How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
He didn't want to go home on the weekends, to go with them to pujos and Bengali parties, to remain unquestionably in their world. (6.2)
Unlike his parents, who yearn to be back in the world of their parents and families, Gogol wants to create as much distance between himself and his parents as possible. That means avoiding their foreign customs, which seem to bother Gogol most of all.
Quote #8
At times, as the laughter at Gerald and Lydia's table swells, and another bottle of wine is opened, and Gogol raises his glass to be filled yet again, he is conscious of the fact that his immersion in Maxine's family is a betrayal of his own. (6.54)
Gogol gets absorbed into Maxine's family, where he gets to live out the fantasy of having an Anglo-American family. But why does he have that family in the first place? What is it about his own family that isn't quite up to snuff?
Quote #9
He knows now the guilt that his parents carried inside, at being able to do nothing when their parents had died in India, of arriving weeks, sometimes months later, when there was nothing left to do […] Years later Gogol had learned the significance, that it was a Bengali son's duty to shave his head in the wake of his parent's death. (7.70)
As Gogol grows up, his attitude toward his family changes, and he realizes how much he loves them – but only after his father has died. It's too late to reconnect with his dad, but it might not be too late for him to learn about his Bengali roots.