The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Living in America, the Ganguli’s have the difficult choice of choosing between two dramatically different cultures. As a second generation Indian American, Gogol Ganguli is expected to preserve the ideals of his traditionally Indian parents while still successfully assimilating into mainstream American culture. In “The Namesake,” Jhumpa Lahiri reveals the stark contrasts between the perceptions of Ashima, Ashoke and Gogol in relation to their Indian and American views of relationships. During his youth, Gogol Ganguli undoubtedly embraces American culture enthusiastically while distancing himself from his Bengali origins, particularly in the realm of relationships. He, despite his parent’s wishes, becomes much like an average American teenager. Although “[he] does not date anyone in high school… [and] does not attend dances or parties” (93), he still has crushes on girls and wishes he were able to date them. Gogol’s parents are utterly naïve about what he is truly like during his teenage years. They did not have any relationships with the opposite sex in their youth so they do not find it strange that Gogol does not either. Moreover, it seems absolutely absurd to them that he would even consider girls and his age. Dating would take away from time he could devote to his studies and is therefore not even an option. ... ... middle of paper ... ...ey are wed and even then, they should not do so in public. The sight of Maxine running her hand through Gogol’s hair makes them feel embarrassed enough to advert their eyes. It does not adhere with Ashoke and Ashima’s perception of what is acceptable courtship behavior in a relationship. Indian and American views on dating, relationships, and love wary widely. As a child of two cultures, Gogol dealt with the strict ideals of his Bengali parents as well as the passionate opinion of his American counterparts. Works Cited Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New York: First Mariner Books, 2003.
Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri, an Indian by descent, was born in London in August 1967, to a Bengali immigrant Indian parents. “Jhumpa” is the nickname easier for the teachers remember his name. The Lahiri family moved from England to Rhode Island when Jhumpa was two years old. Her father was a librarian at Rhode Island University and her mother was a school teacher. At age of seven, Lahiri started to embrace writing about what she saw and felt. While growing up, Lahiri lived two lives: An Indian at home and An American outside of the home. Despite of living most of their life in the western world, Lahiri’s parents called “Calcutta” their home unlike Lahiri who thought Rhode Island as her hometown. Lahiri always felt her family had a different li...
...o assimilate into the society by entering school with a more acceptable name, but Gogol refuses. The acceptance of the society has pressured him to change his name in college, and to hide Gogol from the society. Till the day Gogol understands the reason why his father chose to name him Gogol instead of an Indian or American name, Gogol experienced a lot of changes, as a second generation American immigrant. Gogol has been assimilated to different culture than he ethnically is. At the end, through family, Gogol has come back to his roots. Gogol was not given an Indian name from his Indian family or an American name as he was born in America, to emphasize an individual try to assimilate into a different culture, but in the end, he is still bonded to his roots as the person he ethnically is.
Cultural differences in the United States have always impacted personal relationships, sometimes for the good, but also for the bad. Lenny and Eunice’s cultural variances were no different. Lenny Abramov was a 39-year-old man who worked in Indefinite Life Extension at Post-Human Services, which allowed the wealthy and the healthy—known as High Net Worth Individuals—to become immoral. Lenny is a self-deprecating Russian-American Jewish male, who is self-conscious about his appearance, uselessly well educated, passionate, neither old nor young, and helplessly prone to error. Eunice Park, on the other hand, is a 24-year-old young Korean-American woman who is constantly struggling with materialism and the pressures of her ...
Dating back to the early 1900’s and all the way through to the present, romantic relationships have been viewed differently. From strict unwritten dating regulations to not having regulations at all, recent generations have become more liberated in making their own decisions. The progressing times have made us become a more accepting society and have caused a decrease in the strong practice of religion and class. Even though differences such as religion and class in relationships were more than an issue they were not always a complete deterrence.
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
In “Interpreter of Maladies” an Indian man comes to know an Indian-American family there on vacation(Lahiri, 448). These stories compare two similar yet distinct cultures: Native Indian and Western Indian. The people of these cultures share a skin color, a naming system, and an origin, but this is where they most often diverge from one another. To Native Indians, there isn’t much that’s more important to them than their family and their culture, as shown by Mr. Kapasi
... middle of paper ... ... Although their time together had been short, they loved each other wholeheartedly, making their match somewhat arranged but actually romantic and modern. The union between Balraj and Jaya proves to Darcy that the Indian practice of arranged marriage, especially its aspect of brief interaction between spouses, does not prevent the formation of romantic feeling; therefore, it is not inferior to the free and romantic marriage that Americans support, driving the idea of equality between traditions and modernity.
The title The Namesake mirrors the struggle of Gogol Ganguli, child of Ashoke and Ashima, Indian foreigners to the U.S.A. to get personality in the way of life where he is conceived and raised with his strange name. Names do make them mean in India. A considerable measure of practice is done when a youngster is named in India. An Indian tyke for the most part conveys two names, a pet name and an official one. Pet names are for the family and neighbours and colleagues. They convey or may not convey meaning. In any case, official names are kept with a great deal of care and practice.
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.
In “My Two Lives” Jhumpa Lahiri talks about her hardship growing up in America coming from two different cultures. At home she spoke Bengali with her parents, ate with her hands. According to Jhumpa’s parents she was not American and would never be. This led her to become ashamed of her background. She felt like she did not have to hide her culture anymore. When Jhumpa got married in Calcutta she invited her American friends that never visited India. Jhumpa thought her friends would judge from being part of the Indian culture and isolate her.However her friends were intrigued by her culture and fascinated. She felt like her culture should not be hidden from her friends anymore, and that coming from an Indian-American culture is unique. Jhumpa believes that her upbringing is the reason why she is still involved with her Bengali culture. Jhumpa says“While I am American by virtue of the fact that I was raised in this country, I am Indian thanks to the efforts of two individuals.” Jhumpa means that she is Indian, because she lived most of her life and was raised here. In the story Lahiri explains that her parents shaped her into the person she is. Growing up coming from two different cultures can be difficult, but it can also be beneficial.
How different are families compared to the past? Lately there has been some major changes in relationships, weather female dominance, or even just having no relationships at all. We also see that relationships are based only on a basis of reproduction and sometimes the child of the relationship is rather irrelevant. In a Temporary matter by Jhumpa Lahiri, the reader can see how relationships have developed with the rest of the world into failing, no relationship, and feminist relationships.
Our culture impacts our everyday lives, and with intercultural romantic relationships, meeting your partner’s parents can create anxiety (Montagne, 2011). According to the authors of Communicating with Strangers, romantic love is less likely to be considered an important reason for marriage in collectivistic cultures than it is in individualistic cultures. Comparing individualistic cultures, like the United States, to collectivistic cultures found in Asia, shows that with collectivistic cultures, having a family tends to be the main reason for marriage. If having a family is the most important consideration, the acceptability of the potential mate to the family is critical, whereas individualistic cultures take pride in marrying a partner for love (Gudykunst & Kim,
routinely giving expression to what we have come to recognize as a family trying to assimilate to the surroundings they have decided to be a part of. The Namesake had taken the Ganguli family from their life of tradition in Calcutta through a transformation to a life in America.
One of the reoccurring themes that became apparent throughout the interview was the concept of relationships, culture and avoidance in dating. Dating is the process whereby two people meet socially for companionships, beyond the level of friendships with the aim for suitability as a partner in an intimate relationships or marriage. The process of dating is impacted by past experiences, family dynamics, cultural, beliefs and customs. These relationships produce a strong connections between family members, education, cultural. The young man, interview #2 stayed away from people from the same culture because, of avoidance of finding a mate similar to his mother. He stated, “I have dated someone form the same culture but,
Urvashi Butalia in her book, The Other Side of Silence, attempts to analyze the partition in Indian society, through an oral history of Indian experiences. The collection of traumatic events from those people who lived through the partition gives insight on how history has enveloped these silences decades later. Furthermore, the movie 1947 Earth reveals the bitterness of partition and its effect of violence on certain characters. The most intriguing character which elucidates the silence of the partition is the child, Lenny. Lenny in particular the narrator of the story, serves as a medium to the intangibility created by the partition. The intangibility being love and violence, how can people who grew up together to love each other hate one another amidst religion? This question is best depicted through the innocence of a child, Lenny. Through her interactions with her friends, the doll, and the Lahore Park, we see silence elucidated as comfort of not knowing, or the pain from the separation of comfort and silence from an unspoken truth.