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Relationships in The Namesake

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Both the novel and film of "The Namesake," convey the story of a bengali family that moves to America and tries to live an Americanized lifestyle while maintaining their Indian culture. Along with this, their son, Gogol, struggles with recognizing/accepting his cultural identity throughout the story. The relationships in the film as well as novel version of The Namesake differ from each other in many ways. Gogols cultural relationships in the novel version of The Namesake differ in comparison to those in the film. In the book, Gogol sometimes had hatred towards his name, and wasnt too fond of it. When in high school, his english teacher began teaching the class about Nikolai Gogol, Gogols namesake, and he began to feel embarrassed and angry, and his hatred towards his name continued to grow. In the film however, Gogol didnt express as much dislike towards his name and it wasnt a major concern as it was in the book. In the film, Gogol didnt have as much of a conflict with his culture as he did in the book. In the film when the family makes a trip to their hometown in India, Gogol doesnt find the trip as boring and wasnt as angry that he had to go as he was in the book, he found the trip somewhat interesting. Also, in the book, Gogol showed signs of dislike towards his indian culture and was somewhat unappreciative of it while trying to live an american lifestyle. Although in the film, he doesnt show as much dislike towards his culture as it isnt as much of a concern. Also, in comparison to the book, the Gangulis accept/appreciate the American culture more in the film.In the book, Ashima and Ashoke are constantly trying to have their children practice the Indian cutlture and arent too fond of the american way, while in the film, they arent as persistent when trying to persuade Gogol and Sonia to participate in the Indian culture as they are more accepting of the American culture. The Gangulis cultural relationships in the novel differ fr

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