Cultures

“A Father,” “A Bedtime Story,” and “The Path to the Milky Way Leads through Los Angeles,” all deal with differences in cultures. Each work highlights a certain nationality, and observes the apparent differences between the lives of people of each ethnicity. All of the works then compare these countries’ customs with those of the United States. The authors succeed in portraying the differences between the cultures by showing readers the different traditions, superstitions, and beliefs specific to each country.
In Bharati Mukherjee’s “A Father,” the Indian culture is compared to that of the United States. The father, Mr. Bhowmick, represents Indian traditions, whereas his wife and daughter represent American culture. One difference that is presented in this short story is that in India, religion is essential, unlike the United States, where most people are agnostic. For example, Mr. Browmick wakes up every morning and prays to his goddess, Kali-Mata, and every morning his wife argues with him that he prays so long he won’t have time for anything else. Likewise, Mr. Bhowmick’s daughter, Babli, does not follow Hindu traditions anymore either. When Mr. Bhowmick was thinking of going back inside the house after hearing his neighbor sneeze, he wondered what his daughter would think of his silly superstitions. He remembered how Babli used to say, “This Hindu myth stuff is like a series of super graphics.” (p. 662) She no longer listened to Hindu music or prayed like he did. Another difference that is explored in “A Father” is the role of women in society. In India, wives shopped and cooked for their families everyday, whereas Mr. Bhowmick’s wife, who embodied American ideals, cooked only on the weekends. Furthermore, Mr. Bhowmick felt a “sick-in-the-guts sensation” when he thought of the fact that his wife and daughter were smarter than him. His old fashioned beliefs cause him to think that men should always be smarter than women. In the United States, however, this traditional concept is challenged every day.
The main difference that is presented in this short story is the idea of fatherless children. Mr. Bhowmick believes that an illegitimate child will bring shame to his family and contemplates abortion before he even hears Babli’s account of the story. Babli, however, did not think having her test tube baby would be shameful. Instead, she was happy about it and mocked her Indian heritage when her parents finally found out. The mother claimed she was having a baby “like animals,” but Babli teased, “That’s what marriage is all about, isn’t it? Matching bloodlines, matching horoscopes, matching castes, matching, matching, matching.” (p. 665) Her father, upon hearing this blasphemous insult, hit her in the stomach, no doubt killing the unborn child. In the United States, however, test tube babies are encouraged for those who cannot get pregnant by natural means; they are not looked down upon.
Mitsuye Yamada’s poem, “A Bedtime Story,” also deals with differences in cultures. It highlights the differences between Japan and the United States. The poem presents a Japanese legend about a homeless woman who admires the natural beauty she finds when looking out over the village lights after repeatedly being refused a place to sleep. The American child who hears this legend cannot understand what the woman has gained from this “memorable sight” (line 39) and asks, “That’s the end?” (Line 45) as though the legend was not even a complete story. For people in the United States, seeing something beautiful can never simply be it; there always has to be something more, something “exciting.” We cannot find the excitement in natural beauty, like the Japanese woman in the legend.
Another poem that deals with different ethnicities is “The Path to the Milky Way Leads through Los Angeles,” by Joy Harjo. This poem concentrates on the differences between Native Americans and Americans living in Los Angeles. The narrator observes the fact that this city no longer bears any connection to Native American heritage, and comments, “This city named for angels appears naked and stripped of anything resembling the shaking of turtle shells, the songs of human voices on a summer night outside Okmulgee.” (Lines 3-6) This line reveals the association of Native Americans with nature, and shows the reader that no nature is present in Los Angeles. Instead, readers see that maps of stars’ homes, “several brands of water,” and a “hiss of oxygen for gentle rejuvenation” are present in Los Angeles. (Lines 16-18) Americans have become caught up with material goods and lives of people whom they will never even meet. Native Americans, however, still recognize the importance of their heritage and would rather learn from the crow, which finds “gold in the trash of humans.” (Line 23) This reference to the crow mocks the fact that Americans are “trash”, and are fixated in all the wrong things.
Each of these works deals with cultural distinctions and presents the views of different nationalities. All of the works compare a specific heritage to the American culture, and note the differences between them. “A Father” focuses on India, “A Bedtime Story” concentrated on Japan, and “The path to the Milky Way Leads through Los Angeles” deals with Native Americans. Each work successfully notes the differences between the unique customs of each country. It is interesting to see how different nations lead very different lives. After reading these works in juxtaposition, I have begun to think about my life as an American and the traditions that are from my foreign heritage and those that are from American culture.