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Struggles of identity in the namesake
Struggles of identity in the namesake
Literary criticism the namesake jhumpa lahiri
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People thirst to discover their identity. Most will believe that they discovered and made their identity, but they didn’t. In Hal Borland’s “When The Legends Die”, It shows how a young indian boy’s (Thomas Black Bull) identity changes throughout his miserable life. Identities are formed more by society than by their owners.
His family wants him to follow his father’s footsteps and become an engineer, but he wants to pursue architecture. His mother wants him to follow Bengali culture, such as marrying someone from the same background. Regardless of his parents’ desires, he focuses more on his friends and American culture than his own family’s values. When his father passes away, he begins to cherish his family values. Gogol is very caring and committed to his passions.
No matter what angle you perceive identity from; everyone is born with a name. This is a specific name that you are to be called in common acknowledgement. However “the precision of naming takes away from the uniqueness of seeing.” –Pierre Barnard-. Names may promote an individual’s identity, yet it can also defy it.
In the short story ``By Any Other Name'', Santha Rau talks about her childhood, going to a school with a majority of English students and teachers. On the first few days of school Santha and her sister began to realize how their Indian culture made them different then their peers. The moment of realization was during lunchtime: “The children were all opening packages and sitting down to eat sandwiches. Premillia and I were the only ones who had Indian food.” (Rau 10)
Tone in “The ‘F’ Word” “The ‘F’ Word” written by Firoozeh Dumas expresses the hardships of having a unique name. After all the difficulties and numerous encounters with the hassle of an ethnic name, Dumas realizes she must not care what others think, take pride in the origin of her name, and share her experiences with the readers. Others may have the ability to relate with her troublesome times of moving somewhere new and having an “odd” characteristic. Firoozeh Dumas’ purpose emphasizes the importance of not antagonizing someone for something they happened to be raised with as well as to describe her occurrences with others.
As Alexie states in his short story, to fail in the non-Indian world is expected of Indian children. Alexie refuses to fail and instead he succeeds. Alexie’s underdog tale appeals to everyone, but certain aspects of his story are more identifiable to some groups. The struggle
My name is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok. The main character, Asher Lev grows up in the Hasidic Jewish community. Asher is an artist living in Brooklyn, whose world is surrounded by the rules of his religion and the Rebbe. Art is not a part of Judais, and is looked down upon more often than not. This problem hinders Asher’s gift of drawing, reputation, and his relationship with his parents.
Now that the names have been presented it’s time to connect how the characters' names play a part in knowing the characters' identity opposed from knowing their self. Ms. Morrison made it very clear throughout her novel how identity, and self aren’t the same. Also showing that just because someone has an identity that was formed doesn’t necessarily mean that’s who they have to be, and nor does it mean that one must partake down a certain road. First let's talk about the difference between identity, and self. Identity is what people see you as, and self is what one sees their self as.
The novel explores themes of family, identity, and trauma. It revolves around a group of Native American characters fighting against the government’s plans to terminate the tribe and displace them from their land. The characters’ experiences
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.
To be alone on an island, painting the sky the desired shade of blue, but to be secluded, fending away civilization as it it were a parasite, is not one’s ideal state of mind. Yet, by a particular female character named Moushumi In the book The Namesake, they are confused. Moushumi is the ex-wife of Gogol and identified in detail by Jhumpa Lahiri. Moushumi’s identity is composed of her experiences, her values, and her background.
Iranian writer, Firoozeh Dumas, in her narrative essay, “The F Word,”illustrates the challenges of having a different name in America. Dumas’ purpose is to represent the importance of accepting one’s identity and other’s. Having a different name brought her a great challenge to fit in with her peers. Through the story, she learned how to accept her own name and how should others accept people’s differences. She portrays this idea in a humorous way.
When his second grade teacher calls him “indian, indian, indian,” Victor says, “Yes, I am. I am Indian. Indian, I am” (Alexei 173). The conversation portrays parallelism in that Victor’s repetition echoes the way his teacher repeats “Indian”. Alexei’s use of a capitalization change portrays Victor’s desire to identify as Indian while the white community tries to assimilate him.
In addition, immigrants may face the loss of identity. The book started from the day Gogol was in Ashima’s womb to the day he wonders about his identity at the age of 32.
As Gogol begins to grow up in America his attitude towards his name starts to change. The novel begins with Gogol feeling very uncomfortable with being called Nikhil on his first day of school. “It is very common for a child to be confused at first. Please
