Where Worlds Collide

What is culture? Culture is a way of life – for most people anyway. People’s culture is what makes them as a whole, such as their religious beliefs, political views, and much more. The text Two Kinds, Where Worlds Collide, and Everyday Use shows that culture influences people’s views and the world. In Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds”, Jing- mei, is guided throughout her life by culture. “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan 21) Jing-mei’s mother wanted her to be the “Chinese Shirley Temple,” but that is not what she wanted. Pleased to make her mother happy, she does as she is told to do. “I found some old Chinese silk dresses…i rubbed the old silk against my skin and then wrapped them in tissue and decided to take them home with me” (Tan 29). Obviously at the end, she comes back to sense with who she is. Even when you lose your culture, somehow it will always come back to you. “Where Worlds Collide” written by Pico Lyer is a great example for the fact that culture is everywhere people go. “They see Koreans pilling into the Taegfh Airport Shuttle, which will take them to Korean town without their ever feeling they’ve left home” (Lyer 63). Even thought people do not notice culture is all around us, every time we
“She’s dead… I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after people who oppress me” (Walker 19). “Dee” had changed her name to something completely different from than what she was originally named, therefore it shocks her mother. Lastly from this quote, culture did not matter at the time. “Dee looked at me with hatred. You just will not understand. The point is the quilts” (Walker 82). Even though she did lose contact with who she was, she tried to regain some of it back, but due to her actions she does not really care either way. This story teachers you that culture may be important, but it is not all the