Cultural Adversity Essay

405 Words2 Pages
Cultural Adversity Bharati Mukherjee’s essay “Two Ways to Belong in America” and Santha Rama Rau’s essay “By Any Other Name” both give the reader a vivid portrait of social inequality. The characters in the story express each of their beliefs, feelings towards their struggle with cultural adversity, and their thoughts on political standards in that country. Bharati Mukherjee’s essay “Two Ways to Belong in America” is a story written to address the issues that immigrants in America face culturally and politically today. The two sisters in the story were raised with an Indian heritage background and decided to pursue their future in another country. Culturally the sisters were not ready to take on a new society that had standards against immigrants outside of their nation. There identity is something the girls hold close to them and are passionate about. The author mentions about of the sisters that, “She is here to maintain an identity, not to transform it” (282). The sisters did not wish to be Americanized, but only wished to be treated equally and not judged. They ask the question, “Have we the right to demand, and to expect, that we be loved?” (282) All the girls wanted was to be socially accepted and to be treated fairly politically after the hard work they gave back to the nation. In the essay “By Any Other Name” by Rama Rau, is an excellent imagery from a child’s prospective of the affects of cultural adversity and discrimination. The essay leads us to a story of two little girls transitioning into a school that is culturally judgmental and accepting. When the first day of school arrives, the girls are offended when the teacher says, “Suppose we give you pretty English names. Wouldn’t that be much more jolly?” (2). The girls felts as if they were forced to change their entire image in order to fit in with the other kids and society. Each of these
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