Two Ways To Belong In America 'And An Indian Father's'
Culture is all around us. Whether we see it or not, it affects our everyday lives and thoughts. There are many different cultures throughout the world that we have yet to see and experience. Different cultures view life differently and in the three short stories: “Everyday Use”, “Two Ways to Belong in America” and “An Indian Father’s Plea”, it is easy to see how cultures influenced the people. The different cultures challenged the characters from each of the stories and affected how they viewed others and the world around them.
In “Everyday Use”, it was Dee, who adapted to a new culture and way of living. She became educated and learned about her heritage and culture. This affected the way she viewed life. Instead of being like her mother, …show more content…
Both sisters, who were born in India, moved to the United States to receive a college education. While in America, Mira kept her Indian culture by marrying an Indian man and staying a legal immigrant to the US to stay true to her culture. Bharati decided to become an American citizen and even marry a Canadian-American man. The decision to choose which culture to adapt to impacted the girls lives in two different ways. Bharati had to deal with what her family would think because she was marrying a white man, but she was able to transform her identity and experience another culture. “America spoke to me—I married it—I embraced the demotion from expatriate aristocrat to immigrant nobody, surrendering those thousands of years of ‘pure culture,’ the saris, the delightfully accented English. She retained them all” (Mukherjee, 71). Bharati let everything she grew up learning, be pushed to the side so she could adapt and try to be part of the American culture and she was fine with that. However, her sister, Mira, symbolized the people who stayed “rooted in one job, one city, one house, one ancestral culture, one cuisine, for the entirety of their productive years” (Mukherjee, 71), meaning that she stayed true to her Indian roots and did not experience and adapt to the American culture, even though she was living in the United States. Even though they both experienced the hardships of being immigrants, the two sister’s views on life are much different because one had adopted another country's culture, while the other one had stayed true to her original
In “Everyday Use”, it was Dee, who adapted to a new culture and way of living. She became educated and learned about her heritage and culture. This affected the way she viewed life. Instead of being like her mother, …show more content…
Both sisters, who were born in India, moved to the United States to receive a college education. While in America, Mira kept her Indian culture by marrying an Indian man and staying a legal immigrant to the US to stay true to her culture. Bharati decided to become an American citizen and even marry a Canadian-American man. The decision to choose which culture to adapt to impacted the girls lives in two different ways. Bharati had to deal with what her family would think because she was marrying a white man, but she was able to transform her identity and experience another culture. “America spoke to me—I married it—I embraced the demotion from expatriate aristocrat to immigrant nobody, surrendering those thousands of years of ‘pure culture,’ the saris, the delightfully accented English. She retained them all” (Mukherjee, 71). Bharati let everything she grew up learning, be pushed to the side so she could adapt and try to be part of the American culture and she was fine with that. However, her sister, Mira, symbolized the people who stayed “rooted in one job, one city, one house, one ancestral culture, one cuisine, for the entirety of their productive years” (Mukherjee, 71), meaning that she stayed true to her Indian roots and did not experience and adapt to the American culture, even though she was living in the United States. Even though they both experienced the hardships of being immigrants, the two sister’s views on life are much different because one had adopted another country's culture, while the other one had stayed true to her original