Open-mindedness

"A Father," “The Path to the Milky Way Leads through Los Angeles,” and “A Bedtime Story” highlight the importance of taking the time to appreciate something new or of being open-minded. These works also explore the dangers of narrow-mindedness and how it can cause a person to miss out on life.
"A Father" by Mitsuye Yamada brings up open-mindedness when it comes to a culture clash between the old-fashioned values of the Hindu culture and the fast-paced lifestyle of mainstream America. At first, Mr. Bhowmick is disappointed when he discovers his only daughter, Babli, is pregnant with an illegitimate child, which will be a source of shame in the Hindu tradition. He soon reveals his open-mindedness when he contemplates the other options besides his first thought of abortion. He even pictures a “chubby baby boy on the rug, crawling to his granddaddy” (page 662) and defends his daughter and says “Babli’s pregnant, so what?” (page 665) to his wife. However, after finding out Babli did not even get pregnant by natural means, Mr. Bhowmick explodes and attacks Babli. Mr. Bhowmick could be open-minded to a point, but he could not tolerate his daughter’s slander of “matching bloodlines” and of the traditional arranged marriages.
“The Path to the Milky Way Leads through Los Angeles” by Joy Harjo cautions the readers to avoid the obstacles keeping them from seeing what truly matters in life. Sometimes people can get so caught up in the superficial matters of life that they forget to really live and miss out on the beauty of life. Even though it is hard to “see that starry road from the perspective of the crossing of boulevards” (lines 13 & 14), humans must open their eyes like the crow in line 21 and “find gold in the trash” (line 23). Without this open-minded perspective, people can easily get caught up in the superficiality of it all as their vision is blurred by “the whine of civilization” (line 14).
In “A Bedtime Story” by Mitsuye Yamada, a father tells a child an old Japanese legend, yet the child does not appreciate it. The child’s perception of what makes a good story is probably warped by his expectation for a fast-paced and action-packed contemporary children’s novel. The child is narrow-minded and refuses to open his eyes to see the beauty in the story his father has told and only asks, “That’s the end?” when his father is finished. This poem really reminded me, as a reader, of the importance of the simple lessons in life. Sometimes it is the simple things in life that really mean the most, and we just have to open our eyes to see them.
The bedtime story itself that the father tells has a similar theme, as the woman’s eyes are opened to an amazing sight of a full moon. The woman never would have seen this “memorable sight” (line 39) if it had not been for the “kindness” (line 34) of the people who refused to help her. This allowed her to see the beauty she would have otherwise missed.
These three works each remind the reader of the importance of appreciating beauty and having an accepting attitude. Narrow-mindedness only puts limits on how we view life and its beauty and on how we live and relate to others.