Expectations

Towards the end of class today, we started to discuss a quote from Chapter 10 of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake; when Gogol and Moushumi discuss their anniversary dinner, she declares, "It's not what I thought it would be" (252).  We began to talk about how this applies to Gogol's relationship with his wife throughout the book and how both of them have unrealistic expectations about the other.  I think, in a larger scale, this applies to many things throughout the novel.  In many of Gogol's relationships, especially that he shares with his parents, he had expectations built up through life as a modern American that convicted with traditional Indian ideals.  He continually sought a conventional American experience, but his parents attempted to push on him Indian ideals, with his name, eventual spouse, and their expectations for his behavior.  This caused him to idealize the American experience, while he began to view Indian culture in a more negative light.  With maturity, he seems to slowly overcome these perceptions, while Moushumi appears to hold onto them.  This change seems to foil the pair, which makes a strong statement about placing too much importance on expectations.  While Gogol seems to feel more content with his life as he strives to live for what he enjoys, Moushumi still attempts to fulfill childhood rebellious tendencies, and falls into a deep depression when this does not bring her happiness.  I hope that by the end of the novel she learns to accept life in a realistic way, and that she and Gogol grow more respectful of the happiness they possess, even if their lives turned out differently than they originally expected.