Compare and Contrast: Mine and Gogol's Family and Culture

As I read The Namesake, I noticed similarities and diffrences between mine and Gogol's family and culture.

In America, the Bengali's have a very close nit community. This is apparent in the beginning of the novel when Ashima begins to make friends in America who "all come from Calcutta, and for his reason alson they are friends" (Lahari 38). Similarly, the persian community in America (especially in the OC and in LA) is very close. Basically every persian you meet is instantly and family friend and a minute later you start calling them you cousin, aunt, or uncle. And from 20 feet away you can easily spot another fellow persian. Just yesterday, I asked the substitute teacher of my chemistry class if he was persian and he said yes! And then I thought a little more if I have meet him before and of course!....his brother is my sisters friend who I saw last weekend. You see my point?

In addition, Gogol notes that its somewhat absurd from his parents perspective for a Bengali to not marry another Bengali. This is the same in my family. My grandmother initially did not approve the marriage of my cousin and his American wife simply because she was not Persian. However, with time, she got over it.

The one difference I see between Gogol and I is that I have always been a proud Persian!  I love hanging out with my many persian "cousins" and whenever I spot another persian I get excited and start to get into a conversation with them and what do you know.....I have instantly made another relative! Gogol is initially not "a proud Indian"because he wants to "fit in" as an American. He even ignores his Indian family for a few months to secretly live with Maxine's American family.

American or Indian?

In the beginning of the novel, Gogol is unappreciative of his Bengali roots and his parents wishes. He makes decisions that are against his culture. He even questions the important of a pet name even though,  as his mother describes, 'Its what Bengalis do' (Lahiri 99). In addition, he dates American women even though Bengalis simply do not date, they have arranged marriages with other Bengalis. And even though a family is of high importance in Bengali culture, he attends universities and takes jobs that are as far away from his family as possible and makes excuses to not visit them. Months pass and despite his parents pleads he does not make the effort to visit them even to spend time with an Maxines American family.

A turning point to how Gogol makes decisions is when his father passes away and Gogol begins to value his family more. He takes trips home most weekends and spends some time with his sister lonely mother. He even dates a Bengali women, Moushimi, where as before his fathers death he would have never even considered to call her and ask her out.

Moushimi similarly was was a rebellious Bengali at one point in her life. When she was younger she was obedient to her parents however she secretly despised certain traditions she obeyed. For instance, she even swore when she was twelve "never too marry a Bengali man", however, now she is married to an bengali man, Gogol. As she became older she began to go against her parents wishes. Even though "at her parents' insistence, she'd majored in chemistry [...] Without telling them, she'd pursued a double major in French" (Lahiri 214).

I guess it is a common for American children with non American roots to go against their culture in order to "fit in" to the American society. However many do not realize that they can assimilate their long lived traditions into another culture. 

Name Name Name

Nikolai Gogol

In Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, the protagonist, Gogol Ganguli struggles to come to terms with his name. He believes his name ultimately defines who he is.

Gogol begins to develop dissatisfaction with his name on his class field trip to a cemetery in which none of the names on the gravestones were his. He feels left out in society because, "no one he knows in the world [...] shares his name. Not even the source of this namesake" (Lahiri 78), Nikolai Gogol. In addition, "he hates that his name is both absurd and obscure, that it has nothing to do with who he is, that it is neither Indian nor American but of all things Russian" (Lahiri 76). However, Gogol does not understand the roots behind his name. His father has a special connection with the Russian author because he credits The Short Stories of Nikolai Gogol for saving his life when his rescuers notice the pages of the book moving. Even when his father gives Gogol this book for his fourteenth birthday, he does not even bother to open it because he wants nothing to do with his name.

Gogol feels as though his name defines him and his place in society. At a party, he felt comfortable t to introduce himself as Nikhil, not Gogol, because according to him it changes peoples perception of him. When he officially decides to change his name to Nikhil, he lets his new name change his identity.

Nikhil (Gogol) does not understand that he does not have to let his name ultimately define who he is. His path in life is in his own hands and is not predestined by his name.

A Stranger in a Foreign Country

Jahiri Lahiri

The primary theme in the first chapter of  Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake is alienation in a foreign country. Ashima is aware of the cultural barriers as an Indian in America. These differences make her "terrified to raise a child in a country where she is related to no one, where she knows so little, where life seems so tentative and spare" (Lahiri 6).

The language barrier is evident when Ashima accidentally uses the singular form of "fingers" and "toes" (Lahiri 7). She wants to be able to communicate with other Americans properly considering America will be her new home. When Ashima's husband, Ashoke "stepped behind the curtain" (Lahiri 3) and then  speaks to the American nurse in Bengali, it is symbolic of the Barrier created by speaking Bengali in the United States.

Language Barriers in a Foreign Country

As Ashima lays in the hospital, she hears a man tell his wife "'I love you, sweetheart.' Words Ashima has neither heard nor expects to hear from her own husband" (Lahiri 3). This represents the cultural barriers between Indian and American cultures that make Ashima feel as though she is an outsider in a foreign country.

Is the Underground Man in Love?

Underground Man & Liza

From my perspective, the Underground Man's relationship with Liza in Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky is quite perplexing. Liza is a prostitute who I believe the Underground Man is attracted to. She is the first person who he is able to connect with because they share similar views which do no comply with societies norms. When the Underground Man first talks with Liza and urges her to get married, she goes agaisnt the status quote and says "not all married women are happy" (Dostoevsky 86). This attracts the Underground Man because it correlates with his nonstandard beliefs. However, she eventually breaks into tears.

Things become more interesting when the Underground Man invites Liza to his house and speaks unscrupulously towards her. He goes hysterical and cries as Liza comforts him. It is difficult to understand his true emotions towards Liza because at first he swore "she really did interest" (Dostoevsky, 87) him. Yet, towards the end of the novel, he tells her that he "had been, humiliated, so [he] wanted to humiliate" (Dostoevly 113) her. However, his intimidating behavior may be his way of expression love because at one point he says "loving meant tyrannizing" (Dostoevsky 117). Therefore, I personally believe that the underground man loves Liza, however this is debatable. 

Philosophical Viewpoints

Dostoevsky

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Underground”, the Underground Man, argues in opposition to the Enlightment philosophy which grew popular in his era. “Rational egoists” beleive that everything man does is “according to the laws of nature” (Dostoevsky 23). In addition, according to them, by following these natural laws, man can avoid destructive or absurd behavior. The underground Man uses the metaphor of a “piano key”, which creates the same, predictable effect, to portray this philosophy. 

Existentialism 

However, the Underground Man’s existentialist philosophy opposes this theory. He gives harsh criticism of societies intellectual attempts at dictating human actions and behavior. He believes that human’s ability to desire is a beautiful aspect of their nature.  Therefore it is more valuable for humans to make decisions based on their desires even if it runs contrary to their interests because “it is impossible to retain [both] reason and desire” (Dostoevsky 25).  Existentialists believes that “what man needs is simply independent choice, whatever that independence may cost and whatever it may lead” (Dostoevsky 24). The Underground Man’s loneliness depicts the existentialist notion that humans are in isolation from each other because they all make decisions that satisfy their desires, not those are made simply because they have been “worked out on paper” (Dostoevsky 25) for everyone to follow.

A Contradictory Man

“Notes from the Underground” by Fyodor Dostoevsky is considered to be the first existentialist novel. Existentialism is a 20^thth century philosophical movement that was based on the analysis of human existence and the centrality of human choice. This novel focuses on the troubled psychological state of a bitter and isolated man who is a retired civil servant who resides in St. Petersberg.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

The Underground Man is a character motivated by many contradictory impulses. Even though he believes himself to be more intelligent and perceptive than most other people, he also despises himself and frequently feels himself to be inferior or humiliated. In addition, he indicates that he “used to be in the civil service, but no longer [is]. [He is] a spiteful official” (Dostoevsy 4). It is a contradiction for someone in the civil service to be malevolent because they are expected to be righteous and good-natured. However, he later explains that he “could never really become spiteful (Dostoevsky 4). It is therefore difficult to undisclose the true nature of this contradictory man.

After a class discussion, I realized that we all possess contradictory traits. People’s first impression of me is that I epitomize a typical “girly girl” because I have a big princess crown over my bed and I love to shop. However, they are shocked to find that I am somewhat a “math geek” because math is typically associated with boys. In addition, girls typically have bad handwriting, but I am an exception. 

Failure is Inevitable

In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo strives to become everything his father Unoka was not, a weak failure. However, as the novel unravels, it is apparent that failure is an inevitable aspect of human nature.

Unoka, Okonkwos father, died a failure; he never managed a successful harvest and proved deficient in providing for his family.  Okonkwo’s passion was to not have the same fate as his father, and embody the qualities of gentleness and idleness.

“Okokokwo [also] wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him” (Achebe 33). Despite trying to be masculine in the eyes of his father, his weak feminine qualities were unavoidable. This is apparent as Nwoye is listening to his father’s masculine stories of the land of bloodshed and violence and he “knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell” (Achebe 53).

Despite Okonwo’s efforts, he falls into the doomed light of his father, Unoka. His exile from his village in Umofia for his inadvertent murder of a teen boy is one sign of this. This shows how even the most powerful men cannot journey through life without running into obstacles. Similarly, despite okonkwos hatred for feminism, he is living in exile in his motherland. As Ofeudu, Okonkwos uncle, says, “when there is sorrow and bitterness, [a man] fins refuge in is motherland” (Achebe 134). This shows how the feminine side of every person is inexorable in their nature.  In addition, even though Okonkwo values never giving up, his suicide is a sign that he gave up fighting to preserve his religion and remove the Christians from his country. 

Are men really more powerful than women?

Differences in gender roles is apparent in modern society and is a significant theme throughout Chinua Achebe's novel, "Things Fall Apart". In Ibo culture, women are subservient towards the male authority. Patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal, political, and economic organization of Ibo culture.

It is implied that women are in some ways viewed as property for men in Ibo culture. This is reflected by the fact that men would purchase his wives. Once married, the man has control of everything, including the children. The idea of love and connection between man and wife was not how the ibo people define marriage. Many Ibo women do not really love their husbands but instead have a sense of fear towards their husbands. These women have little to no value of their own.

In addition, the men in Ibo society are not hesitant to beet women for minor circumstances. Okonkwo gave his second wife, Ekwefi, a sound beeeting for merely cutting a few leaves from a banana tree to wrap some food. Shorthly thereafter, he "nearly killed [her] with his gun" (Achebe 48).  In another circumstance, a woman and her husband, Uzowulu, were at trial because "no day passed in the sky without his beating the woman" (Achebe 91).

Male dominance is also reflected in the Ibo ways of farming. While the women grow crops like coco-yams, beans, and cassava, "Yam, the king of the crops, was a man's crop" (Achebe 23). In Ibo culture, yam is symbolic of masculinity. The more plots of yam farms a man owns the wealthier he is and  he has a better chance of keeping his family feed and devoid of starvation and famine.

How people even today perceive men in comparison to women

Differences in gender roles are still aparent in modern society world wide, however to a lesser extreme. Simlar to Ibo society, women today are expected to be housewives that clean, cook, and take care of children while men go to work.

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimanda Adichie's TED talk on "The Danger of a Single Story" has broadened my perspective of society and individuals. It made me realize that we have all fallen victim to stereotype's that have been influenced from the media. Our tendency to label people based on the an overemphasized single story of their ethnicity impedes us from identifying their individual personality.

Similarly, I learned from reading this video to not judge something before learning the story behind it. At first I assumed that the video on Chimanda Adichie's TED talk focuses on literature, however I was mistakend. It instead tackld a moral lesson, to avoid 

Adichie's talk influenced my approach on how I read Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart. I tried to clear my mind from the single story of Africans' as living underprivileged lives under unsuitable conditions. Adichie's TED talk remained in the back of my mind as I read the first four chapters of Things Fall Apart. I began to develop distinct views on each character as I read these chapters, I realized that the moral behind Adichie's talk enabled me to realize that Ukonkwo and his father, Unoka, are direct opposites of each other; while Okonkwo was motivated to succeed and to be fierce, his father was an idle and gentle man. In fact, "Okonkwo was ruled by one passion―to hate everything that his father Unoka has loved" (Achebe 13).