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.