Cultural Impacts 1

Cultural Impacts

Eric J. Allen, Reagan G. Baughman, Cy N. Burkhart, Benjamin D. Jacoby

Tri-Valley High School

Abstract
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This collaborative essay grants the reader with new perspectives on how one’s culture

plays a part in his or her life. It makes the compelling claim that a person’s cultural identity

causes their opinions of the world to be altered, but this is due to the fact that the world is exactly

what shapes their culture. This argument serves to educate the reader of the different cultural

aspects of one’s life, where he or she comes from, how greatly one’s culture affects his or her

life, and how it affects their views upon the world. With textual evidence from the influential

American novels Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Kite Runner, and The Grapes of Wrath,

and the short stories “Two Kinds” and “Where Worlds Collide”, this essay establishes a solid

argument in favor of cultural identity. It also contains the personal experiences of students with

different cultures in order to further support the claim. The reader of this article will leave

enriched on the subject of cultural identity and conscience of the role it plays in their life.
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Cultural Impacts

The fundamentals of one’s culture have a subtle, yet impactful difference in his or her

perceptions of the world. Our identity is a key aspect of our culture; however, it is merely a

rough draft of viewpoints we contribute to the world, only to be edited over time. These flexible

and changeable characteristics carry the majority of who we identify ourselves as people, and

with the procurement of wisdom and the witnessing of experiences, both good and bad, our

cultures and identities are permitted to be altered.

For many, home is where we were raised, or is where we place our comfort; however, it

is also the primary source and foundation for one’s culture. Evidence support this, for if we are

unwillingly removed from an environment in which we have attachments, damage upon our

identities is apparent. One area of literature that highlights these effects is John Steinbeck’s

novel, The Grapes of Wrath. One of Steinbeck’s characters, Reverend Casy, states, “‘Fella gets

use’ to a place, it's hard to go … Fella gets use' to a way of thinkin' it's hard to leave’"

(Steinbeck, 1939, p. 61) I could not agree more. The premise of this book rests highly upon a key

point: the effects a drastic cultural change can have on a person.

People, both in real life and in novels, when they realize they have lost a part of their

identity, they feel as if they have lost everything. People like their identities. If they lose that,

they frequently question themselves and often life itself. Within the novel, we see people

wandering aimlessly and fitting out to become “bull-simple” (Steinbeck, 1939, p. 244). A feeling

of emptiness sets in. Casy again acknowledges another effect by saying, "’Somepin's happening.

I went up an' I looked, an' the houses is all empty, an' the land is empty, an' this whole country is

empty.’" (Steinbeck, 1939, p. 94) They are all empty, for their culture has been robbed. This

additional evidence makes it resoundingly clear that our viewpoints on others, as well as
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ourselves, are highly impacted by our cultural identity. If it was not a major cause on any

person’s ideals, then the effects would not be as drastic if we were stipped of such identities.

One’s upbring aides in determining one’s decisions, thus impacting his or her perspective

on other cultures throughout the world. In a child’s youth, he or she’s prime example is their

parents. Children learn how to talk by listening to their parents. They try new things because

their parents do. Every child acquires habits from observing their parents. This shapes who the

child is and that child’s culture. As children age, they tend to follow one of two common routes;

they either turn out exactly like their parents, or they rebel and are the exact opposite of their

parents.

In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Amir and Baba are a prime example of the

influence a parent has on their child’s culture. Baba and Amir both made life-altering mistakes,

and they both attempted to dull their guilt by being benevolent to everyone. Hosseini writes, “I

think everything he [Baba] did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving

money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself” (2004, p. 302). Amir

similarly attempts to vindicate himself of his mistake by saving Sohrab. Because Amir grew up

observing Baba, they have parallel cultures; therefore, they handled similar situations in the same

manner.

In the story “Two Kinds,” the mother-daughter relationship is a prime example of a child

rebelling against their parents. Jing-mei’s mother deeply desired for her daughter to be a genius,

but “she had hoped for something so large that failure was inevitable” (Tan, 2014, p. 24). This

caused a massive divide to form between the two. Because of her mother’s outrageous

expectations, Jing-mei resented her mother and became the opposite of what her mother had

hoped she would become. This rebellion results in the difference in Jing-Mei and her mother’s
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cultures. Jing-Mei’s mother is a woman with high expectations, and Jing-Mei is a girl with no

drive or care. Whether a child’s culture is similar to their parents’s or opposing their parent’s,

their culture considerably affects their outlook on the world.

It is a known fact that a person’s culture is influenced highly by the time period they

grew up in. Many people see this factor and assume that this causes a parent’s older culture to

have less effect on a modern child, but this is not the case. In Zora Neale Hurston’s dynamic

work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist, Janie Crawford, receives the classic

Southern culture of her grandmother and primary caregiver, Nanny. Nanny raised her to be a

classic Southern woman with a life run by a dominant man. This reflected the common view of

many other Blacks in Janie’s community; the idea that women were inferior to men and must be

treated as property. This idea was born of generations of male dominance, and it was eventually

accepted as normal. This is at least how Nanny viewed it as she passed this idea down to Janie

during her youth. Nanny’s belief that ‘“De nigger woman is de mule ud de world so fur as Ah

can see”’ lead her to seek for a wealthy husband to keep Janie free from labor and toil (Hurston,

1937, p. 14). Nanny did not think at all of love when pairing Janie with Logan Killicks, as it was

a meaningless trait in her eyes. Because of this, Janie approached life expecting love to come

naturally with marriage, a dangerous misconception that turned out to be a deciding factor for

many of her decisions.

I, like many others, am able to identify the influence my parents have had on my life and

on my culture. For example, my conscience is driven primarily by my strong Catholic faith, an

attribute I derive directly from my parents. They’ve taken me to church my whole life, put me

through 9 years of Catholic school, and taught me the importance of faith in morals at home and

in society. The track they have set me on from day one has lead me down what has so far been a
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morally straight life, and I hope to continue living my faith just like I’ve been taught. I am very

similar to Janie in the way that I have let my parents influence me, even though their advice may

be more sound than Nanny’s classic marital philosophies.

This truth that our culture, be it where and when we were raised or who we were raised

by, affects our perspective on life, is never more evident than when a person is faced with a new

situation. This is especially when the case when this new situation involves total immersion into

a different culture. In the story “Where Worlds Collide”, the man that got off the plane is a prime

example of how culture affects the way people perceive the world around them. When the man

gets off the plane, he is appalled by the amount of flashing lights and people around him. One

can draw the conclusion that back in the man's home, the culture is completely different.

I had a very similar experience when I traveled to Belize. When I got off the cruise ship, I

was taken aback by how different this place was from my home. When we got past the gates in

Belize that separated the port and the city, we were ambushed by many native people trying to

sell us their products and services. I feel as if the man in the story felt very similar to how I felt:

shocked by how different people act in unfamiliar cultures.

When I was in Belize, there was no police force; it was the military instead. I freaked out

a little when I got there because I’m not used to seeing guys in camo suits walking around with

automatic guns slung over their shoulders. In the story, the man has a similar situation; however,

it’s the other way around. When he arrives in America, he thinks to himself, “no kahki soldiers in

fatigues, no instructions not to take photographs, as at home” (Lyer, 2014, p. 51). The way the

man feels in the story is similar to the feelings I had in Belize. I was scared when I got to the port

because I’ve never been in a situation like that before. I didn’t know how to behave. The man in

the story has a similar feeling; he notices little details that could potentially get him in trouble,
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like leaving his car parked in a certain area too long or getting on the wrong shuttle. I can relate

to the character’s unease and need for familiarity. When one stumbles upon a situation he or she

is not used to, it’s he or she’s culture that affects they way he or she acts or feels. Therefore,

one’s experiences significantly influence one’s perspective on the world.

One's culture plays an evident role in how one views the world. There are many factors

that affect one’s culture; these include where and when one is raised, one’s parents, and one’s

experiences. These factors each play a vital role in determining one’s culture, which, in turn,

affects one’s perspective of the world.

References

Hosseini, K. (2004). The Kite Runner. Toronto: Anchor Canada Riverhead Books

Hurston, Zora Neale. (2006). Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York :Harper Perennial
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Modern Classics,

Lyer, Pico.(2014). Where Worlds Collide. In Betty Barnett & Doug Waugh (Eds.), Springboard:

English Language Arts. (p.50-52). Indianapolis: College Board

Steinbeck, John.(1939). The Grapes of Wrath. Introd. Robert DeMott. New York:

Penguin, 2006

Tan, Amy.(2014). Two Kinds. In Betty Barnett & Doug Waugh (Eds.), Springboard:

English Language Arts. (p. 18-25). Indianapolis: College Board