Author: FATIMA ALI

During the chapter 8-9 David and Marlon face a lot of difficulties within their friendship. David was still having a hard time trying to fit in at school. He still felt as if he did not belong there after Angel threatened him at school. Marlon was not there to save David from that terrorizing moment. But David was also not there for Marlon when he needed him during  fight. They are friends and they should have each others back but it does not seem like they do. I feel as if both of them are bad friends to each other and they have been together since the beginning. They need to be more loyal to each other because they really need each other in school. David was influenced by Marlon’s religion and wanted to be baptized. They attempted a baptism in Marlon’s bathtub. This shows how David get influenced easily. This is bad because he can go against Marlon quick if someone tries to convince him that Marlon is not the guy he thinks he is.

Marlon and David tend to also cheat each other because David cheats off of Marlon on the test and Marlon lies about getting accepted to the school. I think that there is just a lot wrong within their relationship because they lie to each other. Marlon lied to David about being accepted because he was embarrassed that he was not accepted while David was accepted into that school. I think that if they were really true friends they would not hide things from each other like this and they would always tell each other the truth. But David and Marlon were not proud of being rejected from the school and Marlon ended up lying to David because of that reason.

 

In these chapters there is a lot going on in the book. David goes through a a lot in the school dealing with finding his own friends and his own type of people to hang out with. He deals with a lot of bullying because he’s different from the other students. David’s grandfather told David to make sure he studies good for the exam because if he fails the exam he will be poor forever and he doesn’t want that for David’s future. David studies a lot for the exam and puts in a lot of hard work into studying.

During the exam David get’s very nervous and didn’t keep track of the time. Marlon was also sitting next to him during the test and copies a few of the multiple choice answers from Marlon. Marlon got upset that he copied his answers on the test. He was feeling that David had been rude to him by doing that because Marlon spend a lot of time and put in  a lot of effort studying and David just copied him on the test without asking for permission. I think that Marlon is being unfair because both of them studied hard and id his friend needs help he should be there for him.

Marlon and David are close friends and they should have each others backs. Marlon was not being fair to David by getting mad at David. David got nervous during the test and they both understand how stressed they were for the test.

In the book “Green” it is about a boy named David Greenfeld going to school in a predominantly black school. David id white and he does not really fit in with the rest of the other students. They all tease and pick on him because he is white and they are black. This affects David’s social life because he is not able to make friends easily in school because of this difference. David was really lonely because he does not have many friends in school because other students bully him. David manages to make one friend named Marlon Wellings, and they bond over the Boston Celtics.

When David gets on the bus he sits with Kevin which is also another friend of his which he is also white. I noticed that Kevin and David stuck by each other because they were white. There were not many other white students in the school they went to. They only had each other to support and understand each other.  It was like they were the minority in the school rather than being someone else of color. The roles were reversed in this book and I really enjoyed that part because it is different.

I think its better to read a book reversed because of how different it can be. Usually stories always told as the the colored person to be the victim while the white person has all the privileges. But in this book the whitw people are the minority while the black people are not.

The movie “Moonlight” was about a boy named Chiron and he goes through a lot in his life from his childhood because his mother is a drug addict. He found a man named Juan that helped him once in a while when his mom would kick him out the house. Juan helped him financially and supported him when he felt alone and dint have anyone to look after him. Juan and his girlfriend both treated him good which is why Chiron kept going back to them for help.

i think as Chiron grew up older he really looked up to Juan which is why he did the same business like him. He was working on the streets like Juan did to get to the top. Chiron was a good kid in school and stayed out of trouble but after he went to jail, he understood that it’s important to make money any way possible.

The book ends with Gogol finally reading the book that his father had given to him in high school. I believe that after he read the book that’s when he realized the importance of his name Gogol. Maushumi was not being loyal to Gogol and that really broke his heart. Maushumi was the Bengali version of Max, Gogol’s ex-girlfriend. They were both selfish people that didn’t take Gogol into account, while Gogol always made sure to do that for them. I think Maushumi just had a lot of history that she never let go of before marrying Gogol. She rushed the marriage because in the Bengali culture woman are supposed to get married as soon as possible. This shows how Gogol was very selfish because she only got married to Gogol for the culture.

Gogol was always kept in the dark with Maushumi because she never told him anything about herself to him. Especially in the night when she started crying, she told Gogol she was crying because of the rain. She constantly lied to Gogol. She lied about herself, and their relationship, and that was not right what she did to Gogol. But even though Gogol would experience these things with her he didn’t really speak up and stand up for himself. He always just kept quiet about it. He even did that in his previous relationship with Maxine. He always kept quiet even if he felt like he was being fetishized by her family.. The same thing was happening with Maushumi and Gogol. She was also fetishizing Gogol because he was Bengali and he fits right in with culture and family.

In conclusion, the book was very interesting because it was different and showed the struggles of a Desi living in America. I related to some of the Desi culture and traditions being a brown person myself. 

 

In these three chapters so much had happened. Ashoke passes away and the whole family gets together to mourn for his death. When Ashoke moved out to Ohio, it gave Ashima time to get used to living without her husband. At first she felt like she was very lonely but later on after she became more independent and she was able to live alone. Ashima’s children came to visit her when their father had passed. Sonia also moved back to Boston because she thought its important for someone to stay with Ashima now that she is all alone now.

Later on Gogol ends up breaking up with Maxine because of the differences in their lives. I think that this was good for Gogol because I felt like Gogol was being controlled by Maxine. This is because she would always try to drag him with her everywhere. For instance when Gogol had to take care of his father’s ashes she wanted to travel while he did that. But when Gogol said no to her she felt angry because he didn’t want to do something she wanted to do. But on the other hand Gogol never said no to her and it was a shock for Maxine to hear no from Gogol.

Afterwards Gogol meets Moushumi and everything was going good with her. They were getting along, and were really able to understand each other very well because they knew each other from a young age. They even got married and had a traditional Bengali wedding. But later on Gogol starts feeling jealous of her ex fiance. This is very toxic for their relationship because Moushumi did talk about her previous relationship a lot and it got into Gogol’s head. He felt as if Moushumi cared more about that relationship than their relationship.

In chapters 5 I realized that Gogol was finally relieved that he was able to change his name before going off to college. I’m surprised that Gogol’s parents supported his decision to change his name because it had a significant meaning to his father. His father named him Gogol because he survived an accident in India and he had Nikolai Gogol’s literature in his hand and he felt like it was significant for him. But Gogol does not really care about that. In college he started introducing himself as Nikhil. He felt more comfortable and confident when people called him by that name. But I believe that it’s a valid reason for him to change his name because if he feels more like himself with the name Nikhil there is no point of keeping a name he is ashamed of. Even though it upsets his parents that he changed the name they gave him, it’s up to him and whatever makes him feel better about himself.

In chapter 6 Gogol compare Maxine’s family with his family a lot. Both families are very different with very different backgrounds. Gogol likes being with Maxine’s family. He enjoys their company a lot because his family isn’t really like that. I feel like Gogol was being selfish because he started ignoring his family just because he enjoyed Maxine’s family more. During the end of the chapter Gogol ignores his mom’s call because he wanted to be with Maxine. He ignored her call knowing that she is all alone in their house in Massachusetts. He knew that his mother needed him the most at the moment but still chose to ignore her. Ashima had never been alone and I feel like that was making her anxious and Gogol should have been there for her at the moment.

In chapter 4 Gogol celebrates his birthday twice, in an American style and in Bengali style. He lives his life double because of his different culture. In his Bengali culture, he has more traditions that he follows and meets with other Bengali neighbors and friends. When he celebrates it an American way he just invites his friends to his house and has American food and plays games with them at home. He has to live a double life because he doesn’t like mixing both his Bengali culture with American culture. I understand his struggles because while growing up I also had the same problem as him because I didn’t know if I was Indian or American. many people always tried labeling me as Indian or American, but it took me time to realize that no one has the right to say that to me.

Growing up, just like Gogol I celebrated my birthdays twice because I had to do it the American way first with my school friends and then I had to celebrate it again with my family and friends that are Indian. It was different both times because of different music, games, and food. As I grewuo I realized that there is nothing wrong with combining both the American and Indian culture.

Gogol also had issues with his name in school because it was different than everyone else’s. He never understood the significance behind his name and I think that his father should explain that to him. Gogol is having a hard time understanding why his dad kept his name Gogol and because of that, he lied to a girl about his name. He told a girl that he met that his name is Nikhil instead of Gogol. He was ashamed of his name in front of the girl.

In the book “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri the story starts off with Ashima going into labor. Ashoke wasn’t there by her side to support her and it made me feel like Asoke didn’t take her labour seriously. When a woman goes into labour, it is a serious matter and she needs her partner’s support at the moment. But Ashoke, on the other hand, was not there for Ashima when she went into labor, he just dropped her at the hospital and left. I am also South-Asain and in the culture, it is considered that men are superior to woman. I feel like Ashoke was not there for Ashima because he probably did not think that she needed him to be there with her. He does not realize the support she needed while she went into labor.

For Ashima coming to a new country and adjusting to the new culture was difficult for her anyways. At a certain point, Ashima was having trouble talking to the nurse in English, and I feel like if Ashoke was there with her it could have been easier for her to communicate with the nurse. Ashima already is in labor and she still has to deal with a language barrier, it was probably very hard for her to manage that. I think if Ashoke was by her side things could have been easier for them because they both have each other’s support. When migrating to a different county there is a difference in culture and language. In the book, they were having difficulty adjusting to that barrier because they came from a different country also that does not have the same culture or language. But if they both supported each other well it could have been easier for them to deal with that issue.

In the article “One Step Towards Equality, Two Steps Back for Asian-Americans” by Tristen Chau, the author mentions the stereotypes that are used against Chinese in Hollywood movies. In the movie Crazy Rich Asians the entire cast was Asian ans it was a very proud moment for the Asian community because that was the first time in history Hollywood has made a movie like that. But after watching the movie many people didn’t like all the bad stereotypes that were being used against Asians in that movie. They did get the recognition as Asians in the movie but at the same time they were still portrayed unfairly on screen. I believe the whole point of the movie to cast all Asians was to be able to get rid of all the negative connotations people have against Asians, but in the movie it portrayed Asians as materialistic and also misrepresented Singapore as a country. They only showed Singapore’s lavish lifestyles, and not the rest of Singapore. This further shows that many people expected the movie to show how Chinese-Americans really are and to express their good qualities rather than continuing all the stereotypes that were put on them since the time Chinese had migrated to America in the 1800’s. In the movie Singapore was misrepresented because it didn’t show Singapore as a whole and only showed the lavish part of Singapore. Singapore is way more than all the lavish things that were shown on screen, they hadn’t shown the authenticity of Singapore which was misrepresenting it. I think that if the movie had portrayed Asians better in the movie it could have helped them with all the racism that they face in the country. Chinese-Americans were always looked down upon in America because of the stereotypes put on them when they started migrating to America.