American Dreamer By Bharati Mukherjee Analysis

Change indicates development. In nature, if no species mature, life itself ceases. The same concept applies to culture. Cultural stagnation indicates a dying culture, but cultural conflict “stirs up the pond”. In Bharati Mukherjee’s American Dreamer, Mukherjee analyzes cultural conflict through her experience emigrating from Calcutta to North America. She describes individual and holistic responses and reactions to immigration that she discovers among several levels of society. Just as rose bush develops both flowers and thorns, the cultural conflict fruits both positive and negative societal changes. Cultural conflict promotes identity transformation.
The introduction of foreign cultures polarizes the nation. Excluding minority races from the national identity shifts cultural distinction to national ethnocentrism. “Canadians of color were routinely treated as ‘not real’ Canadians,” Mukherjee (1997) describes first hand from her time living in Canada (p. 2). When minority citizens no longer receive equal merits within the nation they belong, they develop a negative
Through cultural conflict, individuals construct personal values and ideals. Mukherjee (1997) questions intransigent parents in the midst of cultural evolution, “Is it so terrible that our children are discovering or are inventing homelands for themselves?” (p. 4). Multicultural competition gives younger generations the materials to build up cultures distinct from their parents and grandparents, thereby changing themselves as individuals and society as a collective. Active involvement in cultural maturation empowers individuals to pursue their own purpose. “I didn’t expect to ever disobey or disappoint my father by setting my own goals and taking charge of my future” reflects Mukherjee (1997) on her own refined identity (p. 1). Via cultural dispute, individuals gain the freedom to direct the course their own lives without cultural