Final answer:
The correct answer is option A. While Ashima is in the hospital, the reader discovers that Ashoke does not often tell her how much he loves her, given traditional Indian practices of emotional reserve, especially during the 1960s.
Step-by-step explanation:
While Ashima is in the hospital in the novel, the reader learns several details about her experiences and cultural contrasts, but the one thing that the reader does not learn is:
A) Ashoke often tells Ashima how much he loves her.
This is the correct option because in the novel, it is clear that traditional Indian men, such as Ashoke, typically refrain from openly expressing their emotions, and this reserved nature is especially true in the context of the 1960s, when the story is set.
Ashima does recognize that Americans have a preference for privacy, which is in stark contrast to Indian customs of communal living and shared experiences during significant life events like childbirth. Additionally, the novel reveals that in India, it is customary for women to give birth at their parents' home, and at the time of the hospitalization, Ashima has been living in Cambridge for eighteen months. These details about Ashima's observations and cultural insights add depth to her character's experience as an immigrant navigating a new society and its customs.