The Namesake ': An Analysis Of Saborah's'

Aparna's hope to keep Pranab Kaku in the family is shattered when he begins dating an American woman, Deborah. Pranab brings Deborah over to Usha's house to have dinner with the family and invites her to come on trips to the park with Aparna and Usha. Eventually, Aparna, begins to stay home, as she is no longer able to watch the man she loves with another woman. As Aparna increasingly despises Deborah's presence, Usha begins to "anticipate her" (Lahiri, Hell-Heaven 8). Usha falls in love with Deborah's "serene eyes" and "straight hair" (Lahiri, Hell-Heaven 8). As in The Namesake, white female bodies are idolized because they are associated with assimilation. Pranab pursues a relationship with Deborah as a means of immersing himself in American culture in the same way that Gogol engages in romances with American woman. As time passes, Pranab …show more content…
Pranab's parents, Mr. And Mrs. Chakraborty, call Usha's parents to berate them for allowing Pranab to pursue a relationship with an American women. Mr. Chakraborty says that "he cannot possibly bless such a marriage and...that if Pranab Kaku dared to marry Deborah he would no longer acknowledge him as a son" (Lahiri, Hell-Heaven 10). The notion of interracial marriage being unacceptable is reinforced yet again. At Pranab and Deborah's "strictly American wedding," Usha's family are the only Bengalis there despite the abundance that Pranab knows (Lahiri, Hell-Heaven 11). The wedding is a step that Pranab takes to disassociate with Bengali culture and align himself with American culture instead. Aparna remarks that Pranab's behavior is "just hell-heaven, her own self-concocted, backward metaphor" (Lahiri, Hell-Heaven 8). Aparna's metaphor signifies the effect that Pranab's actions had on her. When he first enters her life, everything is blissful; he makes her life heaven. When he starts to date Deborah, everything changes and life becomes hellish for