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
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 him no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all…
...el to Calcutta that summer to see their relatives and scatter Ashoke’s ashes in the Ganges” (Lahiri 188). Gogol seemed to need so much distance that it was worth parting from Maxine for. Tragedy can change our identities in a heartbeat, whether it’s to our true identity or someone we’re not.
...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.
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 ...
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
Forming a new identity in a foreign country is not an easy task. Immigrants usually face challenges to identify themselves. Identity formation is the development of one’s distinctive personality due to particular reasons such as new environment, new culture and conflicts. During the process, some characters from Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake either create or deny the bond with their own culture; some undergo conflicts among generations. Those processes reflect significantly in Ashima and Gogol throughout the book. The degree of assimilations determines to what extent the characters have formed the new identity in the new culture.
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
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.
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
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
Throughout the novel, Ashima and Gogol are at opposite perspectives of their view of “home”. In the beginning, while Ashima is focused on family and prefers to remain close to her Bengali culture, Gogol’s only wish is to become independent and veer away from his Bengali culture. These desires of independency and having a traditional close-knit family direct Ashima and Gogol’s decisions and views of home. Whereas Ashima is focused on family, Gogol continues in his attempt to become fully independent and escape from his home and the clutches of his insistent, traditional parents. After living in New Haven for a few years, Gogol decides to move to New York. His reasons for moving to New York are mainly because...
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
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.
He avoids telling them for as long as he can, even if it keeps him from seeing Ruth “But such a trip would require telling his parents about Ruth, something he has no desire to do” (Lahiri 115). To him, his parents represent Bengali culture, something he is not sure he wants to be a part of. He tries to live entirely without their opinion, driving them out of his personal life almost entirely. Although he is trying to separate himself from Bengali culture, he still remains only a few hours away from home, still visits every other weekend. At the end of the day, Gogol is still connected to his home and culture in a way Ruth is not. Ruth seeks adventure in Europe choosing to study abroad in Oxford, London. “Instead of coming back from Oxford after those twelve weeks, she’d stayed on to do a summer course” (Lahiri 119). In fact Ruth wants to go back to England for graduate school, something Gogol has no real interest in doing. His connection, even if subconscious ends up being the driving force in Ruth and Gogol’s break up. He fails to learn from his mistakes with Ruth, however, and the next girl he dates is even more different than