Q4 Week 2 Posts A/B

Post A
There weren't as many differences this time around but there were still some. I thought I would choose a specific difference I saw. There is a quote about Sonia who is Gogol's sister. "Her formally shoulder-length hair has been chopped asymmetrically by one of her friends. Ashima lives in fear that Sonia will color a streak of it blond, as Sonia has threatened on more than one occasion to do, and that she will have additional holes pierced in her earlobes at the mall" (107). Normally hair really isn't that big of a issue when it comes to changing it whether it be cutting it or streaking it etc... but in Indian society cutting one's hair is like a sin. Then to go a step farther and even color it etc.. is just beyond thought. So Sonia cutting her hair and then threatening to color it along with the earrings is just torture to Ashima who has grown up in India learning these traditions that directly conflict with the culture shes seeing in America.

Post B
For this post I thought I would comment on a quote I found interesting and the quote is, "Gogol makes the mistake of referring to New Haven as home. Sorry, I left it at home, he says when his father asks is he remembered to buy the Yale decal his parents want to paste to the rear window of their car. Ashima is outraged by the remark dwelling on it all day. Only three months, and listen to you, she says, telling him that after twenty years in America, she still cannot bring herself to refer to Pemberton Road as home" (108). I thought it was interesting on how Ashima and Ashoke still refer to India as home compared to Gogol who was born in America and has only been in college for three months. So whereas he refers to college as home, Ashima refers to India as home even though she lives in America. I think that there is a gap that doesn't get bridged because of Gogol not really getting any influential time in India and not seeing his roots and where he comes from. I don't know exactly how to word it but there is definitely a theme hidden in this quote and it shows how growing up in a different place than your real home affects you whether it be in a positive or negative way.