Esai Siddeeq

Dr. Vallilo
English 12 H per 1

The Namesake

Chapter 1
1. The images of the sticky August evening, all the ingredients being added to
Ashimas snack, tasting the snack from the cupped palm, the sweat dripping down
her face, and her swollen feet and aching pelvis. (Lahiri 1) These images pull the
reader in because the detail almost makes the reader feel that stick august day, the
smell of the ingredients, the sweat sipping down her face, the pain Ashima feels.
All of which give the reader an experience of being in her shoes.
2. Ashima is alone as one can be while surrounded by people. It is her first time in
her life she has slept alone, surrounded by strangers. (Lahiri 3) The first time
she sleeps alone she in the hospital. Even though she has three other women in the
same room, the curtains cut her off. There also is a cultural barrier that is harder to
get through than the curtain would ever-b. n addition her husband Ashore has left
her alone in the hospital. She wishes the curtains were open, so that she could
talk to the American women in spite of their American public declarations (they)
prefer their privacy. (Lahiri 3)
3. Ashima discovered during her stay at the hospital that Americans love their
privacy which is ironic because the Americans go around showing PDA, wearing
miniskirts, bikinis, and laying on top of each other in public.
4. Ashima counts the minutes between her contractions with her watch that was a
bon voyage gift from her parents from the last time she saw them. This
demonstrates her connection to her Bengali culture because she continues to wear
the watch along with the . cavalcade of matrimonial bracelets on both of her
arms. (Lahiri 4)
5. She is terrified to raise a child in country where she is related to no one, where
she knows so little, where life seems so tentative and spare. (Lahiri 6) Ashima
fears that because she has no relatives and feels that without them makes her life
less fit to raise a child.
6. Ashimas English language error pain her as much as her last contraction.
Because English has been her subject when she was working towards her college
degree. This shows that Indian culture values education because both Ashima and
Ashoke went to college. Ashima was working toward a college degree.
(Lahiri 7) and Ashoke had gone to St. Xaviers and then B.E. College, graduating
first class first from both institutions. (Lahiri 9) In addition, Ashoke is attending
MIT to be an engineer.
7. Ashima returns home from tutoring when her mother told her to go straight to the
bedroom and prepare herself: a man was waiting to see her. Ashokes shoes
were not like any shed seen on the streets and trams and buses of Calcutta.
(Lahiri 8) The shoes were brown with black heels and off-white laces and
stitching. Later inspection she learns the shoes have the initials USA. This seems

to suggest they do bot have wanderlust in common. Ashoke wants to travel but
Ashima does not wish to leave.
8. Ashima does not learn Ashokes name until that are betrothed which is three
weeks before their wedding. (Lahiri 9) This is significant in understanding Indian
culture because the parents arrange the marriages, there is no dating and getting to
know one another, there is no choice.
9. He was reading the Boston Globe that he found in the waiting room and
reminiscing about the surviving the crash. This shows that in the Indian culture
Ashima would be surrounded by her female family members and not alone.
10. Ashima accused Ashoke of mistaking salt for sugar in her tea. That was the thing
that had caused her to suspect (Lahiri 11) Her early days of pregnancy was
Ashima having morning sickness and then laying in bed not moving for the rest of
the day. Before he left he would have a cup of tea by the side of the bed where
she lay listless and silent. (Lahiri 11) When he returned home Ashoke would find
her still laying there with the tea untouched.
11. The other fathers gifts for their wives and were indulging in cigars. None of
which Ashoke does, it never occurred to him to bring flowers for his wife. Yet
they were all excited and nervously waiting for their newborn to arrive.
12. Ashoke and his grandfathers relationship is shared love for literature. His
grandfather influenced Ashokes love for Russian literature, reading to Ashoke for
hours when he was young. His grandfather told Ashoke read all the Russians and
then read them again. (Lahiri 12)
13. Ashoke consistently was reading no matter where he went. Walking up stairs,
navigating through streets. His nose was deep into War and Peace. (Lahiri 13)
He went into his own world when reading, For that hour Ashoke was deaf and
blind to the world around him. (Lahiri 12)
14. Ashoke was on a train to visit his grandparents because his grandfather was going
blind and requested Ashoke read to him. The train was sabotaged and crashed.
Ashoke as buried under the debris and could not call out for help. When he heard
two people walking by, in a last attempt to be saved he raised his hand still
clutching a single page of The Overcoat crumpled tightly in his fist. (Lahiri 18)
This made him take a break from Russian authors and find his passion for
engineering.
15.
Ghosh tells Ashoke to travel while he is still young. Do yourself a favor.
Before its too late, without thinking too much about it first, pack a pillow and
blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it
will be too late. (Lahiri 16) After Ashoke survived and recovered from the crash
he applied to continue his engineering education abroad. Once he was accepted
his family begged him to stay and his mother had even refused to eat for three
days but, in spite of all that, hed gone. (Lahiri 20)