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The theme of social class in literature
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Focusing on the pressing issue of what it is like to be a first generation American, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri both successfully tackle the reality of an immigrant’s struggles of facing stereotypes, social class issues, relationships, family, and crises of identity. The way these novels address these issues are as diverse and different as their protagonists’ lives unfold. In The Kite Runner, the protagonist, Amir, deals with the life shattering event of watching his friend, Hassan, be raped. Since he does not get acquire the courage to intervene, this event effects Amir’s relationships and his sense of identity. Gogol, the protagonist in The Namesake, also deals with an unstable sense of identity in …show more content…
As a child, Gogol was always dragged back to India to visit his grandparents and other family for a couple of months every year. This, while exposing Gogol to Bengali tradition in India, does not help with bringing him closer to his parents, who grew up in a substantially different way than him. Lahiri shows Gogol’s parent’s transition of moving to another country effectively by focusing on specific things in America that are different from India, like food brands. “Almost all the characters have been given something of Lahiri's own sensitivity to the surfaces of things--the poetry of brand names, for instance, as they strike a person who is beginning to know English well: "Skippy, Hood, Bumble Bee, Land O'Lakes"; or the attractiveness to a bookish girl of "the Modern Library emblem, the dashing, naked, torch-bearing figure,” (Bromwich). Because Gogol is a first generation American, many conflicts arise within his family since his parents cannot fully understand what it is like to grow up in America. Gogol develops a different sense of morals and sense of culture than his parents, never being fully tied down to being a Bengali. The main thing that makes Gogol dislike his culture is the birth or “good” name his parents assigned him when he was born. This “good name” was meant to only be a temporary name for him
I am the child of a white man and a Navajo (Diné) woman. Gogol’s parents have tried to force their cultural values upon him since birth, but I would have been lucky if my family had tried to celebrate my A 'wee Chi 'deedloh, my first laugh ceremony. Gogol lives in a world where his family seems to have to do everything possible to scrape together the means to practice their Bengali culture. This suggests that to be the child of first-generation immigrants is to substitute many traditions and ceremonies into more Americanized, less culturally-authentic renditions of themselves, for the only way to be truly authentic is to practice the culture in the land of origin or, in Gogol’s case, India.
The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.
In the beginning of the book toward Gogol’s early life, the reader may make the observation that Gogol is more American than Bengali. In Gogol’s teen years he shows more admiration for being American than Bengali when he listens to his new American tape rather than his Indian one. On Gogol’s birthday, his father sees the “Lennon obituary pinned to the bulletin board, and then a cassette of classical Indian music he’d bought for Gogol months ago, after a concert at Kresge, still sealed in its wrapper” (Lahiri 78). Even since Gogol was little he had always been a little different considering that he was born as an American, unlike his parents. His parents carry on their Bengali traditions and for the most part avoid becoming full Americans. As for Gogol, he continues to act, think, and be American before any tragedy is present. Lahiri writes, “But Gogol never thinks of India as desh. He thinks of it as Americans do, as India” (Lahiri 118). Gogol is American and he knows it, he doesn’t mind thinking like one either. As Gogol is more American than his parents, he is simply dragged away due to hi...
While The Namesake focuses on romantic relationships, The Kite Runner focuses more on the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Although Amir refuses to call Hassan his friend because of his lower social class, it is obvious that Hassan is Amir’s only true acquaintance. Hassan is continuously loyal to Amir during their childhoods, saving Amir from bullies time and time again. These same bullies in the end, however, ended up raping Hassan. Even after being raped, Hassan stays loyal to Amir. Amir, however, does not handle seeing Hassan be victimized well. He cannot handle dealing with the guilt he has when he sees Hassan, so he ends up trying to destroy their friendship. He is eventually successful when he plants his watch under Hassan’s bed.
Gogol basically grows up his whole life not feeling comfortable with his identity and who he is. Gogol doesn't feel like he belongs in his parents Bengali family, and he somewhat feels like he is living in between cultures sometimes. Growing up in America has made him feel like an outsider because his parents were always doing things in their culture. Throughout the book Gogol makes great efforts to find out who he really is and he does that by moving away from home. Gogol’s definition of home changes whether it's by getting a new girlfriend or moving to a new place he's not familiar with.
...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.
At first Gogol despised his culture and tried to do everything possible to get away from it. Previous girls Gogol dated were never Indian. He was initially attracted to American girls. The fact that they were completely diverse from his culture is what captured his attention. Dating someone who wasn’t closely related to his culture was an unthinkable thing to do in Bengali society, so it made Gogol’s reason to disobey flourish even more because to him it was exci...
...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.
The article, “The Context for the Examination on Self” written by Loyal Miles, presents an interesting outlook on the process of self-examination portrayed in the novel The Kite Runner. This review argues that there is a profound relation between the development of self-identity and the Afghan cultural heritage. The author also briefly touches upon the main context and themes being interpreted throughout the novel in the uses of literary elements such as the paralleling of characters and cultures to emphasize Amir’s self-identity development through his Afghan heritage. He then further talks about redemption being an attribute that enhances the development of Amir’s self-identity. I agree with the notion that cultural identity is a prominent
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.
Relationships between friends and family helps a person shape their identity to who they want to become. Different generations all have different knowledge and their interactions with each other help shape who they become as an individual. The relationships between the different generations show the quest Ashima and Gogol went onto finding their identity, in America. In the novel, The Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri shows the interactions between generations and how they affect each other.
The novel aims at projecting the ethical aspect of Indian immigrants in Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut novel The “Namesake”. In the nineteenth century the immigrants were migrating to the west as indentured labourers but now they migrate for the prospect of career building and profit making. But in both the cases culture plays a very important role in their life. In their socio-political liminality and marginal statues, the immigrants enjoy life in economic subjugation but have an emotional emancipation in their contra acculturation. In the super structure of America’s multicultural society they have cross-cultural experiences. This helps them to reconcile between their inherited and acquired selves for consolation. The immigrant Indians in a dilemma romanticise the dazzles of American civilization and retain their faith in tradition, custom, culture, history, myth, legend and folklore for emotional satisfaction. In the liberal and secular social environment of America, they are occupied in economic professionalism being pre-occupied with the dilemma of cultural past they familiarize their consciousness in the cultural practices. In cross-cultural experiences they discover their marginality in a fix and hybridity in flux. As an “imagined community” they bridge the polarities through the cultural ethics and try their best not to be contaminated by the materialistic temptations. Their identity is restrained as ‘luminal personae’ and ‘transitional being’ and it becomes culturally impregnable in the thought of ‘home’ and ‘abroad’. They realize that the cultural available of India cannot be substituted with the material plenitude of America. The socio-cultural sensibility of the immigrants cannot be modified in American milieu since the inherit...
Now knowing what his actions would lead to, he would go out of his way to familiarize himself with the American traditions leaving his upbringing in the past. A new dislike for his name arises as he “hates signing his name at the bottom...Nothing to do with who he is (76).” Feeling emerge and suddenly Gogol feels as if he has no connections to his name. Only to make these feelings worse he feels humiliated by his classmates for having the name he has but in reality his name isn’t a topic of discussion to his peers. Through this phase the author emphasizes how other people 's opinion are more important to Gogol than what he thinks of himself. The opinions of others have consumed his thoughts so horribly that Gogol becomes viewing himself through the eyes of others. At this point in Gogol’s life it would be a great time for his father to tell him why he chose to give him his birth name but his dad decides to simply give his son the book that at one point saved his life. Not even remotely interested in what he now has in his possession Gogol, “puts the book away on his shelve (77).” On this shelve the book lingers for years to come. As an independent individual Gogol makes little to no effort to remain in contact with his family. Never does he question the book given to him nor does he attempt making small talk with his father about why the book was so important to him and how it influenced him to name his son after the
Two identities, one person. Gogol is the son of two first generation immigrants from a different culture who have moved to America. There, Gogol is born and is surrounded by his parents’ culture and the American culture. Gogol finds his parents’ cultural traditions to be funny and does not understand them and chooses to partake more in American cultural traditions at times. He is torn and constantly having to choose between two different cultures. In The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol Ganguli struggles to figure out his self-identity as he is confronted and surrounded by two different cultures.
In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, the protagonist, Gogol, struggles with his cultural identity. He is an American-born Bengali struggling to define himself. He wants to fit into the typical American-lifestyle, a lifestyle his parents do not understand. This causes him tension through his adolescence and adult life, he has trouble finding a balance between America and Bengali culture. This is exemplified with his romantic relationships. These relationships directly reflect where he is in his life, what he is going through and his relationship with his parents. Each woman indicates a particular moment in time where he is trying to figure out his cultural identity. Ruth represents an initial break away from Bengali culture; Maxine represents