In all honestly, other readers including myself have seen Gogol develop to a more rebellious and less traditional character. By drawing apart from his traditional Indian background, I feel that this is the result of the environment he is in by having his surroundings (peers) transform him into the identity he is long searching for. Most likely theorists would be interested in this topic because it brings up the nature vs nurture debate. I personally agree with the nurture side of the argument because Gogol is living proof of this debate. A prime example from the book that illustrates this reasoning is Gogol trying to convince his parents into changing his name to Nakhil. In the Bengali culture, it is unheard of and even looked down upon to switch your birth given name. It evidently shows that he has taken more of the western culture to have more free will into creating the identity you want to be, one of which is the preference in your name. "It's our way, Gogol, his mother maintained. It's what Bengali's do. But it's not even a Bengali name. He told his parents what he'd learned in Mr. Lawson's class, about Gogol's lifelong unhappiness, his mental instability, about how he'd starved himself to death" (Lahiri, 99-100). The conversation Gogol's having with his parents clearly shows the transformation he has went through on adapting the American lifestyle that he is exposed to everyday. To the readers that have seen the movie "Mean Girls", they can connect the plot to this exact situation. In the movie Cady represents Gogol by her being the new girl in a completely different country. she ultimately changes her beliefs due to the fact that she is associating herself with different cliques and/or groups. This shows overtly by her changing her appearance in order to fit into the group that she thinks she belongs in. As you can tell this movie and this book both have common approaches to showing the reader how the development of a personality is obtained, and I feel that this could ultimately either benefit or destroy the morals of a person
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| "New on Netflix: House M.D., Titanic, Mean Girls, The Bible Miniseries." Reel Life With Jane. N.p., 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. |
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| "Peer Pressure for Teens Paves the Path to Adulthood." WSJ. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. |
After looking at your post, I definitively agree with the saying that you had used. Yes it was very cliche but it seems to be telling the truth when looking at the book closely. I on the other hand have not really had anything like happen to me before or not that I can think of a least. But I do have to say that I do feel sad that Gogol's marriage was a failure. It does sadden my that his wife of a year did have an affair and later divorced but I guess that is just how life crumbles.
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