American Culture Vs Iraq Culture

8 years of age walking on a dirt road looking at bizarre houses in a strange land but yet so familiar. it was 2004 my parents felt that there kids were losing touch with their culture and become too americanized. they decided to take us to iraq to show us the ways of our people the land we truly belong not the place we live in. that was the first time i been to iraq i lived there for 2 years while the country was extremely dangerous. i have seen many things that most children in america will probably never witness. some violent but most was the difference between america and iraq culture, the houses the roads the traditions even the way people dress and act. it was all influenced from different religions and landscape, it gave me a deeper appreciation

for life and it shaped me as i grew older. when i returned to the U.S.

the way i dressed and spoke was different from before you could distinguish me from the american kids even the iraqi kids here, even though i now dress like a normal american and like to live in the U.S., my culture imbedded certain traditions and values within me that i feel grateful to have it separates me from the other americans. every country has its own set of rich traditions and culture that vary from area to area. vietnam's culture is different from the iraqi and american culture it has minor variances across the regions due to landscape, religions, and influences from other countries like the china and france. In a good scent from a strange mountain, Robert olen butler writes a collection of short stories about vietnam and the war, 3 chapters that are most interesting are Mr. green , ghost story and crickets. These chapters show a lot of vietnamese culture within them and the differences they have with american

culture.
In vietnam depending on the region a person is born in they will be influenced toward a certain religion and that religion influences the culture of the area, causing inhabitants to think differently than others. Due to this many members from a family can believe in different religions causing culture and value conflicts between loved ones. in Mr Green a grandfather passes away and leaves his granddaughter a parrot to look after. The grand father who is confucius believes that only men are able to pray for their ancestors, the granddaughter who is catholic wants to pray for her grandfather but is told it's not possible. The parrot Mr Green is the embodiment of this ancient misogyny that the grandfather has , This value soon clashes with the granddaughter modern move toward feminism. To overcome this she snaps Mr Green neck with a technique she learns from her mother that is passed down from mother to daughter. the granddaughter says to the reader in the garden “he was bigger in my hands then i ever imagined. but a vietnamese woman is experienced in these things and mr green did not have a chance” (Butler 28). These small variation in culture causes many clashes of beliefs shown but even if there is bad in culture there is always good as well to pass on.
Although the vietnam's see life and death differently from westerners, the vietnamese lore is normal amongst the different regions and religions. The belief that ghost and spirits haunt this world is common to them as shown in the chapter Ghost story. A vietnamese man tells a ghost story to only certain american passengers on a buss. This is odd for americans and only a few are interested because american culture is tied to the physical plane, but the vietnamese culture is greatly influenced by the belief in the supernatural realm. In the short story major trung a south vietnamese soldier during the vietnam war he tells a older women that her daughter that died 4 years ago saved his life a week ago the mother replies “i am glad to know that my daughter's spirit has not forgotten this world”(Butler 118). It would seem that this is common amongst vietnamese culture due to the influence of religions for thousands of years there culture is now intertwined with these stories essentially creating traditions shaping the way the people honor and depict the dead.
consequently refugees from vietnam have a hard time adjusting to the U.S, their societal culture functions differently than the typical americans it takes them time for them to fit in eventually adopting the new culture or choosing to keep their old one.

Crickets gives insight about a father and his son who is ignoring his vietnamese culture. The father ted sees his son bill really bored one evening and wants to show him a game cricket fighting he played as a child. After finding a two ted says to the reader in the the garden “i felt a vague disappointment, not so much because it was clear that my boy did not want to touch the insects but, that they were both the big black ones, the charcoal crickets”(Butler 62). In the game there are two types of crickets charcoal crickets slow but strong (who symbolise americans) and fire crickets fast and smart (who symbolise vietnamese). After his son dirtys his reeboks and asks his dad if he can go to his mother the father realises that his son is americanized and into the american culture, this symbolizes the clash of the american culture and the vietnamese culture and his soon choosing the american materialistic life style over the vietnamese the father realizing it was a mistake telling his son to go inside, as he continues to look for fire crickets but does not find any symbolizing that there is not much vietnamese culture here. The next day as bill is leaving the kitchen go to school his father says “see you later bill”, this is

Ted succumbing to the american culture(Butler 64).
Ultimately these three chapters showed a lot of difference of the vietnamese culture has compared to the american culture. The United States is known as the melting pot around the world many cultures come together and melt, this might be viewed as a bad thing being called the burning pot or a good thing of mixtures cultures and people uniting but this is just the nature of america it happens all the time even to this day especially with many conflicts. Recent conflicts like the syrian civil war or the group ISIS terrorizing people and leaving many looking for shelter in other countries. Areas like chinatown and dearborn show how people from other countries can come to america and build there own little place that still upholds the culture and traditions of their countries but there will always be clash of cultures.