When a culture is identified, one would think of a society or group in which many or all people live and think in the same way. Culture distinguishes one human group from another. In The Encarta Reference Library, it explains the characteristics of culture is based on symbols and signs referring to the understanding of ideas, objects, feelings or behaviors and the ability to communicate with others using language. People in the same society share common behaviors and ways of thinking through culture. Culture is learned; it's shared. While many people biologically inherit many physical traits and behavioral instincts, culture is socially inherited. Culture is adaptive. People use culture to be flexible and quickly adjust to changes in the world around them.
Identity is who you are within a culture. Each person possesses different characteristics that give them their own identity. The word identity is dealing with the self and not a group although; a cultural group can also have certain identities. For instance, one can be identified by race, language, or even features.
In the poem Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question by Diane Burns (Meyer p.741) the speaker struggles for her own identity and not that of her culture. I was able to sense the tone of frustration in the speaker's voice. It seems as if Burns was trying to show how frustrating it may be for someone to be continuously identified or stereotyped by their physical or cultural differences. In the end the speaker states “This ain't no stoic look. This is my face.” With that being said, I felt Burn was simply stating: this is who I am.
The short story Baglady by Antonia S. Byatt portrayed a woman that didn't seem to be too happy with her identity or her cultural background. The woman, also known as the character Daphne Gulver-Robinson was depicted to be an ordinary woman. She decided to go on this trip with her husband, which included peopl ofe what may be known as a “prim and proper”. Their first stop was the Good Fortune Mall. I believe this mall signified social status. “Lifts that say they are going down go only up” (Byatt p. 504), in my opinion, this line represented Daphne wanting to live up to the social status of the people included in her trip. Throughout the story, Byatt did very well in portraying how simple it is for one to lose them self in the process of getting caught up in another person's way of life. Byatt shows how Daphne ends up looking for her belongings, but ultimately loses them all trying to get back down to ground level. The loss of her belongings in that matter signifies Daphne losing herself.
In the short story Clothes by Chitra Divakaruni (p. 215) it was very interesting to see the practice of a young Indian woman named Sumita being set up for marriage without her acknowledgement. At one point, throughout the story I was beginning to feel that it would be unfair to impose marriage on someone without the approval of the person getting married, but that rationalization eventually faded upon realizing that it was a way of life for that culture. Ultimately, the husband - Somesh, whom was also of Indian decent with an American cultural lifestyle, was very compassionate to his new wife. This impacted the story in a very positive way. Although, there was a point of loss, I would say that this story ended on a positive note, because Sumita made the decision to continue learning about her late husband's culture in America although she could have easily returned back to India, a place she was accustomed to.
While reading Latin Women Pray
a poem by Judith Ortiz Cofer (p. 780) I felt that this poem is very serious, and full of anguish. This poem reflects Cofer, whom is also of Latin decent, with a note of self-confidence that Latin women are just as equal to that of Anglo and Jewish women. She states “Yet year after year, before his image they kneel, Margarita, Josefina, Maria and Isabel, all fervently hoping that if not omnipotent, at least He be bilingual.” (Cofer p. 780) That statement indicates that these women of Latin decent pray in the same way that Anglo or Jewish women pray, however it seems as if their prayers are going unanswered. Cofer did not have anger against the Anglo or Jewish cultures; however through this poem she was trying to emphasize equality.
The poems Theme for English B and Dinner Guest: Me by Langston Hughes (p. 935) were much more of poems addressing culture and identity of African Americans. Although the two poems were written by the same author they possessed to different point of views. In Dinner Guest: Me (Hughes p. 898) the speaker seemed to be very confident in the lifestyle he lives. His diction creates an effect to the reader to allow him to show that it's the other race, the white race that seems to have a problem, not him. In other words he insinuates that their race can not accept the fact that he too being the “Negro Problem is also able to “wine and dine” (p. 898).
