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. ...
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...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.
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
...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.
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...
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
...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 recognition, understanding, and respect Balraj has for Jaya and her culture has given rise to a marriage between England and India, and through this marriage, both England and India has found the way to engaging each other equally.
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.
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