Lullabies For Little Criminals: A Cultural Analysis

You’ve probably seen the comparison, a woman in a bikini and sunglasses looking judgmentally at a woman in a burqa, who is looking back the same way. Both women are thinking, “What a cruel, male-dominated culture.”. The thoughts provoked by each site are the same, but for completely opposite reasons. The reasons are dictated by the perception the women’s cultures have given them. An individual’s culture has an immense influence on the way they see the world and people around them.
I believe your culture affects everything you do within your life. As an example, in the book, ‘Lullabies for Little Criminals’ by Heather O’Neill, the main character Baby believes that the implications she makes of herself being experienced with drugs and alcohol make her look cool and more mature. This is due to
Within the short story ‘Everyday Use’ by Alice Walker, the two sisters’ perspectives within their own culture are very different, and almost polar opposites. Although the young Maggie is appreciative of the way her life is, Dee resents the quaintness of her family’s lifestyle. She wishes her mother to be thinner, prettier, weaker and even whiter. If their culture is such a huge influence on the way they view things, two girls born out of the exact same home with the exact same background must have at least a remotely similar interpretation of their surroundings, right? However, culture is still what dictates this disdain. Within the beginning of the book, Dee and Maggie’s mother says, “Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are on a TV program of this sort” (Everyday Use, Alice Walker). The parts of her mother’s life that Dee resents seem to be dictated by what she sees on TV. The things she watches on television are part of the media and pop culture of their time. The things she is striving for are the standards that have been shown to her through their society. The effects in question are made by