Moushumi recollects when she met gogol as they go out

Moushumi recollects
when she met Gogol as
they go out for dinner on
their first anniversary.
Lahiri utilizes imagery to
describe Moushumi and Gogol’s
first date. She depicts Gogol as
having “dark pine stubble” which
is a metaphor.
It had been on the train,
exactly a year ago, that he’d
learned of Moushumi’s affair”
(282).
Gogol learns of the affair
that Moushumi has been
having with Dimitri.
Trains are used as a metaphor for
change, because many important
turning points occur on trains in
the story. For instance, Gogol
finding out about the affair, and
Ashoke accident.
“Ashima has been consuming
a concoction throughout her
pregnancy, a humble
approximation of the snack
sold for pennies on Calcutta
sidewalks” (1).
Ashima has been eating
an Indian snack to satiate
the hunger that women
face while being
pregnant.
Food represents the way that
Bengali culture is being
preserved at the Ganguli
household
“He feels at once guilty and
exhilarated”
Gogol has his first kiss at
a party with a girl named
Kim. It is not Gogol but
Nikhil that kisses Kim.
Lahiri uses juxtaposition to show
how Gogol feels when he has his
first kiss.
“Something finite in contrast
to her current, overwhelming,
ongoing task: to prepare for
her departure, picking the
bones of the house clean.”
(277)
Ashima is cleaning up
the house and getting
ready for the last party
she will have before
moving out of the house
of Pemberton Road.
When describing Ashima’s
cleaning of the house, Lahiri
depicts that she is “picking the
bones of the house clean.” This
quote is a metaphor that relates to
the meticulous cleaning.
“For being a foreigner, Ashima
is beginning to realize, is a sort
of lifelong pregnancy-a
perpetual wait, a constant
burden” (49).
Ashima is reflecting on
her discontent of moving
to America and the
difficulty required to
adjust to the American
lifestyle.
The use of hyperbole in the quote
helps the reader understand the
hardships of Ashima because she
is an immigrant and spends most
of the day alone.

“It is not all she had expected.
Not at all like the house in
Gone with the Wind or The
Seven-Year Itch ” (30).
When Ashima sees the
first house she will live
in reality slams her in the
face. She realizes that it
is nothing like any of the
movies she has watched.
The usage of a simile reveals
Ashima’s knowledge of America
before moving there and her
discontent.