Culture is something that forms the way people live and experience things. One’s culture is very signification in shaping the way we view others and the world. Two texts that represent this are “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake and “By Any Other Name” by Santha Rama Rau. My own personal experience helps support this claim because I lived in Puerto Rico for over two years and had the opportunity to fully learn how different two cultures can be. In “An Indian Father’s Plea”, the author demonstrates how people of the same culture view a person with a different culture. Lake argues, “Although you in Western Society may argue that such a method serves to hinder motor-skill development and abstract reasoning, we believe it forces the child to first develop his intuitive faculties, rational intellect, symbolic thinking, and five senses.” (Lake para. 5). This shows that both cultures have a different way of thinking. While one culture claims a method is correct and essential, the other could believe that a different method…show more content… Rau says, “Suppose we give you pretty English names.” (Rau para. 3). To the headmistress, the girls’ names aren’t hard to pronounce like she claims, but she’s trying to change them to make them fit in. She gives them English names to also help the other children and the teachers. She doesn’t have respect for the culture that is in their names. Rau also wrote, “The enormous black eyes of the little Indian girl looked at my food longingly, so I offered her some, but she only shook her head” (Rau para. 16). It was obvious that the girl wanted to say yes. She didn’t, though, to be like the other kids. The Indian kids try to change themselves to fit in, therefore they speak the same language, wore the same clothes, went to the same school, and ate the same foods to avoid discrimination or attention from the other
