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.  

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.