In The Namesake, Lahiri presents the relationship between men and women as being heavily shaped by their environment, heritage, and socio-economic background. The relationship between the Ratliffs, Maxine's parents, Gerald and Lydia, is directly juxtaposed with the relationship between Ashoke and Ashima as being more loving and physically affectionate, due to the Western culture in which they were raised. The relationship between Gogol and Maxine is deliberately depicted. also intensely and explicitly sexual to signify Gogol's character's rebellion against the sexual puritanism of his parents, while the relationship between Gogol and Moushumi is depicted as doomed to failure due to the continual insecurity present in both partners then as they struggle to find their identity. Thus, Lahiri approaches each couple through the lens of a postcolonialist writer, characterizing each union through the very different identities resulting from their different experiences. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Lahiri presents the relationship between Ashoke and Ashima as quite austere, emotionally and sexually due to the dictum of Bengali customs. This can be seen through Lahiri's description of Ashima's reaction when one of the patients' husbands at the hospital, where she is about to give birth to Gogol, declares that he loves her. Ahsima “neither heard this nor expects to hear this from her husband; that's not how they are. The neutral tone with which Lahiri imbues Ashima's point of view creates a sense of pathos for Ashima, but more importantly, it reveals a married Bengali woman's different expectations of her condition when it comes to love, versus a typical modern American. women. Lahiri deftly deploys punctuation to create a pause for the reader, which has the effect of heightening the sense of finality of Ashima's assessment of his relationship that "that's not how they are." ". Lahiri potentially uses the formality of the expression “not how”. they are” to show how much Indian customs and traditions and decorum influenced Ashima and Ashoke, that even though far from their homeland, or “Desh”, they still practice it. Although Lahiri avoids clear moral positions and focuses on the characters' feelings and emotions rather than trying to interpret them, through the objective third-person narrative we, the readers, can infer that she seems encourage a sympathy for Ashima that she can never expect. of hearing affectionate platitudes, such as "I love you" or "darling", from Ashoke due to the impropriety of the exchange according to Bengali custom. The fact that Ashima doesn't even say "Ashoke's name" although she "has adopted his last name, but refuses, for the sake of propriety, to say his first." Lahiri perhaps allows the reader to glimpse this seemingly intimate detail about Ashima and Ashoke's relationship to convey how integrated Ashima is with Ashoke, how she is no longer "Ashima Badhuri", an identity that is personal to her, but now “Ashima Ganguli”, designating her. status as wife of Ashoke. Yet, Lahiri notes, “property,” with its connotations of rectitude and societal acceptability, prevents her from being truly connected to Ashoke. We, the readers, note how earlier in the novel, Ashima's grandmother did not expect any "betrayal", predicting that Ashima would "never change". .' This expectation, where the grandmother represents the broader expectations of Indian society, seems to be a golem looming over marriageof Ashima, reinforcing ancient practices. Lahiri's aim here might be to reveal to readers the limitations of traditions and how they can rob a marriage of passion and romance, at the altar of conformity. Thus, she explores their relationship through a postcolonial lens, insinuating that their Indian heritage continued to shape them even as they transgressed its physical boundaries, recalling Elizabeth Brewster's phrase: "People are made of places." Thus, the relationship between Ashoke and Ashima is made up of the customs of their "place", India and is described as stifled because of this. In contrast, the relationship between the Ratliffs is described as very loving and physically affectionate although. they have surpassed the pangs of young people. We, the readers, witness it, through Gogol's wondering eyes, as Lahiri describes how "they are noisy at the table." Lahiri's deliberate use of the adjective "loud" because it creates an impression of vehemence and clamor. This is the opposite of the dinner with Ashima and Ashoke, as Lahiri tells us from Gogol's point of view, because they are. “indifferent to films, museum exhibitions, good restaurants, the design of everyday objects”. Lahiri's use of the word "indifferent" illustrates the apathy that the Gangulis' ancestors possess toward the characteristics of liberal, upper-middle-class American culture that the Ratliffs take for granted. It is clear to readers that Gogol wants his parents to have the same ease with each other as Gerald and Lydia, Maxine's parents, to be able to discuss such things among themselves. However, Lahiri subtly hints to readers that this is because of the immense privilege and wealth afforded to them, instead of the constant financial, personal, and societal anxieties first-generation immigrants experience. Lahiri further develops this idea with her vivid image of "the two of them openly kissing" and "walking around the city." The key observation here, made by Gogol, is that he "never witnessed a single moment of physical affection between his parents." Lahiri explains to readers that the Ratliffs are like "Gogol and Maxine," behaving so "openly" because they grew up around Western ideals of love, perpetuated by Hollywood and made possible by their "WASP" wealth. It is almost as if Lahiri conceived the Ratliffs as a direct antithesis to the Gangulis whose love is a "private and uncelebrated thing", which illuminates the traditional view that intimacy between married individuals should remain hidden and secret rather than explicitly expressed, as it is with Gogol and Maxine, and later Moushumi. The relationship between Gogol and Maxine is Lahiri's embodiment of the sexual rebellion that Gogol undertakes, almost as if in spite of the sexual puritanism that his parents experienced. They do a "skinny bath", which is an extraordinarily subversive act for Gogol, perhaps more psychologically than physically, due to the discomfort of his parents, especially Ashima, at the idea of ​​being undressed in public, which influenced him. Her mother is ashamed when her 'Murshidabad silk sari' is taken away from her, as it symbolizes a loss of her identity and connection to her Indian past, symbolized by the proper name 'Murshidabad'. Lahiri intends to show readers that Gogol avoids this modesty, rebels through the sexual act with Maxine, because above all he wants to distance himself from his parents' lives. Lahiri suggests this through his cutting into his innermost thoughts, revealing that he believes that when they "make love on the grass wet by their bodies", "he is free". The phrase “he is free” is almost Freudian in concept. , as Lahiri leaves.