Ashima Gogol's Struggle

The first four chapters start off with the new life that Ashima is experiencing after she moved to the United States with her husband. Her first child, Gogol, was born in America. The name “Gogol”, a Russian writer’s last name, is given by Gogol’s father, Ashoke because he thinks he has a very special bond with that Russian novelist’s book.
Ashima met Ashoke when she was 19 in Calcutta, and she is the most conservative member of her family. Ashima’s marriage was determined by her parents instead of herself. After Ashima arrives in the United States, she feels very lonely and misses her family in Calcutta. At first, Ashima finds out it is very hard for her to fit into this new environment, but she tries very hard to learn another culture. In the hospital, Ashima struggles with the language difference between Bengali and English. When Ashima replies to Patty’s question, she says “ As long as there are ten finger and ten toe” but she soon realizes she should have said “fingers and toes”, although in Bengali, finger can also mean fingers. This conversation shows that Ashima is still having difficulties about languages. The author also describes the first time that Ashima goes to an American grocery store she’s afraid of saying something silly, but it turned out her worries are unnecessary. However, her son, Gogol, is …show more content…
Gogol didn’t pay much attention to that book, but his father eagerly wanted Gogol to read the book. That was the first time that Gogol’s father tries to tell Gogol how much that writer influenced him. But Gogol was too young to understand the meanings behind that book. The second time that Gogol got a chance to know the origin of his name was in his English class. Gogol’s opinions about his name changed. He felt awkward when his teacher said that name. He starts to think his name is weird and silly, and he wants to get rid of that