As his Story Comes to an End

I just finished the novel, The Nakesake by Jhumpa Lahari and I am not sure what I think about the ending. If you haven’t read or finished reading the novel stop here because there will be some major spoilers in this post.

First of all, I cannot believe the Moushumi cheated on Gogol with Dimitri I thought that they were so perfect for each other and would make them realize and appreciate their culture but that just didn’t happen. Moushumi basically married her rebound.  Eventually Gogol finds out about the affair by accident when she says, “Dimitri says Siena is something out of a fairy tale” (Lahari 282). I wish that she had just gone and told Gogol that she was not happy with their marriage and wanted a divorce. I really like Moushumi as a character and I thought that she would make Gogol happy but now her character just disgusts me. In the end, I was happy that they got a divorce so Gogol can eventually move on with his life and find someone that will make him happy like Sonia and Ben.

In the end I am really happy that Gogol realizes how much his parents did to try to make him happy in America. I really enjoyed the fact that he finally appreciated all that his parents had done for him, how they integrated American traditions and celebrations into their home so that he and Sonia could have a normal childhood.

Just like Gogol I don’t understand how my parents could leave their homes at such a young age to move to America. I simply cannot understand how they were able to leave everything they new, their families and their lives behind to come here. I defiantly have a greater appreciation of what my parents have done for me through reading this book and it seems like Gogol does as well. 

Getting Back To The Culture

In this last chapter it was really nice to see Gogol reconnect with his Indian culture and heritage. Ever since his father died Gogol has been stuck in the past and overly attached to his family, which resulted in the “absence of Maxine” (Lahiri 188). I was really excited to see Gogol reconnect with himself, before he became Nikhil and continue with his life after his father died.

I really like Gogol’s new girlfriend Moushumi. She is able to reconnect him with his Indian roots in a way that no one has been able to. Both of these people shared similar upbringings. Their parents were both Bengali and they were imbedded in an Indian culture that neither of them particularly enjoyed. They both ran away from their culture and families any opportunity they had. Gogol went to New York and avoided talking to his family for months and Moushumi went to France a country that “had not claim whatsoever” over her (Lahiri 214). I found it really interesting how both of these characters experienced the same things making them even more perfect for each other.

I think that Moushumi is the perfect match for Gogol. She has known him both as Gogol and Nikhil and I think that she has just enough Indian and American qualities to show Gogol that there is a happy medium between these two cultures. I really hope that they continue to date and he doesn’t lose her like Maxine because I think that Moushumi is the perfect match for Gogol. If he marries her I know that he would make his father very proud.  

A New Name a New Life

Ever since Gogol changed his name to Nikhil he has become a completely different person. In these last few chapters I have seen Gogol completely change. I feel like he only wants to embrace parts of the American culture and experience things that he knows his parents never will and may not particularly be found of.

First of all, Gogol has now had two serious relationships with American women. These are not the typical Indian women his parents had expected for him but instead seem to be true Americans and are open to the idea of their daughters dating an India. The fact that Gogol is Indian does not bother them at all and I think it shouldn’t. Both Rose and Maxine’s families have accepted him into their families almost immediately. Even in the book it says, “from the very beginning he feels effortlessly incorporated into their lives”(Lahiri136). Their families are so welcoming to Gogol and so different than the family he has had that he is drawn even deeper into the American culture. This is clearly shown when he has dinner with Maxine’s family for the first time. He is so shocked at how different the dinner is, even saying his “mother would never have served so few dishes to a guest” (Lahiri 133). He can’t even imagine his parents carrying a solid conversation with Maxine’s parents. I think that’s why he keeps pushing them away.

I think that he is afraid of embracing his Indian culture because to him it may mean that he has to forget his American side. I saw this when, after visiting his parents Maxine notices that his father had called him Gogol. I found it really interesting that he did not tell her about his pet name and its importance to his culture but instead simply brushed it off. For almost the entire book so far Gogol just wants to be considered another American kid but I think he has to get over his insecurities and be completely honest with his girlfriend if he wants anything to come out of it.  

Homesick

So far I have really liked the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. While I have only read the first two chapters of the novel I find the storyline really interesting and I am excited to see Ashima go back home to her family.

At least until now all Ashima has talked about is her family. Even when she is in labor and after giving birth she is continuously thinking about how here family should be there with her. This is clearly shown when it says, “these acquaintances are only substitutes for the people for the people who really ought to be surrounding them” (Lahiri 24). She just wants her mother to be with her though this tough time and I completely understand that. I don’t even think she had the chance to say a proper goodbye before she was whisked away by here new husband to a land completely foreign to her.

I think what bothers her more than her own sorrow and pain is that her new born son, Gogol, will have to grow up in this land without any aunts or uncles or even more important to Ashima, grandparents. She explicitly states this when she says, “She has never known of a person entering the world so alone, so deprived” (Lahiri 25). She just wants her child to be raised in the same way she was, around people that will love him no matter what.

Ashima is lonely in Cambridge and I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t tell her husband. At first I understood when she said she didn’t want to embarrass him but now that they have a child together things needed to change. That is why I was really happy to see her build up the courage to tell him that she is not happy there. I feel like they are just starting to communicate with each other and understand each other like a married couple should.

I can’t wait to see what happens as they go back to Calcutta to see Ashima’s family. I want to see how Ashoka helps Ashima get though this tough time and more importantly see if Ashima is even willing to come back to Cambridge.

No Pain No Gain!!!

Hey everyone,

We just started reading a new book called Notes from Underground. I have really enjoyed the book so far. Although I must say that it is a challenging read I do enjoy his writing. 

So far the underground man has puzzled me, at first he seemed insecure, contradicting himself in every other line saying he despises old people but want to live “till seventy! Till eighty!”(Dostoevsky 5). Later in the book he says he envies the normal man but does not wish to replace him. At this moment the underground man has confused me but I am excited to see what he will do and who he will be in these next few chapters.

One thing that I found particularly interesting about the underground man is the way he describes different forms of enjoyment through suffering. He talks about how when he was younger he used to get in trouble when he was not to blame but he would take it and actually have some sort of enjoyment in it. He later goes on to talk about a man moaning after a toothache. He describes this as pain that is enjoyable, a certain suffering that we love and need. After reading this I thought of myself and how I actually do the same thing, but under different circumstances. For example after a long practice or workout my body is soar, a certain pain much like the underground man describes, which I find enjoyable. I really thought that this was a great point that the underground man made. It was cleaver and ultimate true.

Notes from Underground has been really interesting so far and I am excited to see what other points he make that I can again relate back to my own experiences. I’m really excited to see what will happen next!!!

A Three Dimensional Story

Hey everyone. This is my essay for Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe hope you enjoy.

A Three Dimensional Story

Countless authors have attempted to dispel the idea of the single story and present a more complete picture through their writing. Achebe uses his novel, Things Fall Apart to provide a more accurate perspective of Africa and more specifically the Ibo people through the way he shows  them with their perfections and imperfections. Massoumeh Torfeh also tries to rid of the misconceptions associated with Iranian women in her article for the Guardian titled “Forget the stereotypes: Iran’s women are active and organized.” In her article she discusses how Persian women are intelligent and important members of Iran, both economically and socially. While both authors strive to rid of stereotypes such as Africans and Iranians who are uneducated and primitive, they accomplish their goal and provide a complete story in different ways. Achebe provides Okonkwo, a protagonist who is riddled with flaws such as being self-centered, controlling and an abusive individual along with great characteristics which include unmatchable strength and a stupendous work ethics to challenge the stereotypes associated with Africans, while Torfeh simply states the misconception and uses data and other evidence to rid of the single story of Iranian Women. 

Both Achebe and Torfeh use what they write to rid of the misconception about African and Iranian women who are uneducated and almost primitive in the way they act and live daily. Achebe uses his novel to show that the Ibo people are not as behind as others perceive them to be. He shows that there may be truth in the stereotype when he discusses the arrival of the white man who “was riding an iron horse” (Achebe 138). An iron horse, which they later learned it to be in fact a bicycle. The fact that the Ibo people could not differentiate between a horse and a bicycle may display them to be somewhat primitive, but the bicycle is yet another item which is not essential to their survival. Achebe is able to show that certain aspects of the Ibo people’s way of life may be primitive, but they are educated well enough in order to survive and strive. Achebe once again demonstrates that the Ibo people in their entirety, when he says, “Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man” (Achebe 33). Achebe uses the quotation to display that the Ibo people are educated and have great capabilities. He shows that they can provide for themselves and actually exceed expectations. While he displays the Ibo people with their strengths and flaws, Achebe provides a more accurate description of the African people much like Torfeh does in her article. Torfeh uses the evidence that “Iranian women were attending universities” (Torfeh 24) and discusses how these women are woven into the social and economic fabric of Iran to challenge the idea that Iranian women are uneducated. Her article succeeds to dispel the single story and shows the importance of education to these women. Iranian women take pride in their education and are grateful to receive the opportunity to further their knowledge. While both authors provide more complete story, they achieve their goal in unique ways. Unlike Achebe who rids of these misconceptions by showing them to be partially true but lack the whole story, Torfeh challenges these ideas through factual evidence and does not accept some stereotypes to have any legitimacy. 

 Similarly to the way Achebe strives to show the Ibo people as able to advise the missionaries on their customs, Torfeh does the same in her article about Iranian women. In order to display the Ibo tribe as more than just people who need care, Achebe displays the tribe as capable of helping others when he says “neither of them succeeded in converting the other but they learned more about their different beliefs (Achebe 179).” This shows that the Ibo people and the missionaries are equally able to teach and learn from each other. The quotation from Things Fall Apart also proves that the missionaries see the Ibo people as incapable and view the journey as a one-way learning experience. Achebe even goes far enough as to say that the missionary’s journey is a story all about the “Pacification of Primitive Tribes of Lower Niger (Achebe 209).” Achebe makes the misconception that African’s are incompetent and primitive blatantly obvious in order to challenge the single story of Africa. Like Achebe, Torfeh explains that other nations can learn form Iranian women just as Iranian women can learn from them. She discusses how Iranian women “gained the right to vote in 1963 - earlier than in several European countries (Torfeh 9-10).” She shows that the Iranian women can assist other nations as well as expand their capabilities and challenge the misconception that learning is a one-way street.  Torfeh and Achebe complete the story and dispel of the misconception that Iran and Africa have no knowledge or information to contribute to other nations.

Achebe and Torfeh take different approaches in order to achieve their goal, and dispel of a single story. Whether it is of Africa and the Ibo tribe or the misconceptions associated with Iranian women in the Middle East. Achebe introduces certain characteristics of the Ibo people and shows some of the stereotypes to be partially true but fail to tell the entire story. Due to these incomplete stories, Achebe strives to provide the missing pieces and create a more accurate idea of the Ibo people. Torfeh on the other hand, attempts to rid of these stereotypes people have of Iranian women and challenge these incomplete stories through factual evidence and data presented in her article. Torfeh’s approach to dispel the single story may differ from that of Achebe, but she just like Achebe is able to succeed and provide a more rounded and accurate picture of Iranian women through her writing.

Achebe and Torfeh use their writings as a way to dispel the single story that African and Iranian women are uneducated, primitive and incapable of providing any valuable information to others. Through the evidence they present, these authors are able to provide a more complete view of both Africans and Iranian women. Both of these authors hope to rid of stereotypes that they can no longer tolerate. Achebe and Torfeh are able to use their skills to disposes of single stories that corrupt the world and strive to present a more accurate depiction of all people.  

Okonkwo is Really Falling Apart

Things are really “falling apart” for Okonkwo in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is a famous wrestler and great warrior in his village, Umuofia, but in spite of recent events he is “an exile, condemned for seven years to live in a strange land” (Achebe 133). This punishment comes as a result of him accidentally killing someone while firing his weapon in commemoration of another great warrior who recently died. Now Okonkwo is fleeing to his motherland with his wives and children and his life begins to disintegrate.

In Umuofia, Okonkwo was a hardworking man who had great wealth and possessed titles, but after being banished we find that “work no longer had the pleasure for him it used to have (Achebe 131). Throughout his life Okonkwo has worked hard so that he would not be an unsuccessful man as his father was, but now it seems as though he has accepted defeat. Work was such a large part of him that without his great work ethic he will crumble. His family needs him in order to survive and be able to return home in seven years but, Okonkwo is broken and without him things are sure to fall apart.

While Okonkwo has been in exile, Christian missionaries have now come to his new village in hopes of spreading the word of god and converting the people of the village. The people of the village are interested but none more than Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son who is drawn to the new religion. Nwoye was haunted by the “question of the twins crying in the brush and the question of Ikemfuna who was killed” (Achebe 147). These issues drew Nwoye into the religion ,and before long he left his family and joined the missionaries. Not only is Okonkwo himself falling apart but his family is as well.

In these past few chapters Okonkwo has suffered a great deal. His life has been in utter chaos. He has given up everything he has spent his entire life working for. By being exiled Okonkwo has lost his home, titles, and most importantly his work ethic. Okonkwo is certainly not the man he once was ,but is now broken and crumbling into pieces.