Essay On Sense Of Identity

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.

The ‘rootlessness’ which is central to an immigrant consciousness also connotes an underlying phenomenon of ‘give-and-take identity politics’ of a pre-defined identity along with the coterie of religious, cultural, racial, social values and norms thus become a site of hope, of a new beginning. All these issues come up in a unique fashion in One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. This is unique from the perspective that unlike her other works where India is mostly viewed through the eyes of Indian natives, here in this novel there are some non- native characters who aspire to settle nowhere but in India with the hope of fulfilling their dreams which were otherwise lost in the materialistic soil of America. In One Amazing Thing, there are only nine characters and the plot is neatly developed around there lives and individual experiences.

Recurrent racism, its social impacts, is a central theme of immigrant writing that creates many landscapes in contemporary literature. The immigrant writer takes an opportunity to attack and tackle racism and its consequence from different angles – religious, cultural and historical. The writer does not randomly preoccupy with and write about her/his intricate experience in the new land, but explicitly unfold his/her race/gender experience with its ups and downs. This type of writing has created a new understanding of theories such as racism/gender/ethnic/counter-narrative and post colonial studies among many others. This alternative genre is maneuvered by political, psychological, social and cultural processes of power that is influential to its construction.

The existence of the borders that wraps around the identity comes from the other people’s prejudices and stereotypical thoughts. The subjects of identity and the borders are told Gloria Evangelina Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza in

The topic which is going to deal under this novel is about “The Complexities of Relationship in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s in Oleander Girl”. Divakaruni has given more importance to the family relationship in this novel and especially to the very notion of spouse relationship. There are so many couples in this novel like, Sarojini and Bimal Roy, Mr. and Mrs. Boses, Mitra and Seema and Rajat and Korobi. They all function from different perspective with their partnership that explains about both productive and disparaging situations of

The Maze Runner by James Dashner and Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell are two novels with many contrasting ideas. Although both authors wrote their books to appeal to different time periods, Dashner and Orwell both develop the idea of the necessity of freedom throughout their novel. This idea is brought up in both novels by using extended metaphors to represent life, the illustration of authoritarian governments and the theme of hope. In The Maze Runner by James Dashner the maze is an extended metaphor.

“Interpreter of Maladies” and “I Stand Here Ironing” have different historical backgrounds that influences the authors’ narrative choices. In “Interpreter of Maladies”, Jhumpa Lahiri writes about the difficulty of reconciling an Indian heritage with life in the United States at the beginning of the 21th century. On the other hand, Tillie Olsen refers to the period of World War II which played an important role in her life and writing career. As a matter of fact, these stories differ in characters’ cultural and historical backgrounds, but it is definitely possible to compare them according to realism. The realistic approach is analyzed through three sections: the narrative point of view, the character and the setting.

Her first novel Brown Girl, Brownstones Marshall chronicles the life of an American “Bajan” family. The novel is written in the form of a bildungsroman, therefore the narrator unravels the plot surrounding the preadolescent protagonist Selina, as the story develops so does the narrator’s subconscious. The narration is done in stream of consciousness third person limited. By doing this the readers’ gets insight into Selina’s thought process and there is an even higher level of relationship shared between the readers and the main character, Selina. Major themes that are typically included in Marshall’s novel include Displacement, alienation, discrimination, racism and cultural preservation.

„Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself” (“goodreads”). This quote by Harvey Fierstein emphasises the importance of having the freedom to define one’s own identity. A fundamental right in our society nowadays and since we are moving towards a more and more individualistic culture exceedingly crucial.

The immigrant female characters and Maya are in “The Hero’s walk.” Her novels handle with intricacies of Indian family life, cultural gap that was encountered by the immigrants who settle in the West. The hero’s walk describes the problems in the family life and at last how peace evolved in the family. In “The hero’s walk” Anita Rau Badami depicts expresses the emotional tensions that present in the south Asian diasporic as a diasporic text.

The basis of many nations has been the idea that each individual has something which they can contribute to society. We then must remember that to which we all ought to be committed to, that being the ideals to which each person is entitled are not confined to a country, to age, to race, nationality, sex, or creed, but rather are universal principles to which each person may claim the right to. Orson Scott Card masterfully captured this idea in his powerful piece of writing where consequences for the denial of freedom to some were detailed, but what he wrote goes far beyond the words he wrote down on a page. “Ender’s Came” speaks out against social injustice to combat that which many have been too fearful to face. Governments will rise and fall, but it is how we treat our fellow man which will truly alter the course of

In conclusion, a name is very important for someone because it defines oneself and from where you come from. At the end of the novel, Gogol comes to terms with himself being Indian-American, having the name Gogol and being a part of the Bengali culture. He doesn’t try to ignore the Bengali culture because he did marry a women from Bengali, but eventually divorced her. I think that the author is trying to tell us that finding one 's identity is an ongoing process; that one could never fully reinvent themselves because a person’s identity comes from what is inside of you and the people and society you are surrounded by. “The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name.”