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.