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.