Cultural Dissonance In Native Speaker And The Namesake

Several prominent works of literature explore the dynamics between fathers and sons from immigrant families. When the traditions of their culture conflict with those of the West, the children frequently harbor animosity toward their parents for refusing to adopt Western values. For instance, Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake depicts this family conflict. Native Speaker is a novel depicting the story of Henry Park, a young, Korean-American man toiling to assimilate into American society. The Namesake is a novel detailing the story of Gogol Ganguli, a young Indian-American man struggling with his identity and accepting his Indian culture. Native Speaker and Namesake examine how intergenerational cultural dissonance,

Intergeneral cultural dissonance is a clash between parents and children over cultural values. Henry resents his father for taking advantage of other minorities for his gain. Henry states, “My ugly immigrant truth, as it was his, is that I have to exploited my own… This is forever my burden to bear… Here is my sole talent I ever dared nurture. Here is all of my American education” (Lee 320). In addition, Henry’s father allows racial prejudice at work by customers to have them be recurring customers. Additionally, Henry doesn’t like how his father lets people walk over him and how his business is mediocre. When Henry attempts to make suggestions for the grocery store, his mother stops him. This reaction leaves Henry vulnerable and he struggles to connect with his parents. Furthermore, his parents didn’t understand English well, so this made it difficult for them to fit in with others. Throughout Henry’s life, he has struggled to connect with his parents and other Americans due to cultural

For instance, when the children write a discriminatory message in their mailbox. In addition, his parents were in an arranged marriage, and he despised their relationship. Their marriage serves as a reason for him pushing away from their traditions. Following their customs, his parents didn’t show affection openly. Gogol claims, “Gogol is reminded that in all his life he has never witnessed a single moment of physical affection between his parents. Whatever love between them is an utterly private, uncelebrated thing” (Lahiri 290). This behavior causes Gogol discomfort in the future seeing others' relationships. Similarly, his parents dress traditionally and hold parties with Bengali communities. Gogol is embarrassed by his parent's manner and the food they serve. Gogol says, “It is a different brand of hospitality from what he is used to; for through the Ratcliffs are generous they are people who do not go out of their a way to accommodate others, assured, in his case correctly, that their life will appeal to him” (Lahiri 285). Ultimately, Gogol struggles to accept his parent's customs and how they have tried to ingrain these lessons in