From the beginning it is very much noticeable that Dave is an outsider and feels the pressure all on him while attending an all Black and Latino school, as one of the 3 only white boys in school. Making friends is hard for him and so is feeling the “force”. Its an interesting concept to think about and the author kind of raises the question in my mind as to how the force lives in each of us. The narrator says in chapter two, “I blame the force for what it didnt to him.” In my interpretation the force is discrimination towards another group he said he felt it and was able to feel it in himself so its hinting that he blames the force for people making comments about his race and judging him. Its as though it served as a marker for all that has been done and it is to blame, the force.

By far my least favorite chapter because it just hurts to see the life that Gogol has, he is fetished by Maxine and basically does what he is told but in reality he has an identity he isn’t comfortable with, and won’t ever fit into the image of a woman who’s had a completely different lifestyle. Ashoke’d death hits home and in a way serves as a wake-up call to Nikhil because he realizes that his girlfriend doesn’t truly accept him for his identity if not just the Americanized identity of his that fits her life. He’s so accustomed to following everything she says and now he puts his foot down. Her lack of sensitivity also adds on to his eyeopening moment when he doesn’t want to go back to her. In chapter 8 however the crack and strain in their relationships becomes much more permanent and surpriseeeee after months of being alone he meets the “ideal girl” the girl that her family would agree he should be with. But it seems kind of like a superficial world from the outside that they are living in.

Chapter 3 was a hell of a lot more change coming in the lives of Ashima, Gogol and Ashoke. Gogol seems to embrace his name as a child and seems to enjoy happy as a family, I guess these were the prime times for the family all and all occurred but in this chapter we also notice that the family has been living in the United States for a decade. In this chapter the family expands as well with the new birth of Sonali, and now it feels like they are accustomed to living alone without the help of family and pieces of their identity has also changed, their traditions that the Ganguli’s once had are replaced, for instance now, they are given the responsibilty to name their daughter and conduct the rice cermemony with their Bengali friends and ironically Sonali doesn’t eat any of the options and misbehaves. This brings up the idea of her being “the true American” (63). Chapter 4 starts of the Gogols birthday and highlights his two sided identity. The American side of him celebrates his birthday with the typical birthday for his American friends and what he truly enjoys and the second time is with traditional food and a party more for his parents Bengali friends. This double life is interesting because his family wants to hold on to what they’ve always known but it isn’t the same thing for him.

GOGOL CHANGES HIS NAME!! But did he truly change anything else about himself, it was kind of sad to see how little impact it had to anyone but himself. The authors language makes the scene so regular, its almost hard to believe that this might be the change of his whole identity in his mind and what also really sucks is that Gogol realizes that this change took very little time, almost making it insignificant. For Nikhil he just wants the world to know his new name and it seems that he starts fresh, new college, new name, and independence from his family, but doesn’t completely disconnect and visits his family and his father actually tells him what happened with the train all those years ago, and the real reason he chose that name. As the next chapter starts we see that Nikhil has his life basically made for himself and he meets a woman named Maxine, we see how connected he gets with her and they share a lot of time together and becomes the first girl he brings home, while their its interesting to see how he feels when his mother cooks all the dishes, he seems so embarrassed almost of his culture and its a wall that he can never truly cross Maxine into though he’s basically in the same mix with her in the sense he knows everything  but that doesn’t mean he’ll truly ever belong there.

Gogol gets married and settles down with Moushumi and it seems like they are living the expectations of their parents in mind rather than what they actually want for each other. Gogol seems to fetishes her now, but its as though a part of her life is missing, she isn’t happy with Gogol, its as if their relationship is more superficial then actually about them. Their wedding didn’t seem about them, it seemed more about the roots that their parents want and they follow, they didnt understand their own wedding and it seems like they are both just afraid of feeling wrong, or most likely just feel stuck to each other and might “love each other” but not be “in love with each other” and I feel like that is what breaks the relationship. Gogol tries and gives more than what Moushumi ever will, she seems to be discontent with the life they share. It seems like Gogol deep down knows that Moushumi’s true love is Graham and though he ios devoted it seems as though he doesn’t know what he wants and instead follows Moushumi. Moushumi seems unsensitve about Gogol’s feelings and actual self. In chapter 10 their marriage seems strained at this point as though they both aren’t good for each other, and though Moushumi may be a factor of the distance Gogol too doesn’t seem like he wants it, it seems like he’s lost without that stable relationship.

The introduction to the novel definitely lets us truly know the characters. From what I know it seems like Ashima and Ashoke come from typical Bengali households and they definitely aren’t like the typical American family for sure, their lifestyles as partners are made very clear by Ashima when she talks about how the lady outside is talking sweetly to her husband and she recounts how that display of affection isn’t accepted except for in Bollywood movies. From the start of the novel we also learn a very traumatic accident occured to Ashoke involving a train. Though he is injured and has spent most of his life with family the talk with the man about traveling the world and doing more than just reading in a way puts him on the route to decide to migrate outside of the world he’s only known. It makes me kind of curious as to what is going to happen as a result of their departure from their native land, it seems that Ashoke sees it as a way to explore the world but Ashima feels alone without her family and the only world she’s ever known.

While reading this I came across a line that I think stood out to me the most. It states, “What are the criteria for fitting into a nation that is so ethically diverse?” (Pg. 147) These words screamed out at me because I believe this is the root of the problem with immigration, society is so fixated with creating a standard way of doing things and viewing things that it looks to exclude certain individuals if they seem somehow outside what looks normal, or threatens the standing lifestyle that the rest of the assimilated society knows and values. One example of this was the “Yellow Peril” which justified the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants by portraying them as threats to the economy, this I feel is what is going on now in today’s time with the Mexican community as well. I make this comparison just to support the claim I made before about how society makes expectations and tries to exclude those who don’t seem to fit into the image. I think in terms of portrayal of culture, many different ethnic groups do one of two things, they either show the reality and try to be inclusive of their culture as a whole or only shine light on the topics that they choose to highlight. As we talked about in class I now see the connection with colorism, trying to depict a skin tone range that may not be inclusive but is what they feel the audience would agree with or support. After reading this I do very much agree with the statement that even after about two centuries of Asian American immigrants residing here they are still seen and outsiders, they are often picked on or seen differently, not as Americans but as Asians and I guess its because America can’t accept a race that does not directly follow American norms.

I am a native New York resident and I have lived in a couple of places since I was born. My parents had me while living in the Bronx and at two years old my mom met my dad (stepdad I call dad) and we lived in Manhattan for a short time before moving to the Bronx for about 13 years and now we have moved to Brooklyn a few months ago. I don’t exactly know how to answer where you from that’s the summary. My mom grew up in a small town in Mexico called Santa Ursula in Puebla up until she was 12 and immigrated here to the U.S after losing her mother and in search for a better life. My biological dad is Dominican and his family is from Santo Domingo and Santiago and though he didn’t live there for long, he grew a strong sense of identity from being born there. I very much enjoy the surprise people display when discovering I’m both nationalities. On a different note college has been very interesting and enjoyable, though I have on occasion missed the reminders about things like high school its good having freedom and having to be more responsible. Thus far the college experience is not at all what I expected but in a good way its changing my habits, procrastination for me is huge but its not impossible but it will take some fighting distractions.