If you put on a pair of glasses, you see the world differently. That is the way culture works too. Just like everyone has their own unique visual acuity, people have their own cultural lenses. A person of Mexican descent will be used to mid-afternoon siestas, large family dinners, rice, beans, and the Mariachi song. If they were thrown into an Americanized city with burger joints and DJ Khaled's “All I do Is Win” blasting from Bluetooth speakers, it would be quite the change. Their cultural lenses, the “Mexican glasses”, would not work right in America. It would be similar to when someone puts on a pair of reading glasses that aren’t fitted specifically for them. Everything is warped. It makes their eyes hurt. Cultural background is like…show more content… Both sisters, Maggie and Dee, grew up in a poor home ruled by a powerful, masculine mother. While they had similar cultural backgrounds, they grew up to be two very different people. Maggie grew up a poor girl relying on her mama, and she stayed a poor girl relying on her mama. She walked like a lame dog, with her chin on her chest, and rarely spoke. Dee said, “Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s.”, referring to Maggie’s ability to never forget anything. Maggie knew her culture, where certain heirlooms came from, and the names of distant relatives (Alice Walker, pg. 63). Her culture, the poor, black, mamas girl, created her cultural lenses, and forever changed the way she viewed the outside world. Dee, on the other hand, created a completely different pair of cultural lenses. She had grown up the poor, black, mama's girl but changed into a pop culture obsessed, flashy, loud-mouthed lady. Dee hated the ways of her “old culture” so much that she wanted to change it. When she arrived at her mother’s house, she claimed that she changed her name. She said, “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.” (Alice Walker, pg. 62). Her cultural background affected her culture just as much as Maggie’s, just in a different way. Dee compared her cultural background to western culture and decided that she need to do everything in…show more content… The two sisters, Bharati and Mira, were born in India but moved to America. They both had grown up around a strict Indian culture with heavy accents and saris. They also expressed similar ideas in regards to politics and social issues. When they moved to America, they brought along most of their culture, complete with their “Indian lenses”. They saw America through those lenses. At that point in their lives, they had a choice: keep their Indian lenses or switch them out for a more Americanized pair. Bharati chose the second option. She went against all of the cultural norms of India and married a husband outside of her ethnic community. She said, “I was opting for fluidity, self-invention, blue jeans and T-shirts, and renouncing 3,000 years (at least) of caste-observant, “pure culture” marriage in the Mukherjee family.” (Bharati Mukherjee, pg. 70). Her Indian background influenced her decision to Americanize her life. She saw how difficult it was to belong in America with an Indian culture and wanted to change that. Her sister, Mira, chose the opposite path. She preserved her Indian culture in America. She married an Indian student and worked in the Southfield Michigan school system. “After 36 years as a legal immigrant in this country, she clings passionately to her Indian citizenship and hopes to go home to India when she retires.”
