A Disastrous Dinner

       This past week I traveled to Florida with my family for Thanksgiving. All of my first cousins, aunts, uncles, and my grandparents went down there also, to celebrate Thanksgiving, Greek style. One night, all eighteen of us decided to go out to dinner at an outdoor restaurant by the ocean. It was chaos. My aunt was screaming at her eight year old daughter who refused to eat her dinner, my grandma was nagging my aunt tell her she shouldn't wear her sunglasses in the sun because she's getting ugly tan lines on her face, my sister dumped her water on me (by accident of course), and my little cousins were squealing while poking each other with their forks. I was really able to relate to Gogol in the novel The Namesake in this situation, because I wanted nothing more than to disappear under the table and hide from all the judgmental glares from strangers trying to enjoy their dinner. I would never completely shut myself away from them, as Gogol did to Ashoke and Ashima, but everyone needs a break from their families once in a while. When I first read the sections of The Namesake when Gogol was a teenager and felt embarrassed by his parents, I completely criticized him and thought that he was overreacting. However, I now realize how hypocritical I was. I do think that Gogol's reaction of ignoring his parents and shutting them out of his life was extreme, but I am now able to relate to his feelings of embarrassment. I love my family, but even too much of a good thing can lead to a disaster. 

From Greece to America: Finding A Common Ground

       Last week in class, we talked about Ashima's acceptance of American culture at the end of the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Ashima was able to find a commonplace between her Indian culture, and her embracement of the American culture, where she could practice both without feeling out of place or like she was betraying her heritage. My grandfather, George, experienced something very similar to Ashima during his life, because he moved to America when he was 19 years old.
       My grandfather grew up in a small town, in Sparta, Greece, which consists of dust covered roads and mountainous terrain. His village had a population of about 100, and mostly everyone lived without running water or electricity. When he decided to leave Greece, not only was he traveling to a country halfway across the world, but to New York City. George had rarely been exposed to a city environment, and upon arrival at Ellis Island, he was completely overwhelmed, similar to how Ashima felt in the beginning of the novel. He lived in the city with his brother, Peter, who already new a lot about American culture because he had lived there for many years prior to George's arrival. George and Peter, like Ashima and Ashoke, had a band of Greek friends they would hang around with, however, they both decided to attend college, becoming the first people in their family to accept this American tradition.
       Currently, my grandfather still lives in New York, and celebrates many the Greek culture, like when he makes Greek food or speaks Greek around the house. However, he also is a big fan of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, baseball games, and other things that are unique to the American culture for the most part. He has been able, like Ashima, to find a common ground between his old and new culture, which has made him a very unique individual whom i greatly enjoy spending time with.

Analyzing Cat

       One day, my friend asked me to watch the movie Avatar with her. She had already seen it once and proceed to say, "It's the best  movie ever! So much better than Pirates of the Caribbean and all those other action movies. It's like Tarzan meets Pocahontas! Please, please, please, come!"
       "Well," I thought to myself, "she's using repetition for emphasis obviously. Also, the hyperbole thrown in there indirectly characterizes the movie as meaningful to her, so she is a synecdoche for...oh my gosh. I just analyzed a conversation as if my data sheet depended on it. I'm a freak."

       AP English has warped my brain into full time analyzing mode and I realized I can't read, watch a movie, or even talk to a friend without subconsciously analyzing them. I can't read a book without thinking, "what would Serensky do" or "if I had an essay I would write..." Also, I reflexively pick up a pen to annotate almost everything, including my family's Harry Potter novels.They don't necessarily approve of this act, and I can't blame them...who would want to read a book that has a bunch of literary devices written in it? Answer: AP students. I find it very interesting how my perceptions of things have changed because of AP English. I find myself sitting down with my sister (who is also in AP English) and talking for an hour about the meanings of song lyrics or a magazine articles, that I never would have thought twice about before AP. Overall, I would say that this is a good thing. No matter how annoying my friends think I am because I pick apart their brains like a psychologist, AP English teaches you how to think, and in the end, that's what counts.

What's In a Name?

Just how important is it for a woman to take her husband's last name upon marriage? In Chapter 9 of The Namesake, Moushumi refuses to take Gogol's last name when they get married, and this really angered me. It didn't make me upset because she refused to follow the tradition of taking her husband's name, but the fact that she seems offended when people call her Mrs. Ganguli. I understand a woman not wanting to take her husband's last name for professional purposes, like Moushumi, because she is an author so legally changing her last name might confuse people. This made me think of my mom, who didn't change her last name when she married my dad because she is a doctor. However, outside of the workplace she is known as Mrs. Cashy to all of my friends and other people in the community. The fact that Moushumi is offended because her relatives in India call her "Mrs. Moushumi Ganguli" really angers me, because taking your husband's last name, even if it's not legally changed, is a symbol for a couple's marriage and commitment to eachother, and she should expect people to make this mistake (227). Overall, I feel it is very important for a woman to take her husband's surname, and the fact that it "has never crossed Moushumi's mind" is absurd because part of being married is compromising and accepting each other (227). 

Getting to Know Gogol

In our class discussion on Chapter 9 and 10 of The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, many people in our class said that they were angry with Gogol because of his passiveness in his relationship with Moushumi. However, I feel differently. Gogol has to deal with the fact that Moushumi constantly mopes around, dwelling on her past relationship with Graham. The reason Moushumi wants Astrid and Donald's approval is because they symbolizes her past relationship with Graham, and what her life could have been if they ended up married. When Lahiri writes, "Gogol doesn't like to think about the fact that Moushumi's connection to Graham persists through Astrid and Donald" she explains this concept (238). Personally, I feel extremely bad for him at this moment, because he's trying to move on and start a new life with Moushumi, but she's stuck in her past relationships. I also think the reason Gogol is so called "passive" in their relationship is because he afraid that she will have a mental break down because she starts crying spontaneously. Even though Lahiri explains why Moushumi is upset in Chapter 10 (she had the opportunity to go to France, but she passed it up) Gogol doesn't understand why. He most likely thinks that she is fragile, and so he should not pressure her into opening up about things she doesn't want to talk about. Overall, Gogol's passiveness in his relationship with Moushumi has made me feel sympathy for him, not anger towards him. He just wants to make her happy, and he most likely believes the best way to do that is not to pressure her, and to give her her independence.