Friday, September 18, 2009

Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation

Today in class we completed an anticipation guide to prime our brains before reading an excerpt from The Washington Post's "Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation." (Notice how blog posts have hot links to articles in case you have forgotten yours at school.)


Here were the questions you marked agree or disagree and stated why:

___ 1. Schools have a responsibility to promote American culture.
___ 2. Immigrants are often unskilled and uneducated.
___ 3. Immigrants should be encouraged to assimilate into the American national identity.
___ 4. When learning about a new culture, it’s better to overlook differences and focus on similarities.
___ 5. It would be easy to move to a new country.
___ 6. People should follow the customs of the country they live in, regardless of where they’re from.

Your homework for the weekend, in addition to reading to p. 158 of The Namesake, is to comment on this blog post. Your comment needs to make a connection between the article "Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation" and The Namesake. You should consider the assimilation of Ashima, Ashoke, Gogol, Sonia and other immigrants in the novel.

A thoughtful comment deserving of an "A" would include three sentences.

Sentence 1: Write the POINT being made about assimilation and the immigrant experience. This is a general, analytical statement about an idea that is found in both the article and the novel.

Sentence 2: This sentence is an ILLUSTRATION of the point being made in the previous sentence. Direct quotations from The Namesake would be the most credible illustration here. When using direct quotations, be sure to cite the page number where the quotation is found. MLA format looks like this (Lahiri 15) for a quotation that appears on page 15.

Sentence 3: This sentence contains further EXPLANATION of your main point and illustration. Think about why the main point matters today to you and to the world and further explain your ideas.

44 comments:

  1. I believe that the point made about assimilation into American culture is that it is difficult to integrate both American culture and the culture of other ethnicities. The Namesake illustrates this point well; Ashima and Ashoke try unsuccessfully to keep Gogol in both the American world and the Indian world. Gogol was taught Indian language and culture, yet distances himself from both by changing his name from the "Indian" name Gogol (despite the fact that it isn't a traditional Indian name, it symbolizes his membership in Indian culture) to his "American" name Nikhil.

    -Dustin M-L, 1st hour

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  2. I believe the process of assimilation into the American culture is hindered by the social barrier created by the society America is based off of. From the article, we learn that many immigrants are categorized under the title of uneducated or unskilled by "Americans", though they might have had education in fields such as pharmasutical or law. In The Namesake, one specific example of racism shown is when Ashima goes to a supermarket and the cashier automatically assumes Ashima doesn't know how to speak English well because of how she looks or how she is dressed. This affects me directly, seeing that I am a American born Chinese. However, the typical Asian-American stereotype fits me well, for better or for worse, and that is exactly why cultures will never completely collide together. Because no matter how hard one tries to blend into an "American Life," they will always have their native culture lurking in their background.

    -Ivan, 1st Hour.

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  3. I believe the point made about assimilation would be integrating into American Culture, while handling the difficulties such as a language barrier. "In order to prove that Gogol knows English, Ashoke does something he has never done before, and addresses his son in careful, accented English" (p. 58). Gogol and his family have the problem of a language barrier in the beginning of the book especially, and this is also a common difficulty that many immigrants have to face today.
    -Kami H, 1st Hour

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  4. I interpret that the point of the assimilation is for people to understand how difficult it is to integrate immigrants into the American culture. "If assimilation is a learning process, it involves learning good things and bad things," said Ruben G. Rumbaut, a sociology professor at Michigan State University. "It doesn't always lead to something better." I believed that this quote has a direct correlation to the book The Namesake by Jhumpa Larhiri and how even though Ashoke and Ashima want to be stay in a Indian cultured environment but understand that they can’t and try their best to keep it their culture and still learn how to live in the American Society where things can be good or bad which is a similarity of Indian culture and American as well. Today no matter where you go, there is a learning experience on how to collide with different cultures and still have the ability to keep yours which is exactly what, I believe this book’s hidden message is all about.

    ~Kate Belschner, 1st hr.

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  5. I believe the point made about assimilation would be mixing into American Culture, while going through difficulties such as losing values and culture. The Namesake illustrates this point because Ashima and Ashoke try to keep Gogol in the Indian world as much as they can without success. Ashima and Ashoke have trouble keeping Gogol in the Indian culture but have difficulties just like most other immigrants children today.

    ~Usman Mian, 1st hr.

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  6. I think the point made about assimilation would be about blending or being put into american culture, but at the same time trying to bring your culture of where you are from with you. in namesake it tells abot how when they have a baby in america its nohing like home, and when their kids grow up they become rebelious of the indian culture, and that it protains to all other people who are immagrants in america.
    nathan walsh.

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  7. The point about assimilation in the article is being able to catch on to the culture and traditions of America. In the namesake this is shown when "Gogol and Snoia celebrate, with increasing fanfare, the birth of chirst, an event the children look forward to far more then the worship of Durga and Saraswati."(p. 64) This is also illiustrated when "he[Gogol] watches MTV with Sonia as she doctors her jeans, cutting inches off the bottoms and insearting zippersin the newly narrowed ankles,"(p.107. rather then listening to begali music, which Gogol previously asks to be turned off. These are some of the examples of the ways that Gogl, and Sonia become more into the American cultures and tradions. Ashima and Ashoke, however, are having a harder time adapting to the cultues. When Gogol goes on a field trip to the graveyard, when he arrives home "his mother is horrified,"(p.70), and asks "What type of field trip is this?,"(p.70), and later says "death is not a pastime."(p.70.) Those are examples of how Ashima and Ashoke are having a more difficult time moving to America, then Gogol and Sonia.

    Annie Fittipaldi
    hour 2

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  8. I believe that the point is that it is hard for immigrants to both adapt to American culture and keep their own culture at the same time. An example of this in the namesake is when Asoke stops wearing the tie to teach. It shows that he is giving in to what the other teachers are doing and instead of doing what a Bengali would've done he takes the american route. Even though he stopped wearing his tie to school, Ashoke still does Bengali things like, eating with his hands and not wearing shoes indoors. This shows that immigrants often try to live a mixed culture/life and often get caught up in between their culture and the one they're moving in to. This also has another side effect in that now the kids are wanting to be full Americans and their parents still want them to be their original culture so there begins to be a argument between kids and parents and it seperates families.

    Keagan Potts,
    hr. 1

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  9. I think the point about assimilation is being able to adapt to the American culture but still find away follow there own culture as well. An example of this would be when Gogol is having a birthday party, one night it’s with his friends and they play ping-pong and eat hotdogs. The next night they celebrate his birthday with all his Bengali friends and cook a lamb for dinner, just like they would if they were back in Calcutta. This example shows that Gogols family is trying to live as they would back home, but also trying to get used to the America ways.
    Mara Stege
    hr. 2

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  10. I think that immigrants find it hard to assimilate to the American culture for many reasons. One is the immigrants are still so focused on staying with thier culture. If they watned to come to America, I think that they should at least try to adapt to American customs. They can still keep their own. In the book the Namesake, Ashima and Ashoke try to have their kids have Bengali culture but also American. "They make a point of driving into Orson Welles where there is a Kathakali dance performence." But they also let Gogol,"stand at the deli to buy cold cut sandwiches with bologna or roast beef. At (Gogol's) insistances (Ashima) concedes adn makes one American dinner a week."
    This shows that even though Asihma and Ashoke want Gogol to have Bengali culture, they also let him adapt and assimilate to the American ways. When immigrants assimilate to America, they don't need to change everything about themselves, but they should just try to open thier eyes to all the oppurtunites around them.

    -Annie Thorndyke
    Hour 1

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  11. I think the point about assimilation into America is that it is a difficult process to integrate into our society. The Namesake illustrates this point very well, because in the book Ashima says that she has been in America for over 20 years, but she still doesn’t call it home. This illustrates my point because if Ashima has been in our country for over 20 years, and she still doesn’t call it home, then it must be very hard to adjust to life here, and to raise a family here.

    Lizzy Otten, hour 1

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  12. The point about assimilation in the article is that immigrants have a hard time grabbing onto the American culture and also have hard times with keeping their culture. "It wasn't me," he nearly says. But he doesn't tell them that it hadn't been Gogol who'd kissed Kim. That Gogol had had nothing to do with it.(Lahiri pg. 96) This is a great example because it shows how Gogol is changing his personality and becoming a whole new person, this is the start of when he wants to change his name. "He watches MTV with Sonia as she doctors her jeans, cutting inches of the bottoms and inserting zippers in the newly narrowed ankles."(pg. 107) In this example Sonia is catching on to the American culture by making her jeans skinnier at the bottom which is how most America girls' jeans are today. Sonia and Gogol are grasping the American culture much better than their parents. Ever since Ashima moved she knew that it was wrong to raise her children in another place than home. As for Ashoke he has hard times because he sees Gogol start to ignore him when he wants to tell him about his name. In conlusion, assimilation is hard for immigrants because they aren't used to the way Americans do things.
    Jamie Jones 2nd Hr.

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  13. I think that the point of assimilation in the article was that immigrants are often wary to integrate into the American socitey, because it's difficult for them to keep their culture and live in the American society. Also, it's harder for the adults than their children to accept the society for they want to hold onto their culture. This is shown in The Namesake when Ashoke is talking to Gogol in his room. "Ashoke looks around the room. He notices the Lennon obituary pinned to the bulletin board, and then a cassette of classical Indian music he'd bought for Gogol months ago, after a concert at Kresge, still sealed in its wrapper" (Lahiri 77-78). Ashima and Ashoke want to raise their kids the way they were, but Gogol and Sonia want to fit into the new culture, the one they know and prefer. This shows how immigrants want to latch onto their culture, because it's what they know and where they feel safe.

    Ashley Eickhoff hour 2

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  14. I think the main point is that is it hard to adapt to a new culture, because there are many things you have to learn like views. In "Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation" Maria says "The family comes first, not money" "I don't want my children influenced my immortal things." (Branigin 2) and in "The Namesake" Ashima says "Only in America are children taken to cemeteries in the name of art." (Lahiri 70) The American culture can be very different then others because of our views on what is allowed.

    Mikey Libbey 1

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  15. 2nd Hour Julia Withers

    I think there are many connections between Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation and The Namesake. In both stories, immigrants from other countries feel the pressure to assimilate, even though they want to follow their own culture instead. "I'm saying I don't want to raise Gogol alone in this country. It's not right. I want to go back" (Lahiri 33). Ashima is choosing to slowly assimilate into the American culture, and doing so she feels very alone. I think nowadays immigrants feel more at home and welcome in America then in the past; moving to another country would be very hard. Especially because no one knows what you are going through because they are not in your situation.

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  16. I believe for both The Namesake, and Immigrants Assimilation, they both describe how it can be difficult to help their children (or themselves) fit into a new culture, while trying to also keep their own culture present. Both writings, are obviously dealing with immigrating. In the Namesake Ashima and Ashoke go on worrying about their kid fitting in with an American name, even thought at first Gogol doesn't even want to change his name because he's so used to it. But once he grows up, he's angry with himself for not taking that chance. It says in the immigration article she 'mixes the old country with the new' and how although she's in America, she doesn't feel like an American. Ashima tries to mix the old country with the new by giving her son two names and Gogol doesn't feel very American since his name is so odd and neither Indian, or American. This is really important today because people aren't really responsible, but SHOULD take action into helping immigrants fit into both cultures and not making them feel like they have to be so insecure about child naming and etc.

    Sam, Period 2

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  17. The point made about assimilation into the american culture is to state the difficulties about moving into a new country and adapting to a totally different environment. The namesake illustrates this because when Ashima and Ashoke come to america. Ashima has a problem adapting to the new culture, for example Jhumpa writes "For they learn that in america, a baby cannot be released from the hospital without a birth certificate. And a birth certificate needs a name" (Lahiri 27). In this quote, the author describes how in India they can take as long as they want when choosing a name, but in america, they need to decide right away. The main idea is that it is still hard adapting to different cultures in our world.

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  18. The point being made about assimilation is that it is difficult for new immigrants to adjust to the new culture, whereas the children often are able to adjust rather well, due to being raised in the country. As stated by author, " He (Gogol) cannot imagine his parents sitting at Lydia and Gerald's table, enjoying Lydia's cooking, appreciating Gerald's selection of wine. He cannot imagine them contributing to one of their dinner party conversations. And yet, here he is, night after night, a welcome addition to the Ratliffs' universe, doing just that." (Lahiri 141). We also see this in the article, where the 11 year old is wearing an american football jacket, and watches "The Simpsons" This matters to the world because there are tons of immigrants coming from around the world and setting in the United States, causing this generation gap between the imiigrants and their children. This also affects me because I have a friend who is Somalian, whose parents immigrated from Somalia and settled here in Minnesota. He is very much immersed in American culture, whereas his parents are much more traditional, and sometimes he can get in fights with his mother about this immersion. That is assimilation and American culture can cause a generation gap between the immigrant parent and the native-born child.

    Jackson C, first hour

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  19. I think that the idea of assimilation is a difficult idea to contend with. Because I have lived in the same house all my life I don't have very much to compare experences with but drawing from The Namesake I can guess that it would be very difficult. When I compare the article we read in class and the book The Namesake I see comparisons between Maria Jacinto and Ashima because they both do not want to assimilate with American culture. Another connection I can draw from the two sorces is that the kids who were born in America have no problem assimilating with American culture and fit in just fine. "As Jacinto, who speaks only Spanish, stresses a need to maintain the family's Mexican heritage, her eldest son, a bilingual 11-year-old who wears a San Francisco 49ers jacket and has a paper route, comes in and joins his brothers and sisters in the living room to watch The Simpsons." Because I haven't ever had to move, I don't know what it would be like, but drawing from the experences of these two families, I can discover that moving is a very hard thing to ajust to.

    Joe Toth Hr 1

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  20. I believe the point of assimilating into American culture is that it is quite difficult to adapt to the new costums and ways of American society. In the packet "Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation" one sentence stands out the most; "'When my skin turns white and my hair turns blonde, then I'll be an American'" (Branigin 1). This sentence really emphasizes the fact that some immigrants have a hard time excepting the Amercian culture, and that they like to keep to their original culture even as they are living in America


    Philip Deberg 2nd hour

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  21. Dealing with assimilation is hard to cope with. Its basicly a new life to get used to. In the Book, Ashmire liked how the market was on the street and thats somthing she can get used to, but when it comes to more common american culture routines like speaking the same langauge it puts a challenge on the person. I like the way assimilation works, that way in this country its mostly the same for every one and every thing. And I hope its the same for other countries as well. just to put a challenge on life.
    ~Rudy Rutkiewicz 1 hr.

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  22. Obviously the similarities is it is very hard to convert to American culture while keeping parts of your own culture/ethnicity. An example is Gogol's name. His parents want him to keep him Indian culture, this being symbolized in the russian last name Gogol. Yet he changes it to Nikhil, which represents the American culture kind of taking over his life. Another example is his girlfriend Max. Her lifestyle symbolizes everything his way of life/parents way of life isn't, and he prefers hers to his own. With the examples of his girlfriend and changing of name, it represents how he cannot keep parts of Indian culture after making a transition to American.

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  23. I believe that the point of assimilating into American culture is that it is difficult to live a double life by practicing both American and foreign culture. In the Namesake, Gogol is forced to live this double life by being "Indian" at home with his parents and "American" at school with his friends. This double life leads to many misunderstandings between Gogol and his parents. This holds true in my family; An example is that sometimes my family fights over if we should go to a "Americanized" Chinese restaurant, like Le-ann chin, or a Traditional Chinese restaurant. This is also seen in our world today as many foreign families struggle to balance two cultures.

    Leon Wang 1st period

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  24. The point about assimilation in the article is that immigrants have a hard time grabbing adjusting to the American culture and also have hard times with keeping their culture. In the Namesake they do a good job of showing that point. During the book Ashima says that she has been in america for 20 years, yet it still dosent feel like hope. This goes with my point because it shows that moving from a different country to another can take forever tell it feels like home. Adjusting to different cultures can be very hard.

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  25. The point about assimilation in the article is that immigrants have a hard time grabbing adjusting to the American culture and also have hard times with keeping their culture. In the Namesake they do a good job of showing that point. During the book Ashima says that she has been in america for 20 years, yet it still dosent feel like hope. This goes with my point because it shows that moving from a different country to another can take forever tell it feels like home. Adjusting to different cultures can be very hard.

    Claire Hughes hour 1
    (that was mine above too i just forgot my name in it)

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  26. The similarities are definetely that Ashima and Ashoke don't want to be dragged into American society unlike Gogol who appears to be okay with it. For example, Gogol's parents only have Bengali friends and they hang out every weekend where Gogol dislikes this very much. Also, when Max and "Nikhil" talk about if his parents were to prefer if he married an Indian girl, he has to say yes. I believe this all happens because change is something Ashima and Ashoke don't particularly like.

    ~Camillle

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  27. I think the main reason why new immigrants don't want to assimilate into american culture is because they weren't forced to. Immigrants back in the 1900s were beat up avoided because they were different. Now immigrants are treated like real people with the same rights as others and if they don't choose to assimilate into american culture then they don't have to

    Jake Fischer hr. 2

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  28. The article and The Namesake are very similar. They both are about how its hard to adapt to American Culture. "Mrs. Jones lives a life that Ashoke's mother would consider humiliating: eating alone, driving herself to work on snow and sleet, seeing her children and grandchildren, at most, three or four times a year." p. 48 "In the Hispanic tradition, the family comes first, not money. It's important for our children not to be influenced too much by the gueros". These two quotes ,one from the book and the other from the article, show one reason it's hard to be an immigrant. In American family is important but not as important as it is in other cultures. This would be very difficult to adjust to.

    -Haley Madson
    Hour 2

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  29. The assimilation of immigrants in the article is similar to the assimilation in the namesake, because of how Ashima, Ashoke, Gogol, and Sonia all assimilate into the american culture. "At his insistence, she concedes and makes him an American dinner once a week as a treat."(lahiri 65) this shows how the Gangulis are somewhat assimilating into the American culture. I think that it is a good thing that the Gangulis are assimilating because there children will have a healthier social life and the Gangulis all around will fit in better.

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  30. The article we read in class has a lot in common with The Namesake. Both are about the struggles immigrants (or indian-americans according to the namesake) face while adapting (or not) to american life. Gogol goes through a lot of the same things that the people in the article were talking about going through. For example, "I dont want my children to be influenced by immoral things"(said by Maria Jacinto, is much like the ways that Gogols parents feel about some of the things he is experiencing in the american life, (especially his love life). After reading this article I realize that the novel is just a way to try and explain the way immigrants feel in the world today. It helped me notice that what Gogol was going through and feeling, is that way that people simalar to him feel in the real world.



    Anna Solomon
    2 Hour

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  31. I believe the point being made about assimilation and the immigrant experience is that in both the Namesake and society today, immigrants do not want to be forced into accepting a new culture. The difference is, in the Namesake, Ashima and Ashoke were forced to assimilate and today, it is the immigrants'choice. For example, when Ashoke is signing Gogol up for school, he tries to register Gogol under his good name: "I'm not sure I follow you Mr. Ganguli. Do you mean that Nikhil is a middle name? Or a nickname? Many of the children go by nicknames here." (Lahiri 58)The principal then takes matters into her own hands and registers Gogol as his pet name. In today's society, immigrants are respected and not forced to assimilate into American society, while in the Namesake, as illustrated, immigrants are forced to assimilate.

    Ryan Gaertner 2nd Hour

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  32. The article Shunning Idea of Assimilation relates to The Namesake within it's idea of immigrants who face difficulties when having to assimilate into the American society. For example the article shows how many immigrants don't see America as a "meltin pot" were different cultures and ethinicity come together but they use the term "salad-bowl" which refers to more differences between cultures. In the Namesake Ashima and Ashoke witness such cultural differenceson page 58 Ashoke says to Mrs. Lapidus "Oh that, that is what we call him at home only but his good name should be is Nihkil." Mrs. Lapidus replies "I'm afraid i don't understand." This shows how assimilation can occur against immigrants wishes causing them to notice differences and enforces a negative attitude toward assimilation into the American mainstream.

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  33. Reading the article, Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation in class made me realize how similar it was to the book the Namesake. I believe the point is that some immigrants feel pressured into a new culture. For example, in the book, Ashima and Ashoke are forced to name the baby which is against their tradition, "...they must choose a name for their son. For they learn that in America, a baby cannot be released from the hospital without a birth certificate. And that a birth certificate needs a name." (Lahiri 27) The doctor insists they name the baby, and they do even though they didn't want to. I feel that today immigrants can't escape every aspect of American culture, but they definitely aren't forced to assimilate.

    Sofia Halgren 1st Hour

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  34. I believe that the point that both the article and the book are trying to make about immigration is that it is very difficult for people to change the way that they are used to living. This theme is constantly displayed in The Namesake, but mainly when the Gangluis go back to India. The children are so lost in this world of unknown, while their parents are relieved and comforted by their native society. Gogol and Sonia miss their television, american foods, and friends while they are away. Ashima and Ashoke are so happy to be back in the society that they understand and fit into. They want to raise their children to love this culture, and are dissapointed when they do not adjust. I think that is the way that Gogol and Sonia feel about their parents' resistance to American culture. The exact same thing is happening every day in our country. I think the article says it best when they use the new term, "the great American salad bowl". Cultures that tolerate one another, but do not mesh together.

    Shannon Awes, hour 1

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  35. The point of the article, Shunning the Idea of Assimilation, is that immigrants do not want to be forced into a new culture and new beliefs. The difference between The Namesake and the artical, is that, Ashima and Ashoke were forced to assimilate, when today it is the freedom of the immigrants to continue their own culture and beliefs or to dive into United States culture. "He trades in fountain pens for ballpoints, Wilkinson blades and his boar-bristled shaving brush for Bic razors bought six to a pack." (Lahiri 65).This shows the Ganguli Family assimilating into American Culture whether they notice it or not. My opinion of Assimilating is 50-50. I believe that it is good to assimilate to a certain point so they fit in, and are polite within the American culture. But I also believe that they should keep some of their traditions and beliefs to honor their heritage.

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  36. The point of the article, Shunning the Idea of Assimilation, is that immigrants do not want to be forced into a new culture and new beliefs. The difference between The Namesake and the artical, is that, Ashima and Ashoke were forced to assimilate, when today it is the freedom of the immigrants to continue their own culture and beliefs or to dive into United States culture. "He trades in fountain pens for ballpoints, Wilkinson blades and his boar-bristled shaving brush for Bic razors bought six to a pack." (Lahiri 65).This shows the Ganguli Family assimilating into American Culture whether they notice it or not. My opinion of Assimilating is 50-50. I believe that it is good to assimilate to a certain point so they fit in, and are polite within the American culture. But I also believe that they should keep some of their traditions and beliefs to honor their heritage.

    Maggie Wyatt Hour One

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  37. The article that we read in class and the Novel "The Namesake" have a lot in common with each other. In the article it shows how hard it is for somebody to feel like they are part of american culture, and be a member of society. A similarity is that for the children in these two writings it is easy for them to make the transfer from one nation to another, or be born in a different one than there parents were. A quote from "Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation" "As Jacinto, who speaks only Spanish. stresses a need to maintain the family's Mexican heritage, her eldest son, a bilingual 11-year-old who wears a San Francisco 49ers jacket and has a paper route, comes in and joins his brothers and sisters in the living room to watch"The Simpsons." This quotation shows that it is easier for the children to do more things that somebody who was born in America to do.

    Tom Balke 2

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  38. The point of the article is to explain the challenges immigrants face by integrating into a new culture in order to lead better lives. An illustration of this is the difficulty Ashima faces in America on page 5, "But nothing feels normal to Ashima. For the past eighteen months, ever since she's arrived in Cambridge nothing has felt normal at all" (Lahiri 5). Becoming part of a whole new society is challenging and this is show in The Namesake by Ashima's difficulty to accept America.

    Peter Sakaguchi Hour 2

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  39. I think that the main point of assimilation into American cultures is balancing the two cultures your involved in. Just like "The Namesake" is trying to balance Ashima and Ashoke's Indian culture as well as finding room for American culture in their kids lives. In trying to balance out completely different cultures, comes the issue of slowly transforming into one or the other. For example, when Kim accepts Gogol's name, Nikhil, he feels like he is finally accepted into American society, whereas if he had kept his name Gogol, he would've felt outcasted in American society, but welcomed into Indian society.
    Kelly McGarvey hr. 2

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  40. Both The Namesake and the Article Immigrants Shunning Idea of Immigration stress how hard it is assimilating a new countries tricks and trades. In the Namesake it is hard for Ashima to get used to being alone, and issolated from her nieghbors and family. On page 49 it shows how lonely Ashima feels "she (as in Ashima) is stunned that in this town there are no sidewalks to speak of, no streetlights, no publicc transportation, no stores for a miles at a time." For immigrants not only to the United States but too every country in this world it is so hard for them to adjust. Trying to accept that they are in a different country but still trying to keep thier same traditions from back home. Ashima and Ashoke try thier hardest just like Jacinto's in the article.
    Megan Armstrong 1st hour

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  41. shunning immigrants is as bad as salvery

    Nelson Harrington 2

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  42. I think the main point of assimilation is that it is difficult for imigrants to come to America with thier own culture. When they
    arrive in America it is hard to adapt to the American culture. An example from the Namesake was when it was Gogol's
    birthday. Gogol celebrated his birthday first with all hus american friends. His birthday, they did typicall american things, like
    eating hotdogs. Then Gogol and his family celebrated his birthday in their Bengalli culture. This shows that Gogol's family is
    trying/is adapting to the american culture. Yet they still want to keep their traditional Bengali culture.
    Madeline Gonsior Hr.1

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  43. I think in both the article and the book the namesake they explain how difficult it is to live in another country. Like how Ashoke and Ashima are having difficulty adjusting to the American cutsoms. Like when they are waiting for her grandmothers letter letting them know the name of their son, and how they cant leave the hospital with out the birth cirtificate having a name on it

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  44. Ian A-K 2
    I think that both the article and the book tell us how difficult it is to move from country to country. The language and Culture is just way too difficult for some people. As an example, Gogol's teacher did not understand why he was supossed to be called by Nikhil in school. Americans don't realize other people's customs very easily.

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