Essay 2 - Topic C
Whenever there is a clash of two different cultures, there is a need for the foreign culture to adapt to the dominant one. This adaptation allows the foreign culture to “fit in” to the dominant culture in order to avoid any conflict. In America, there is a need for people of other races to adapt to the White American way of life. There is an unfortunate, yet unavoidable truth that White people are better treated than any other race in America. It only makes sense that people from other races or groups would want to fit into the White American way of life. In Passing, Clare Kendry is part African American and in The Namesake, Gogol Ganguli is an Indian American. Both of these characters strive to fit into White American society in order to feel more “normal.” While both Clare Kendry and Gogol Ganguli struggled to assimilate into White American society, their reasons, methods, and levels of success were different due to their respective race and time period.
In Passing, Clare Kendry is living in Chicago during an unknown pre-Civil Rights time period. In this troubled period between the emancipation of slavery and the Civil Rights movement, African Americans were treated with frequent instances of segregation and racism. In order to avoid this, African Americans who had light skin could “pass” as a White person, allowing them to enter into White American society. The benefits of being accepted as White are numerous. White people in this time period were unbound by segregation and could go wherever they pleased. Limits placed on African Americans at restaurants, schools, buses, and other public places were nonexistent for a White person. Clare realized this and readily embraced her opportunity to abandon her heritage and “pass.” While unfortunate, this prevented Clare from being exposed to any racism and allowed her to live an easier, less stressful life. When Irene, Clare’s friend, is in Chicago, she notes that “passing” is a way to avoid segregation and embarrassment when she thinks, “It wasn’t that she was ashamed of being a Negro, or even of having it declared. It was the idea of being ejected from any place…that disturbed her” (Larsen 179). In contrast to this, Gogol Ganguli lived in New York and Boston set in the early twentieth century. In this time period, racism was not as abrasive as it was in Clare’s era due largely to the events of the Civil Rights movement. Gogol’s reaction to White American culture was therefore not based on everyday occurrences of racism. Gogol’s reasons for assimilation were based on his recognition that his first-generation Indian American parents were different from his White American teachers and classmates. He wanted to assimilate into the White culture simply because he didn’t want to be different – he wanted to be just like the people around him. Examples of Gogol’s desire to be different than his parent are scattered throughout the book. Gogol hangs out with American children and chooses a career that his parent’s didn’t choose. However, it’s his name change that creates the largest distance between himself and his parent’s culture. He admits this when he thinks, “But now that he’s Nikhil it’s easier to ignore his parents, to tune out their concerns and pelas” (Lahiri 105). Despite their different time periods, these two characters were both trying to fit into American society. However, their different situations and experiences required different ways for each of them to assimilate.
Clare is able to “pass” due almost entirely to her physical appearance. She is only part African American and her skin is so light she physically resembles a White person. Since she appears to be a White person, she easily blends into White American society. Her ability to pass is further enhanced by her marriage to John Bellew, a middle-class White male. Clare is able to “pass” so well that her own husband doesn’t know she is part African American. She is able to deceive him not only because of her physical appearance, but also because of her convincing family setting. Clare actually has a White family because was raised by her White aunts after her father passed away. All Clare had to do was mention her White aunts and that provided enough credibility to her upbringing. On page 187, Clare tells Irene that she doesn’t need to explain her past because, “There were my aunts, you see, respectable and authentic enough for anything or anybody” (Larsen). African Americans have no definite language or cultural practices to separate them from White Americans – the distinguishing characteristic is the color of their skin. Because of this, Clare is able to “pass” because she looks White. Gogol, on the other hand, is unmistakably Indian. He is a child of first-generation Indian Americans and is not able to assimilate based on his physical appearance. Unlike Clare, Gogol’s culture is also dramatically different from White American culture. Indian Americans can speak a different language and can have many different traditions. In order for Gogol to assimilate, he must be able to portray himself as a White American based on his actions, not his appearance. Throughout his childhood, Gogol tried to separate himself from his family as much as possible. For example, he had two birthday parties when he turned fourteen – one for his American friends and another for his parents’ Bengali friends. He realized that the Bengali party was more for his parents’ benefit and was filled with traditional Indian food and activities while the party for his friends had “pizza that his father picked up on his way home from work, a basketball game watched together on television, [and] some Ping-Pong in the den” (Lahiri 72). His separation from Indian culture was further developed when he moved out of the house and started to call his parents less frequently. Gogol attempted to assimilate by adapting to the lifestyle of the people around him while simultaneously distancing himself from his Indian culture. Both Gogol and Clare spent so much time and effort on assimilation that their acceptance into White American society seemed well earned. However, success in assimilation can only be measured by how they are viewed by the people around them.
Clare, due to her physical appearance and White relatives, was so convincing that she was able to fool her own husband. Even Irene, who knew Clare when she represented herself as an African American, was fooled by Clare’s apparent whiteness. Since Clare was able to convince these two people that she was White, it comes to no surprise that she was also able to fool the general public. No one opposed Clare’s whiteness and she boasted several times that “passing” was very easy. When they first meet in Chicago, Clare tells Irene, “I’ve often wondered why more colored girls…never ‘passed’ over. It’s such a frightfully easy thing to do. If one’s the type, all that’s needed is a little nerve” (Larsen 187). Here Clare admits that all that’s required to pass is to have light colored skin. No one questions it because it’s so hard to tell if someone is truly White or not, even for an African American. Irene refers to the difficulty in identifying an African American in her conversations with Hugh when she says, “There are ways. But they’re not definite or tangible” (Larsen 236). In a time when discrimination was abundant, it would be obvious if Clare was unable to fully succeed in “passing.” Her success is measured by the inability of White American society to discriminate against her as an African American. Gogol, on the other hand, is immediately separated from White American society due to his physical appearance. No matter how badly Gogol avoids appearing Indian, people will still look at him that way. He tried to distance himself from his family’s customs in order to assimilate, but he can’t distance himself from his physical appearance. Along with the recognition that he is Indian comes stereotypes that are immediately associated with him. When Gogol is with Maxine’s family for his birthday, he comes into contact with Pamela, a White female who is shocked to learn that Gogol can get sick in India. Pamela conveys her surprise when she says, “But you’re Indian…I’d think the climate wouldn’t affect you, given your heritage” (Lahiri 157). This inability to fully assimilate affects Gogol by forcing him through different phases of an identity crisis. After he breaks up with Maxine, he is lured to an Indian girl because of their similar backgrounds. When he meets Moushumi, he is immediately attracted to her due to their shared childhood and he finds comfort in having similar experiences with her. He admits, “Until they’d met tonight, he had never seen her outside the context of her family, or she his. He decides that it is her very familiarity that makes him curious about her” (Lahiri 199). But it’s not just the familiarity of a childhood friend that attracts him. Gogol takes comfort in eating Indian food and sharing common interests with another Indian American. At this point, Gogol starts to reverse his assimilation and restore some of his Indian heritage. By the end of the book, Gogol spends a lot of time with his family and makes an effort to better understand his parents. Unlike Clare, Gogol reverses his assimilation after he realizes that he can’t fully be accepted into White society.
Clare Kendry and Gogol Ganguli both desired to assimilate into White American society in order to appear more White. However, this basic principle of assimilation is their only mutual feature. The time periods in which these characters lived contribute greatly to their different reasons for assimilating into White American culture. Clare, living in a pre-Civil Rights time period, had little choice if she wanted to live a life free of hate and discrimination. Gogol on the other hand, lived in the twentieth century – a time when direct racism is greatly reduced. His need to assimilate is much more personal and if fueled not by the desire to avoid hate, but by the desire to be like everyone else. Their methods of assimilation also varied due to Clare’s unique ability to appear White based on her physical appearance. Without this ability, Gogol had to rely on changing his behavior and way of life in order to fit in. He was successful in changing his behavior, but the lack of physical assimilation turned out to be Gogol’s downfall and he ultimately failed in his attempt to assimilate. While both characters returned to their roots in their respective stories, only Gogol had the desire to fully embrace his non-white past. Almost everything about Clare and Gogol’s assimilation process was dissimilar. Their different time periods and backgrounds created different experiences of racism, but these factors turned out to affect only their reasons and methods of assimilation. It was their physical appearance and their ability to superficially assimilate into White society that ultimately determined their level of success.
Works Cited
Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Larsen, Nella. “Passing.” The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen. New York: Anchor Books, 2001.
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