The Namesake Movie Essay

albeit with masterful exaggeration – the dining table groaning under comestibles to the road connecting Konotop and Baturyn, which is about 15 miles.

In the movie Swing Kids directed by Thomas Carter, Peter and Thomas are Hitler Youth by day and swing kids by night. However, as time goes by, the boys find this difficult to maintain. As they get deeper in the Hitler Youth Movement, Thomas becomes committed to the Nazis, while Peter decides to take a stand as a resistor.

The film 13th directed by Ava DuVernay targets an intended audience of the Media and the three branches of the United States government with an emphasis that mass incarceration is an extension of slavery. It is intended to inform viewers about the criminalization of African Americans and the United States prison boom.

Amir’s experience in America differs greatly from that of Gogol’s. Amir moved to America when he was around ten years old due to the conflict that broke out in his home country, Afghanistan. Although he was not born in America, he can still be considered a full fledged first generation American. Living in Fremont, California with his father, Amir takes advantage of all that America has to offer him. This move to America is a lot difficult for his father since he had lived in Afghanistan his whole life and was widely known and praised throughout his community. Not only was the move hard on him emotionally, but it was also hard on him physically, as mentioned early on in the novel when they first arrived in California. “But the Bay Area’s smog stung his eyes, the traffic noise gave him headaches, and the pollen made him cough. The fruit

The movie 42 is about Jackie Robinson, the first professional african american baseball player. Jackie Robinson gets drafted to the Brooklyn Dodgers and plays for them during the 1947 season. Jackie Robinson defines all odds by not only being the first professional african american to play baseball but also by being one of the best players of the game. At first the Dodgers didn't want to play with robinson as the players signed a petition to do so. Robinson later lead the team to the world series but lost to the New York Yankees.

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.

However, as time passes, they begin to nurture a love for each other. This is only the beginning of a series of relationships in “The Namesake.” The primary one, centers on Gogol and his tight relationship between his Indian-cultured parents. At first, Gogol is completely in disgust at his parents and their background. This is evident during the beginning of their trip to India. However, Lahiri cleverly uses the trip to India to show stages of development in Gogol with his parents when he sees the Taj Mahal. He sympathizes his parents and becomes to be more and more closer with them. This does not last long and he falls back into a tense relationship with his parents. Nonetheless, Lahiri uses the death of Ashoko to bring a now grown up Gogol to realization how he

Troy’s life is a symbol of the game of baseball, with starts, stops, and lost opportunities. He may not have been able to control his life through the days of the Jim Crow laws and couldn’t get into the major leagues, but baseball still followed him throughout his life. Baseball harmed his relationship with his family throughout his life. He missed many opportunities to fix what his mistakes in his life, but never realized he had a chance to fix them. He made so many mistakes that they probably won’t ever be able to forget.

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.

The movie 13th is a documentary by director Ava DuVernay. The title of the film refers to the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery. According to the opening message, one fourth of the world prison population is stored at the territory of the United States. Most imprisoned people in the U.S are people of color. 13th tells the detailed story of how Thirteenth Amendment was used as a tool to use incarceration as a legal continuation of former slave system.

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.

Awakenings, a film directed by Penny Marshall and released in 1990, follows the story of Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) as he interacts with catatonic patients infected by an epidemic of viral encephalitis earlier in life.

The Namesake, published in 2003, is Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel. The novel explores characters caught between two conflicting cultures; two worlds, India and America.This novel is based upon the author’s own experiences growing up in America as the child of Indian immigrants. Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli, the parents of protagonist Gogol Ganguli, her fictional counterpart, are based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s real parents. Gogol Ganguli is particularly torn between these two cultures. Born in America, immersed in mainstream American culture, but raised by parents who retain strong Indian traditions; in result, he struggles with his identity. As he grows up he questions who he truly is, and where he truly belongs. His past struggles all have an effect on his romantic relationships throughout the novel. Gogol’s three key relationships are animated by themes of belonging and alienation.