Right Back to Tradition

        Ashoke's death in chapter 7 of The Namesake has played a bigger role in Gogol's life (I will refer to the character as Gogol even though I prefer Nikhil) than he knows. His father's death was unexpected, to be honest, but Gogol's reaction was unexpected to me as well. Usually, I'd imagine someone sort of breaking down at the death of a family member as close as a father, but Gogol just seemed a little shocked and in slight dismay. Maybe it's because of that trip to the cemetery when he was little.
It didn't seem to achange him much at the time, but his father's death greatly affected outer-family relationships, such as Maxine.
          It is clear Ashoke's death has brought Gogol closer to his family and roots to say the least. That's really why he and Maxine ended it. Maxine was refreshing for Gogol; he felt less obliged (not sure if that's the right word) to his Indian culture and tradition. And when they broke up, unlike Gogol, I was not surprised to see that she was engaged with another guy after less than a year of ending it with Gogol. It seems like kind of the American thing to do.
        This sudden loneliness brought Gogol a lot closer to his family, and Ashima was repeatedly pushing for him to meet with this girl, Moushumi. Gogol has, in the past, been sort of rebellious towards his roots. At first, "...as much as he [wanted] to make his mother happy, he [refused] to let her set him up with someone." But finally, he gives in out of spite, and he finds himself hitting it off with Moushumi, the nerdy girl at the party from his child hood.
         And as much as Gogol seems to unconsciously detest arranged marriage, here he is, falling in an arranged love with Moushumi. It feels Ironic. He dates Maxine, surprised that she gets engaged with someone else so quickly. And now he's moving into this girl's house, only months into the relationship mind you, all because of an arrangement from his mom. He's taking a step back from being a 'rebellious American'.

An (more) American Identity

          In the Namesake, we see Gogol constantly struggling with the differences of American and Indian culture. It is quite evident that he and his sister are not really connected to his roots in Calcutta, shown by their discomfort and uneasiness on their eight month visit to India. I mean, for a ton of kids, this an understandably excruciating amount of time for a teenager to be stuck in a country where he feels like he doesn't belong.
          But Gogol does belong there; he should feel like he does at least. But he's really taken on an American identity that simply can't be replaced. I mean, he and sister just wanted "...hamburgers or a slice of pepperoni pizza or a cold glass of milk" (84). Admittedly, I can relate. When I visited the Philippines while I was in 5th grade for 2 weeks, it was an incredible adventure with amazing, hand-cooked food made by relatives my family visited around the archipelago. The deserts my Filipino relatives are amazing. But hell, did I want a pizza and some oreos while we were visiting. Actually, the first thing we did when we got back to California was go to In N Out at 1 in the morning. Probably the best burger I've ever had.
           Anyways, it is clear Gogol does not feel as connected to his Indian roots, and he learns to really hate his name. I'd be kind of embarrassed if my name was Gogol too... It's honestly an ugly name in my opinion. This part of Gogol's thought struck me most, when he finds out who he is named after:
           "Gogol isn't his first name. His first name is Nikolai. Not only does Gogol Ganguli have a pet name turned good name, but a last name turned first name. And so it occurs to him that no one he knows in the world, in Russia or India or America or anywhere, shares his name. Not even the source of his namesake" (78).
            Ouch...I can see why he changed his name to Nikhil later on. See, that name is unique, but it sounds cool. It has a nice ring to it. Gogol sounds like some crappy yogurt you would buy at a liquor store.

            I think Nikhil fits him more. Gogol really is American, so he should embrace his identity with a name that would survive in the cruelty that is American culture. If he wants to change it, then so be it. That's the beauty of American freedom, I guess.

The Cultural Variety Complex of Shoes

(I made the Cultural Variety Complex up... but whatever I'll roll with it.) Simple enough. Wherever we go, cultural differences are so variably present and palpable. They can span from language, to religion, to diet, to rules, to government, to family, and even to clothing and hobbies. And in The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, the cultural differences clearly have an effect on Ashima's min
d and emotions.
        A part that really stood out to me was when Ashima stepped into American shoes, "...a pair of men's shoes that were not like any she'd seen on the streets and trams and buses of Calcutta, or even in the windows of Bata" (Lahiri 8). Just by stepping into shoes of a culture unfamiliar to her, her heart raced. It struck me how people are so used to their own lives and cultures that it's the little things that we tend to notice. Sure we know that people drive with the steering people on the right side of the car, and that doesn't really come as a surprise to us when we see it first-hand. But I have zero ideas as to the clothing, or cultures of physical appearance for that matter, of countries in Europe and Asia. Speaking of shoes, I find that the popularity of certain kinds of shoes kind of belongs to different areas in Southern California. Culture in general differs pretty greatly between nearby cities.

     It seems kind of wrong to stereotype, but it's shoes so who really cares? I've just kind of observed that kids at Newport Harbor tend to wear topsiders more than other school. Kids at CDM seem to wear blue or black authentic Vans (The ones above). I see a lot of kids at Sage with Converse or boots. I'm kind of going off a tangent here, but you get the point.
     I also found it interesting when Ashima thought to herself about how she "...thinks it's strange that her child will be born in a place most people enter either to suffer or die..." because in India, "...women go home to their parents to give birth, away from husbands and in-laws and household cares..." (Lahiri 4). It's clear that American culture varies wildly enough from India, or Calcutta, for her to notice.
    I myself find that I'm learning about Indian culture from this book. I (and I'm sure a lot of others too) had no idea about the annaprasan, and that the "...first formal ceremony of [the Bengali's] lives centers on the consumption of food" (6). I'm sure there's a lot more things to learn about Indian culture from this book, and a lot of things that Ashima will notice about American culture that I take for granted.