Summary Richard Crasta

No matter how much a person desires to live according to their personal autonomy, he or she will never escape the influence of societal forces. Explicitly or subtlety, these forces shape our individuality. One intriguing manner that these societal forces manifests itself in is our name. As Ruth Graham writes, “It’s becoming increasingly clear today that names carry a wealth of information about the world around us, the family we arrived in, the moment we were born—and that they mark us as part of cultural currents bigger than we realize.” Names alone provide evidence that individuals are made by interactions with social institutions and groups. Ultimately, the inescapable nature of society’s influence demands individuals to ponder how much personal autonomy is actually autonomous and to what extent does the pursuit of personal autonomy lead to a life of emptiness and vanity.

What is in a name? Writer Milan Kundera says, “We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.” (goodreads) Before I began my research, I already knew why my mother named me Sarah, but I did not know anything about my middle and surname. I always desired to find out when it comes to my family, why although my surname is Hampton I am not related to anybody else with that same surname besides my Father’s sisters and brothers. To proceed in the research of my first name, I had to look for information on the (Behind the Name) site, (Biography) site, The Name Book, and administer an interview with my Mother. Next, I searched the (seven reflections) site, and held another interview with my

These names that have been given to the people of the City, as expected in such a society, are not at all sparkling with the individualism of the person you lay your very eyes upon in the City of collectivism. In these names, there are no expressions of personality. The name you are given may be yours and only yours, but it doesn’t mean as much.

The idea of the naming system in the Ju/’hoansi was very interesting to be because there were a few parallels that could be drawn between what is seen in the United States and there. Although our naming practices are not as complex, when you meet someone with the same name as you or someone you love there is an indescribable bond that can be formed. This connection although not as intense as in the Ju/’hoansi seeing each other as related is something that many people hold to a high importance. In the section of Dettwyler, it was humbling to see that the author takes the times to create relationships with her participants instead of treating them as if they were just the place she was getting data from.

In the memoir “By Any Other Name” by Santha Ram Rau, we learn how cultural identity can be weakened within someone however, never truly stripped. A name reflects your cultural identity along with everything about who your are. When arrived at school, Santha and Premila learned they didn’t have proper english names as the headmistress exclaimed “[M]y dears, those [names] are much too hard for me. Suppose we give you pretty English names.”(1). Your name reflects upon your cultural identity, as many places around the world have different spellings, annunciation, and name popularity. Changing your name cuts the connections one has with their culture as english names don’t tie back with indian culture. Cultural language also ties with one’s identity

In her story “By Any Other Name”, Santha Rama Rau suggests that identity can’t be determined by a name or society’s rules. Santha is coming to a new school, an American school where on the first day she is given a “pretty English name” instead of her own name. Santha states, “At that age, if one’s name is changed, one develops a curious form of dual personality” (page 1). Santha looks at this other name as a dual personality that she is not apart of. She doesn’t view this name/personality as her own.

When it comes to the topic of identity, many people believe others shouldn’t try to change their peers, and their peers shouldn’t try to change others because it can change their sense of personality. And this is expressed in two different but yet similar in theme stories. In the short story By any Other Name, written by Samantha Rama Rau, there were two sisters that were recently just moved to a new British-run school, they are Indian and are very nervous to go to a school with primarily British kids. But first they have to go to the main desk and talk to the teacher. When they walk into the room and introduce themselves to the teacher, the teacher then states, “‘Oh, my dears, those are much too hard for me. Suppose we give you pretty English names.

The Namesake was written in 2003, it was the first novel Jhumpa wrote. She based the novel off of a story she heard growing up about her father’s cousin, he was in a train wreck and the rescue workers saw him from a glint of light shine off his watch. This is a story about a boy who felt like an outsider, who felt that his name didn't fit who he was. This is the quote I decided to choose “Pet names are a persistent remnant of childhood, a reminder that life is not always so serious, so formal, so complicated. They are a reminder, too, that one is not all things to all people” (Lahiri). This quote is about and Indian tradition where the parents of the child give them a pet name, just like a nickname something memorable and fun. Jhumpa showed readers how being multicultural is being like an outsider, like trying to fit into your new home, but not wanting to forget your old home

A namesake is someone or something that has the same name as another person or thing. In the book The Namesake, Gogol was named after a Russian author, Nikolai Gogol. His father had been reading a book by him one day while he was on a train in between the two cities Calcutta and Jamshedpur. In the middle of the night the train crashed and the rescuers found him because of the book pages he had left in his hand. Ashoke claimed that the book saved his life. After he recovers from his train injuries, he and his wife Ashima move to America. Ashima, who gets pregnant, has her baby in an American hospital, beginning their Bengali family. Thus, his first child was named Gogol. Although Gogol was the name on his birth certificate, it was not meant to

The novel The Namesake revolves around and focuses on the life of Gogal Ganguly who is the only son of Ashok and Ashima who had moved to U.S.A from India their homeland. U.S.A is the place where Gogol is born and brought up with his unique name. However, in India names play a great role. Whenever a child is born in India a lot of importance is placed on the naming of the child. In India usually there are two names, one is nick name and one is official name. Nick name is used at home or casually by friends and relatives. Mostly they does not behold any significant meaning. But, official name beholds a lot of importance. Official name is used professionally in school, universities and offices.

Names are the beacon for the start of life; they give us a way to call one another while also acting beyond simply as serving as references. Names have the capacity to show meaning behind one's past, current standing in the present, and life in the future. This perspective of names is clearly portrayed in Jhumpa Lahiri’s, the Namesake, where Gogol, an American born Deshi, struggles personally with his identity, more specifically his name, as he grows up in the United States. Much of what makes names so important in the Namesake revolves around the personal struggle and deep family meaning behind them, and through comprehending this interpretation of names, I believe that Julie Kagawa’s perspective of names being “a bunch of letters or sounds strung together to make a word” is irrational.

As a topic for my essay, I chose cultural issues around names. Unfortunately, I did not have a choice to discuss this topic in the class, so I will at least express myself in this work.

The Namesake is a fictional novel written by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri’s purpose of the book was to demonstrate a family's hardships moving to a new country, and then their children’s lives as Americanized Bengalis. The audience, in my opinion, was written particularly for an established Americanized American. These Americans are intended to realize little details that newcomers to America worry about, and the life differences that the average American wouldn’t think twice about. She wrote regarding certain factors, specifically the strong Bengali culture, versus the ordinary American culture, and the day to day worries of an immigrant new to America. The author focused on themes regarding family and hardship, but she also incorporates a large

There are many things that can be used to identify a culture or a group of people, as well as an individual. Identification is what distinguishes you from others. For example, when I was helping my tutee, Noorhan, with her application to the University of San Diego, one of the sections asked to fill out her family information. I was confused on why her last name was Albayati, but her dad 's last name was Kareem, and her mom 's last name was Rajab. I asked her why this was. She said that there was a mistake made when they came to America, but her last name is in fact Albayati, and it is her family name. She said the family name is very important in her culture, and it helps identify her family to other families and vice versa. We can also see this in My Identity, My Allegiances. For example, the author, Amin Maalout, says that he is different from everyone else because there is no one else out there that has all of the same allegiances as he does. He is trying to show that the combinations of all your allegiances makes you who you are individually. The combination of things such as the language you speak, the clothes you wear, the religion you practice, the food you eat,

    Names are a terrible way to understand someone’s identity because names are regularly replicated. In my sixth grade class, there were three Mollys. We all had different backgrounds, different religious affiliations, and different personalities. If our names displayed who we are, wouldn’t our identities all be the same? Instead of staring at names and trying to understand their meaning, one should focus on a person’s personality, for personality depicts our identity. In fact, I have learned from experience to not infer one’s identity based on their name. For instance, in middle school, I was mutual friends with a girl named Kassidy. One Tuesday afternoon, my friend, Katy told me that Kassidy was going to sit with us at lunch that day. I shrugged my shoulders and replied with a casual “okay”. Before Kassidy walked in, I had a whole image of her in my mind: blonde hair, cute pastel colored clothes, and religious, all stereotypes that I thought a person with an innocent name like Kassidy