Gogol is teased about his name, his parent’s want him to identify with an aspect of Bengali culture, but he resists, the parents want to visit India, and Gogol and Sonia complain and feel their summer is ruined, Gogol has romantic relationships that his parents don’t understand, and finally Gogol moves away and changes his name, and barely keeps up with his parents. All of these smaller conflicts are indicative of the bigger struggle going on
This disgrace carries on throughout the story as Franklin is embarrassed and uncomfortable working at a fast food restaurant because of his high qualifications. He is confronted by a man in the bathroom whom the author assumes thinks that he got his girlfriend pregnant and never graduated high school. It is clear that Franklin is very self-conscious as he states, “I want to tell him that I'm in the top 5 percent of students at my college, that I am two semesters away from graduating, and that I'm on my way to grad school to get a Ph.D. in English literature” (25). Franklin hated the feeling of people looking down on him and pitying him because of his job. He could not see the
He and his wife go to Toni and Evelyn’s house one night and bring tons of gifts, food, and alcohol. They all start drinking and having fun and then Toni gets completely trashed and is bringing up why he does not like Mark. Then Mark tells Toni that he will become a rich man because he is taking over one of the Jewish shops in town because all the Jews are being deported. When Toni takes over the shop he has to deal with the owner of the shop, Mrs. Lautmann, who is an old elderly deaf lady who has no clue what is going on outside of her shop. He soon finds out after working there that the shop is bankrupt and she is being supported by the Jewish community.
Jeannette and her siblings were raised by their parents to not believe in Santa Clause as it was nothing more than just a myth. As Rex loses his job at the mining field he does not have money to buy the children gifts for Christmas so he takes them out one by one and gives them a star in the sky as Jeannette chose Venus. As Rose is soon to deliver, the family moves to another town in California that is more suitable for them at the moment. The parents soon to begin to argue in the car because Rex believes that Rose is ridiculous for a claiming that her children are delivered later than other children do. Rose gets mad and jumps out of the car and heads away from the road and into the desert as Rex suddenly drives off the road to get her back.
He attempts to escape the loss of his family by removing himself from Vienna to Darwin. Yet he still cannot forget both his family and love of music. Similarly, Mr.Crabbe is resentful of World War 2 which ruined his dream of becoming a concert pianist. His attempt to compensate his loss by pressuring Paul to become a concert pianist is futile because he remains bitter and resentful. In the end, both fails to defeat the powerful effects of past experiences.
When Willy arrives, he refuses to listen to Biff, which angers him. Happy tries to get Biff to lie to his father, which Biff slightly does. Willy falls into another flashback hallucination, one in which his son discovers his affair with a potential customer in Boston. From that moment on, Biff had never looked at his father the same. Back in the Lowman residence, Linda scolds her sons for abandoning her father back at the restaurant.
The first morning Changez eats there, the cashier refuses to allow him to pay as a sign of kinship. When Changez returns there that night with Wainwright, his changing identity stands out. He tries to pay with his corporate credit card, which the deli does not accept, there is an air of superiority to the manner in which Changez “unsheathes” his credit card and leans toward the cashier. Greece ties together several symbols and themes. Erica represents America and Changez’s love affair with her mirrors his relationship with America.
Lenehan's personal paralysis is that he lives a pitiful life but doesn't wish to. While Corley goes to meet the woman, Lenehan wanders around and decides to stop when he sees a sign for "Ginger Beer and Ginger Ale" in the window of a refreshment bar and lets his mind wander to thoughts of Corley and the woman and afterwards states, "He would be thirty-one in November. Would he ever get a good job? Would he never have a home of his own?" with this Joyce paints the picture of poverty in Dublin and tells the reader how Lenehan has zero hope for his future.
They have good chemistry and both agree to meet tomorrow morning. However the next morning Henry attempts to hold a conversation with Lucy assuming that she was there to meet him only to be violently rejected and shunned. Henry later finds out from the restaurant owner that Lucy suffers from Goldfield Syndrome which is a type of anterograde amnesia and prevents her from forming new memories. He also learns that her remaining family recreates the same living conditions from the day of the accident so as to not hurt her with heartbreak. After learning this information Henry decides to make Lucy fall in love with him every day while unknowingly falling in love himself.
The wife ends up leaving Chris and his son because they are unable to afford everything and there is too much arguing, therefore they are not meant for each other. One day Chris is walking past a stock market office he sees everyone coming out of there all so happy. He wishes he could be in there to. He ends up going for an interview and gets the job, even though he was dressed badly from being in the jail the night before. Chris realizes that even though the job there had no salary it was not all about the money.