An Unexpected End and Unexpected Friend

The death of Ashoke was very surprising to me, but even more surprising was the way that Gogol responded to it. Ashoke's death begins with stomach pains that seem like they would call for a visit to the local walk in rather than the hospital. I believe that Lahiri made the illness a sudden heart attack purposely so that Gogol could not go see him in time. Even if he could go back, I do not know if Gogol would have. He loved his father, but he may have played it off. When his sister, Sonia, finally told him that his father died, he aborted all else and made the trip to have his father buried. One of the defining moments of Gogol's final break from his Bengali culture is that he did not shave his head in deference to his father. 

However much Gogol wants to leave his Bengali culture behind, it always comes back to him again in one form or another. This time, Moushumi was the one to deliver it. Gogol realizes that this is just another Bengali girl, but he is interested after a date or two. The amazing part is, because he has blocked out his culture and the parties that came with it, he did not even realize that Moushumi was the girl in the corner who only read. Looking back with his new "refined" tastes, this quiet, studious girl might have been more attractive to him. His hatred for all of the partying and yelling with food in one's mouth is not present with Moushumi. I cannot wait to see how Gogol deflects his Bengali culture after chapter eight.

Things Are about to Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart has helped me learn some interesting characteristics of Ibo society, such as how their economy works, what kinds of human characteristics are valuable to them, and the kinds of food that they eat. Things Fall Apart show many interactions between families and friends. Often in these meetings, there are negotiations and ritual greetings. When someone walks into your house, that person often comes with, "a kola nut, some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk" (Achebe 6). In Ibo, the people pride themselves on being more civilized, where as other neighboring villages, "haggle and bargain [for a wife] as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market" (73). When Ibo men are negotiating, they often use sticks, representative of a certain amount of cowries. Many of the Ibo people are able to climb the social ladder by having more wives and yams. In the Ibo society, social hierarchy is not based as much on how many cowries you have, but how successful you were in the past years' harvests. The Ibo people strongly value hard work, because it often means making more money when planting and harvest come around. They also value a person who is strict, but not ruthless, and someone who has respect for one's elders. The Ibo people have an interesting negotiation format and eat and dress very differently than modern Americans, yet we have very similar moral values.