By Any Other Name By Samantha Rama Rau

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Recommended: Culture influences personality

We strongly believe that culture has a great influence one’s perspective on the world as well as the people around them. This may include the choices you make and how you view from what's right and wrong. It’s influence can be great, controlling your entire lifestyle from how you dress to what you eat, or it could be small, slightly influencing the decisions you make. Your own culture may be judged and be discriminated against, causing you to react in a certain way to protect what you stand for. In the story “By Any Other Name” by Samantha Rama Rau, shows how two Indian girl’s followed their culture and stayed true to their beliefs.
The older sister, Premila, and the younger sister, Santha, live with their Indian mother who taught and raised them as Indian children, which included the customs and appearance as one. They day they were sent to a British school, they notice the difference between their culture with the British. They changed their names, clothing, food and even placement. When Premila was taking a test for her class the teacher made …show more content…

During the beginning, Jing-Mei imagined herself as being an exceptional ballerina or actor because of the cultural influence her mother exposed her to, but her perspective on herself soon changed. After her “self-discovery”, she gave up all hope of her being skilled and even rebelled against her mother. While it wasn’t a positive influence, the pressure and stress that steamed from her culture immensely influenced who she was and how she views the world. Throughout the story, she went from a girl who was hopeful and full of dreams to a girl who truly believed that she will never have a bright future. Supported by not only “Two Kinds”, but by Malia’s personal experience and the short story, “By Any Other Name” as well, we can conclude that culture does have an impact on one’s

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