Blog #9: Culture Clash

Both Mitsuye Yamada’s A Bedtime Story and Bharati Mukherjee’s A Father share the common theme of culture clash. These works portray the major differences between American ways of life and those of other countries through their traditions and beliefs. One of the main difficulties that foreigners have is keeping up with America’s fast paced lifestyles. Each work tells of the expectations that the foreigners have for America and the disappointment they face once they arrive. They are too busy focusing on their culture that they forget to see the good in ours.
A Bedtime Story portrays the differences between American and Japanese culture. The narrator of the poem is telling of an old Japanese legend that her father once told her. Just as any young child would have, the narrator had high expectations for the story she was about to hear only to discover her disappointment at the end. The old Japanese legend tells of an elderly woman who went knocking from door to door asking for a place to stay the night. Unfortunately, for her, she was turned down by every home. She then decided to give up and stay the night on a hilltop. It was on this hilltop that “the clouds opened and a full moon came into view over the town.” (Lines 23-25) The elderly woman yelled down to the village below “Thank you people/ of the village/ if it had not been for your/ kindness/…../these humble eyes would never/ have seen this/ memorable sight.” (Lines 31-39) From these lines the reader discovers that the elderly woman’s cultural expectations of the United States did not come about. However, if it was not for the American ways the woman would have never got the chance to see the beautiful moonlight. It is true that everything happens for a reason. Once the narrator’s papa ended the legend the narrator yelled, “That’s the end?” in disappointment. The narrator was looking for a strong ending to a good story, where what her papa was trying to get across was to appreciate nature and find the good in all things. That is the difference between America’s society today and the society of the past. The young narrator has a comfortable lifestyle living in a hilltop home and therefore did not think to read between the lines of the legend her father was telling to realize not everyone is as fortunate as her.
A Father shows the differences between American and Indian culture. Mr. Bhownick is from Ranchi in India and has not allowed himself to assimilate to the American way of living. He continues to follow his customs and beliefs. Mr. Bhownick’s wife yells at him every morning, “Hurry it up with the prayers.” He is slow paced and routinely has his ritual prayer and worship sessions everyday. Mrs. Bhownick is also from India but thoroughly enjoyed the American way of life. However, when she brought it to India she was shunned. In America, Mrs. Bhownick has a routine schedule everyday and allows herself to keep up with the fast paced way of life. Babli, the Bhownicks’ daughter was raised in America. Therefore, like her mother she follows the American way of life rather than the Indian lifestyle like her father. Mr. Bhownick did not allow himself to love his daughter and is very disappointed in her for looking past the Indian way of life and living the American one. Later in the reading, Mr. and Mrs. Bhownick discover that their daughter is pregnant. Babli was not married, she just wanted a baby. She got pregnant through in-vitro fertilization which was against the Indian culture. Her father refers to the baby as an illegitimate child and blames his wife and the American society for her pregnancy. Mr. Bhownick yells to his wife, “It’s your fault, you made us come to the states.” He believes that if they were in India this would have never happened. In the end Mr. Bhownick kills the baby by hitting his daughter’s stomach with a rolling pin. Mr. Bhownick is too busy focusing on the differences between his family and him that he overlooks the importance of his family that is right in front of him.
Just as Americans should learn to accept and appreciate other cultures, foreigners should learn to do the same. In order to learn and accept we must slow down, look past our differences, and appreciate what is there. Behind every culture there is beauty to be seen. In order to see it we must take the time to look.