The main character in this book, Gogol, is constantly struggling to carve out his own life while juggling both his strict Bengali culture and independent American culture. In the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol’s quest for self was at first impacted by his desire to blend in with American culture, however, when his father dies he begins to grow closer with his family and his journey is turned on a path influenced by both his families (Bengali) culture and his own culture (American). From the moment Gogol is introduced to the reader, he rejects Bengali culture. In chapter two, Gogol is put through a Bengali ritual to see what his future will be. He is offered a dollar (businessman), a pen (scholar), and dirt (landowner).
In the novel, The Namesake, by Jumpa Lahiri there is the prevalent theme of confusion involving self-identity, this can be seen by the actions of the main character, Gogol, and his relationships. Bengali culture is unique and involves drastically different practices and expectations in contrast to the practices and expectations of American culture. Gogol’s parents are from Calcutta and place their beliefs in Bengali culture. (Through Gogol 's quest for self, Lahiri investigates not so much the generational divide between first and second-generation members of migrant communities as the difficulties faced by "desis" eager to forge a coherent sense of self while struggling with divided loyalties and conflicting identifications.) His parents follow the same expectations of Bengali culture in America as they would in Calcutta, to the utmost extent.
In the novel, The Namesake, by Jumpa Lahiri there is the prevalent theme of confusion involving self-identity, this can be seen by the actions of the main character, Gogol, and his relationships. Bengali culture is unique and involves drastically different practices and expectations in contrast to the practices and expectations of American culture. Gogol’s parents are from Calcutta and place their beliefs in Bengali culture. (Through Gogol 's quest for self, Lahiri investigates not so much the generational divide between first and second-generation members of migrant communities as the difficulties faced by "desis" eager to forge a coherent sense of self while struggling with divided loyalties and conflicting identifications.) His parents follow the same expectations of that culture in America as they would in Calcutta, to the utmost extent.
Society has many effects on people, and of course, it could perhaps be a negative or positive effect toward humankind. The negatives of society as a whole were surely exposed through the eyes of uneducated, immature, Huckleberry Finn. Furthermore, Huck is faced with many struggles throughout the novel, including Miss Watson urging him to become so called “sivilized” (Twain 37), being abused by his filthy, drunk father, Pap, and most of all keeping himself and Jim, the slave, safe from the dangers they encounter. Huck learns many valuable lessons throughout his journey, and changes from an inexperienced boy to a knowledgeable young adult. In addition, Huck rebels against the accepted answers of
There is one incident in the story When he(Gogol) is in high school and supposed to study gogol’s story in English class( here gogol is the famous writer named Nikolai V. Gogol), he refuses to read it. And strangely, instead of leading a discussion of the story itself, his teachers tells them about Gogol’s life, focusing on Gogol’s inner torture and his death by self starvation. Gogol, the writer is reduced to what was most unacceptable about his personal life, it was delight of horror for the American teenager. As lahiri explains, “to read the story, he believes, would mean paying tribute to his namesake, accepting it somehow. Still, listening to his classmates complain, he feels specifically responsible, as if his own work being attacked”.
In a stratified society, to be poor is sin; to be powerless again is a sin. Hassan, an ethnic Hazara, is an embodiment of these sins. In fact, for Hassan to be sinless is a sin. An expatriate in his own motherland, a child of an illegal affair, in innocent, guileless and guiltless Hassan is a devotee performing all his duties to serve his master Baba and his son Amir. In order to recompense his guilt he pays heavily, in fact, pays more than a fair price, a ruthless perseverance, of bitter patience and an unswerving loyalty but never comes to terms with reconciliation, with and within the all inclusive homogeneity of a nation.
If only I could get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself,’ I immediately felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever,” (Wiesel, 111). This is just one example of the internal conflict going on endlessly within himself. When thinking of family, there are good times and bad times. When experiencing the moments that are extremely difficult for Elie and his father, he often thinks how great life would be if he could just get rid of his father’s dead weight. One evening when Elie’s father is very ill, the had of the block approaches Elie and tells him, “‘Don’t forget your in a concentration camp.
Jasbir Jain in her article Geographical Dislocation and the Poetics of Exile: Ashis Gupta and Michel Ondaatje writes: Writers who have moved away from one culture to another are caught between two cultures and are very often engaged either in a process of self -recovery through resort to history and memory or in a process of self-preservation through an act of transformation. (Jain 101) A.K. Ramanujan’s nostalgic fear and his inner memories in the foreign land give an insecure feeling to his own self. The fear he has which hails from his inner self blends with the social fears. They both amalgamate and end in an existential fear.
Then the absent note saw his father and as a punishment did his admission in boarding school and to learn the discipline. The situation was also same there and all the teachers were so rude and strict. This situation leads him into a state of fear and depression with the trauma of separation with his family. Therein Ishaan befriended with the class best student, Rajan Damodran. Then a new temporary art teacher came and identifies his problem because he was also suffer from that disorder.
Throughout his memoir, he expresses the impact of the doubleness in his identity. Also, he shows how his family tries to exclude him out of his ethnics and native culture. Beside all that, he demonstrates the impacts of cultural displacement in his life especially the sense of loss and suffering in his childhood. Indeed, There are many causes behind the diaspora of Said’s cultural identity. Thus, the aim of this chapter is to discover the causes behind the diaspora in his