Q4 Week 4 Posts A/B

Post A
The book seems to be turning more towards Gogol and his point of view compared to the beginning when it was Ashima's point of view. Gogol who is much older now is getting a lot more independent not only from his parents but from his Indian background as well. There is a specific quote that sticks out to me. The quote is, "At forty-eight she has come to experience the solitude that her husband and son and daughter already know, and which they claim not to mind. It's not such a big deal, her children tell her. Everyone should live on their own at some point. But Ashima feels too old to learn such a skill" (166). It seems like Ashima's views and values conflict with those of the rest of her family. She seems almost lost with nothing to do with her family being gone. So instead of everyday preparing food and doing all these traditional activities she has to look upon these new experiences. She even goes out to buy some things and feel self conscious when she asks the clerk how much a specific item is because she thinks he won't understand her. But the clerk just calmingly tells her and it's the end of it. In my mind this quote and really even a theme seems to summarize the path that Gogol is taking. He is venturing farther and farther away from classic tradition and experiencing life with his own eyes.

Post B
For this post I want to continue the discussion I did last week with my post B. Last week I talked about Gogol and how he's venturing away from things. I talked about this with post A this week as well but there's a major event that is a huge shock and it changes everything. SPOILER ALERT
In the book Gogol seems to be departing from his parents but then a really big event happens. What happens is that Gogol's father goes to the hospital because he's having some random pains in his body. He tells Ashima that everything is okay and then later on she gets a call telling her that her husband is dead because of a heart attack. When I read this I was literally shocked because it seemed like out of the blue. But at the same time it seemed symbolic too. Gogol was getting too far away literally and figuratively and I think that an event of this size really brought him back and reminded him of his background. Because prior to his father's death he didn't visit his parents for holidays or anything instead spending all of his time with his girlfriend Maxine. But then this event happened and instead of going away with her because she said it would help him forget, he decided to return home and spend time mourning etc.. So this event seemed like a marker event and it seemed really symbolic.