If I were teaching Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, I’d use these two passages to ask about their perceptions of immigrant life: <\/p>\n
“For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy — a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility, a parenthesis in what had once been ordinary life, only to discover that previous life had vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding. Like pregnancy, being a foreigner, Ashima believes, is something that elicits the same curiosity from strangers, the same combination of pity and respect.” (pp.49-50) <\/p>\n
In describing the preparation for Gogol’s birthday: <\/p>\n
“As usual, his mother cooks for days beforehand, cramming the refrigerator with stacks of foil-covered trays. She makes sure to prepare his favorite things: lamb curry with lots of potatoes, lucchis, thick channa dal with swollen brown raisins, pineapple chutney, sandeshes molded out of saffron-tinted ricotta cheese. All this is less stressful to her than the task of feeding a handful of American children, half of whom always claim they are allergic to milk, all of whom refuse to eat the crusts of their bread.” <\/p>\n
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake (Perfection Learning, 2004).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If I were teaching Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, I’d use these two passages to ask about their perceptions of immigrant life: “For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy — a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility, … Continue reading Two quotes from a wonderful novel<\/span>