Namesake Post #1

Does your novel represent a particular non‐American culture? What does it say about that culture?

The novel features multiple non-American cultures but the most prominent is Indian culture. The novel gives perspectives of Indian culture one coming from immigrants who left their homeland. Some views of Indian culture can be drawn from an immigrant’s critique of American culture. When Ashima sits alone in a hospital with curtains on either side she reflects on American culture, “She had gathered that Americans, in spite of their public declarations of affection, in spite of their miniskirts and bikinis, in spite of their hand holding on the street and lying on each other on Cambridge Common, prefer their privacy” (3). Americans while being publicly bolder and more outspoken then Indians they are not as intimate as Indians and prefer privacy and solitude. In India privacy and solitude are hard to come by and are not desired. India is a very closely-knit culture where individuals rarely experience moments good or bad by themselves. India also holds onto age-old traditions and once in America Ashiama and Ashoke along with the other Indians living on their area feel traditions becoming less significant. Their dress becomes Americanized their food becomes less Indian. The children they have consider themselves totally American. Despite trying to ingrain Indian culture in their children the children prefer Christmas to the Indian alternative, they prefer American food, and they feel no sense of nostalgia when watching Indian movies. Immigrants are overwhelmed by Americans lack of tradition their willingness to do things differently then their parents did. India embodies tradition, custom, and heritage. The novel offered both a nostalgic view of Indian culture that hoped America would become more like India, and one that saw it as backward, and hard to understand. The message in the end is that the culture is somewhere between the two polar views.