents aren’t used to doing things the American way. When the two are leaving his parents’ house Gogol’s father says to him “Drive safely, Gogol” (Lahiri 279). This confuses Maxine because she is not familiar with his real name. He doesn’t want to be reminded of who he was before. By chapter 8 Maxine and Gogol are no longer together due to
Traditions control how one talks and interacts with others in one’s environment. In Bengali society, a strict code of conduct is upheld, with dishonor and isolation as a penalty for straying. Family honor is a central part to Bengali culture, and can determine both the financial and social standing of a family. Usha’s family poses no different, each member wearing the traditional dress of their home country, and Usha’s parents diligently imposing those values on their daughter. Those traditions, the very thing her [Usha] life revolved around, were holding her back from her new life as an American. Her mother in particular held those traditions above her. For example, when Aparna makes Usha wear the traditional attire called “shalwar kameez” to Pranab Kaku and Deborah’s Thanksgiving event. Usha feels isolated from Deborah’s family [Americans] due to this saying, “I was furious with my mother for making a scene before we left the house and forcing me to wear a shalwar kameez. I knew they [Deborah’s siblings] assumed, from my clothing, that I had more in common with the other Bengalis than with them” (Lahiri ...
She conveys a moral to the migrating Indians in their pursuit of material wealth. She asserts that in Change of place or locality one must preserve the philosophical maturity of his native culture and tradition without which life becomes solipsistic. The theme of the novel is cultural but the tone is functionally ethical. “Namesake” seems to be autobiographical where Ashima is Jhumpa herself, though life situations may not be similar exactly. Jhumpa Lahiri with her three works has created history.
The novel, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri has shown me the strength in identity and how it can constrain one’s values to mold themselves to fit their identity. As Vishva said in book club, Gogol has become an independant new person as Nikhil after he changed his name. The nature of the two distinct names led to two well defined personalities. Nikhil was a separate
Gogol is not completely cut off from his roots and identity. He tries to reject his past, but it makes him stranger to himself. He fears to be discovered. With the rejection of Gogol’s name, Lahiri rejects the immigrant identity maintained by his parents. But this outward change fails to give him inner satisfaction.
Suppose we give you pretty English names’” (1). The headmistress feels she needs to change the students to fit her British standards, not taking into account their Indian culture and heritage. The British were the foreigners, and yet were still trying to conform the country they have invaded. The abusive power is immensely strong so that even the children can feel it as they receive new names. Using her power not only as a headmistress but as a white individual, she changes Santha’s identity making her feel as if she has a “dual personality” (2). Similarly, further in the story, a new character is introduced as an Indian girl in Santha’s class. She is described to be wearing Indian jewelry and makeup but also wears “a cotton dress” (2). Rather than wearing traditional Indian clothes, the children are forced to conform to British standards, wearing the same clothes as British children. The Indian students lose the native part of their identity to a larger force of power. Furthermore, a ruling force should not just changes someone’s identity. They should take into consideration the facts of specific cultures and
However, when he discovers the origin of his birth name, Gogol starts regretting changing his name. When his father dies from a heart attack, Gogol’s life reevaluated his view on his identity, expressing regret and shame, as he loathes his birth name throughout his life. By the end of the novel, Gogol’s remorse is shown in the Christmas party, where “without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will, once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist. Yet the thought of this eventual demise provides no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all” (289). It seems that Gogol’s mistake of fighting for a new name results with nothing he wants, nor any sense of satisfying closure. Gogol’s captivating love life can also relate to this quote. Gogol’s relationship with Maxine causes him to move into her house and be separated by his own family. To Gogol, Maxine is an escape from his own family, but he faces a dilemma: choose to stay with his family or Maxine. When Ashoke’s unforeseen death occurs, Gogol’s heart aches with
...zation leads to Gogol’s discovery of his true identity. Although he has always felt that he had to find a new, more American and ordinary identity, he has come to terms that he will always be the Gogol that is close to his family. While Gogol is coming to this understanding, Ashima has finally broken free from relying on her family, and has become “without borders” (176). No longer the isolated, unsure Bengali she was when arriving in Cambridge, Ashima has been liberated from dependent and powerless to self empowering. The passing of her husband has forced her to go through her life as a more self-reliant person, while at the same time she is able to maintain her daily Indian customs. This break-through is the final point of Ashima’s evolution into personal freedom and independency.
At age five, Gogol is ready to enter school and his parents decide that he cannot be called by his "pet" name. Therefore, they give him a "good" name, Nikhail, which still has ties to the author Gogol because his first name was Nikolai. They register Gogol as "Nikhail" for school but, Gogol is not used to the name and the principal allows him to continue being called Gogol instead. The fact that the school administrators are allowed to ignore parents' wishes shocks Ashima and Ashoke, but they do not pursue the matter. The seemingly insignificant decision that Gogol makes as a boy follows him throughout his life. As a boy, Gogol possesses no particular affinity or animosity towards his name; it simply is his name. However, when he reaches age thirteen, "the peculiarity of his name becomes apparent" (Lahiri 68). One day, while on a class trip to the cemetery, Gogol and is peers are told to observe the gravestones around them. Gogol cannot shout in excitement with his peers when they find their names on the gravestones. In this moment, his name isolates him. From that day forward "his name, an entity shapeless and weightless, manages nevertheless to distress him physically" (Lahiri, The Namesake 76). After Gogol learns in class one day that he was named after a man "whose life was a steady decline into madness" he is even further humiliated (Lahiri, The
...himself from the customs and culture with which he was raised, Gogol forges himself to like and put up with things that he would not have otherwise liked.
Throughout Gogol’s upbringing, his first perception of love was of his parents. In an ideal Bengali relationship, affection between
The Namesake, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri published in the year 2003. Ultimately, in 2007, The Namesake became a major motion picture. Both the novel and the film effectively convey the theme of cultural tensions between American and Indian traditions. Throughout the story, the theme is effectively communicated by the many struggles the Ganguli family endures in America such as: Gogol’s naming, the enforcement of Indian tradition in the Ganguli children’s lives, and Gogol’s unhappy love affairs. The film and novel both do an excellent job of portraying the culture clash of two traditions in the developing society of America.
The Das parents’ negligent relationship with their children in Clear Light of Day mirrors India’s independence from Britain. Before their deaths, Mr. and Mrs. Das were preoccupied and inattentive to their four children, Raja, Tara, Bim, and Baba. They spent most of their time at the club, playing “their daily game of bridge” (Desai 50). This pastime is so important to them that they neglect to take care of their kids. For example, Mrs. Das tires of “washing and powdering” Baba, her mentally disabled baby, and she complains, “My bridge is suffering” (103). Mr. Das also does not focus on his children and “he [goes] through the day without addressing a word to them” (53). Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Das are unable to ever form a loving relationship with their children because they both pass away. After Mrs. Das falls into a...