Asian American Culture

Richard Rodriguez’s claim about a person's identity is the using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid; culture should be what defines a identity. Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were being “welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture.“ (136-137). Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were welcomed when they were identified by their culture. Richard Rodriguez also says “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and I want to be Chinese.“ (163_164). Richard Rodriguez is making a point in saying that race does not define him, culture does, and Richard Rodriguez shows this by giving his readers his own personal example of what he believes he is. Richard Rodriguez states that he is Chinese even

Imagine yourself caught between two vastly different cultures in America- one you only see at home with your family and the other you see at school and in most other aspects of your life. Would you be able to pick just one culture? You know that choosing one would turn your back against your family, but the other would make you stand out in a crowd. How would you handle this dilemma? Jhumpha Lahiri, author of The Namesake, describes the journey of a Bengali family- mainly focusing on Gogol- who recently moved to America. Gogol, the son of Ashima and Ashoke, was born in America and spends the first half of his life trying to run away from his Bengali roots. Although Gogol does not feel as lost and detached as his parents in America, he has a difficult time trying to balance the Bengali culture he was born into as well as the American culture he sees and experiences all around him as he is growing up. Throughout the novel, The Namesake, Gogol struggles to develop his identity due to the clashing of Bengali and American culture in his life.

In the other two stories the duality of a person becomes intertwined with the dual image of the city. In "The Nose" and "The Overcoat" the duality reflected both in microcosm of a person and the macrocosm of the city serve as a source of characters ' madness. The duality of the city develops through the Hoffman tradition of grotesque and surrealism. Gogolian Petersburg is the city of a "struggle between the dream and materiality" . In this city the real intertwines with imaginary to such an extent that it is no longer possible to detect the borderline. This dual atmosphere is created through an artistic space, where the fantastic essence hides under a seemingly ordinary facade. The artistic space Gogol creates "is achieved through the extreme concreteness, the materiality of the space, which at the same time appears to be completely imaginary" . Thereby, in "The Nose" a fantastically disappeared part of the body is cut during such a mundane procedure as shaving and is found in such an ordinary object as a loaf of bread. In the same way, in "The Overcoat" a mundane piece of clothing becomes a center of the fantastic events. In addition an ordinary barber and a tailor play the roles of antagonists, who personify the devil.

Many of the works of Jhumpa Lahiri focus on. The three stories build around the development of relationships is “The Namesake,” “The Third and Final Continent” and “This Blessed House.” In these stories, Lahiri not only connects these stories under one theme: relationships, but also cleverly uses motifs and word choice to fully seize the reader’s mind.

Many people are exposed to different cultures throughout their lifetime and inherit various traditions and beliefs from these interactions. However, the addition of another culture distances a person from their original identity, one of the most important themes of Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake. This theme is introduced at the very beginning of the novel when Gogol Ganguli is made aware of the American culture at a very young age. In addition, he tries to balance out both cultures without offending or hurting his parents. However, just like many people he struggles to fit into the American culture because he is still holding onto his Bengali past. Each character faces a choice: should I adapt to American culture? Instead of keeping his

The “harmful myth of Asian superiority” an essay by Ronald Takaki, which brings to our attention the commonly held stereotypical assumptions towards Americans of Asian descent. The main idea that Mr.Takaki is trying to present, is the point of view from the Asian Americans minorities, and elaborate on the issues they are impacted by, not just how they are portrayed by media to the world. The statement “Asians should be model minority” is the belief of Asian minority groups being superior to others, including the African American community of immigrants. Furthermore, social issues faced by some of these individual groups including racism and discrimination are not taken into consideration. When looking at where they are today as a community,

Richard Rodriguez essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” reveals Rodriguez’s attitudes towards race and ethnicity as they relate to personal identity. An evidence to support Richard Rodriguez’s claim in this section is when he says “ I am chinese, and that is because I live in a chinese city and because i want to be chinese”. (163-165) This evidence reveals, rodriguez point that ethnicity has nothing to do with race . He says that a person can choose their ethnicity based on the way they want to act and on things they want to be value. Rodriguez got used to the differences and actually started to like them. So therefore, Rodriquez claims himself chinese because he liked the way that they lived so that the reason he has identified

In the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri there are many relationships portrayed throughout the story. Ashoke and Ashima’s relationship doesn’t show their affection for each other. Gogol had three serious relationships with Ruth, Maxine and Moushumi one of which he ended up marrying. His relationship with Maxine was strong because he was very close with her and her family. Gogol’s relationship with Moushumi was based on secrets and their way of not being more open with each other. Gogol’s serious relationships began after he legally changed his name to Nikhil. The significance of relationships and marriage in the novel is purely based on intimacy and defining one’s identity.

In almost all coming-of-age novels, the main characters often encounter a specific event or series of events that allow them to realize their place in the world. For example, in The Perks of Being of Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Charlie befriends some upperclassmen his freshman year of high school and matures as he struggles to overcome some traumatic childhood memories. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout learns about the real world as well as her own values by observing her father help an African American man find justice in a time where extreme discrimination exists. Both these characters seem satisfied with their life choices. In reality, however, there is rarely a single, definite period where one can pinpoint the moment maturity

“Once you understand and appreciate other people’s cultural backgrounds, then you can also connect with them more” Either being born or migrating into America you are considered as an American Citizen. In reality are you actually treated as American Citizen? People of America tend to stereotype different races and cultures.However,America is full of diversity and multicultural human beings, but there is a lot of oppression against races or a specific race. Therefore, Americans should embrace being multicultural because if we don't embrace it then it limits how individuals of different cultures feel oppressed.

I chose to do my essay on the non-fiction essay, “Who Will Light Incense When Mother’s Gone?” by Andrew Lam. The themes I noticed in this non-fiction essay is love, identity, and the American dream. Andrew Lam feels guilt and shame when he heard his mother's remark: “Who will light incense to the dead when I’m gone” (Lam). Lam’s mother is worried that when she dies, their Vietnamese culture will be forgotten due to the modern American culture Lam has adapted to. His aunt replies to her worries and utters that when they die the rituals will end because the youth and future of the family do not understand the Vietnamese traditions. Lam’s mother feels that America has stolen her children away from her and their Vietnamese traditions. The theme

consider it as another country. They celebrate Hallow in or Christmas but because of their children. Their food on such occasions is all the time Indian. But the second generations like Gogol and Sonia are affected psychologically. Gogol’s acceptance of his Indian-American identity is reflected in his gradual acceptance of his name and its history. The reason is that from the moment of their birth, they were brought up in the settled country and they consider it as their home country and wanted to follow its culture and tradition as their own. The Namesake describes the cultural dislocation in detail. When Gogol mentions his stay in a room for three months, it upsets Ashima. When Gogol and Sonia reduce their visits to their parents, Ashima suffers a lot: “Having been deprived of the company of her own parents upon moving to America, her children’s independence, their need to keep their distance

Have you ever found yourself, yet lost yourself? That question may be a mouthful but think about it. Have you ever steered off of who you are and the discovered a whole new side of yourself? In The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the main character, Gogol, maintains two identities as Gogol, linking back to his past, and Nikhil, which develops as he grows up. Gogol is more family oriented and more true to Indian culture, while Nikhil follows the “American” way by showing independence and rebellion.

Immigration is when people leave their original homelands for various reasons, carrying their distinct cultures, religious beliefs, and live permanently in the new land. In the book The Namesake, Lahiri uses the Ashima and Gogol’s experiences to suggest the dark sides of the immigration, which involves the lost sense of belonging, loss of identity, presensence of microaggression, and the generation gap between the first-generation immigrants and their children.

Nothing reminds you of how far you are from home more than giving birth to a child in a foreign, distant land. As Jhumpa Lahiri describes in her novel, The Namesake, being a foreigner is like a life-long pregnancy, a perpetual wait, a constant burden, an ongoing responsibility, and a continuous feeling out of sorts. Throughout the novel, Lahiri accounts the story of a couple moving from India to America, as well as, the complex process of raising kids in an unknown country, without family, without friends, and without a familiar lifestyle. At the same time, she analyzes the tug-of-war nature between one’s ethnic heritage and the environment one is born into. As the novel progresses, Jhumpa Lahiri’s examination of the immigrant experience through