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Jhumpa Lahiri The Namesake Essay

452 Words2 Pages

What Ashoke and Ashima had to do to start a family was unreal. I could never imagine moving have way across the way to start a family that has such an unfamiliar lifestyle. But, immigrants do it everyday. I believe the author, Jhumpa Lahiri, perfectly executed what life could be like for an immigrant. It is full of twists and turns. An immigrant has to restart their life and learn the roadmap of their new environment; especially for Ashoke and Ashima coming into the American culture being Bengali. Bengali is a very rigorous culture, with very structured lives for specifically women and children. Children had a standard that they had to live up to. They had to follow guidelines that would keep them in check and prepared for later in life callings. …show more content…

Immigrants expect a little bumps in the road, but with a rebel child that wants to really engulf themselves into the new culture, it can really cause some damage. Gogol stepped out of the box that he was being kept in, disobeying many principles of Bengali. Children have to behave themselves in an orderly manner and practice manners for adulthood, yet Gogol started to drink and smoke in high school and that bled into the college years. Gogol also worked himself into the dating life and started to see a white girl named Maxine and his parents weren’t too fond of it. “His parents are diffident around Maxine, at first keeping their distance, not boisterous as they typically are around their Bengali friends”(Lahiri 148). It took a while for them to warm up to the idea of a white girl dating their Bengali son, but that’s what Maxine loved about him. She loved his culture and everything about him. The Namesake set up very relatable situations for not only immigrants, but for young adults who are trying to find their own path in life. It can give us a sense of what others do to get what they want hoping to inspire others to do the

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