Similarities Between Two Kinds And My Mother Pieced Quilts

Not a single person lives the same life or shares everything in common with someone else. However, one bond that everyone possess is culture. Culture is not the same for every person, and everyone that identifies themselves with a certain culture is not exactly the same (Trumbull and Pacheco 10). Culture consistently influences the way humans perceive the world, items, others, as shown in “Two Kinds’ by Amy Tan and My Mother Pieced Quilts by Teresa Palomo Acosta.

Amy Tan’s mother associated fortune and success with America because of her culture. “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan 21). Tan’s mother was a first generation immigrant from China who left in sought of a better life. The reason her mother viewed America as a safe-haven was because she associated her Chinese culture with sadness and death. After losing twin girls and her entire family in China the American culture had become more and more appealing. Tan stated that when her mother moved to America she “never looked back” and although she still carried parts of her Chinese culture with her, like the

Chinese language, she was ready to embrace a new and different culture (Tan 22)
Teresa Acosta’s culture was the reason that even after her mother passed away a quilt was able to magically transport her into memories with her mother.

This quilt was crafted by her mother and encompassed her memories. The black silk she wore to her mother’s funeral, her spouse’s santa fe shirt, and summer denims were just a few meaningful pieces in the quilt. Acosta described her mother as a painter and the quilt as her canvas. She also detailed about the long process that her mother went through making the quilt to portray how much time and love really went into crafting every detail of the quilt. The quilt was a display of the author’s culture, her family, and that is why it is more than just fabric stitched together. The quilt was a representation of her mother and because that is a significant part of her culture the quilt was extremely sentimental (Acosta

73).
Some people argue that culture is not what influences a person’s perception, instead they state other people and their actions influence on the way we perceive the world and others. For example, in By Any Other Name Santha, the author, and her sister Premila are sent to an Anglo-Indian day school, and despite the fact there are other Indians that attend the school, Premila perceived this as her and her sister not fitting in with the rest of the school, so when they arrived home they ask their mother to make sandwiches for them in the future (Rau 47). Those who think other people and their actions influence a person’s perception would argue Premila’s perception was caused by everyone else in the school who brought a sandwich and the fact they brought chapatis and curry (Rau 45). However, while that statement is partially true, food is a very large aspect of culture and curry is a traditional Indian. Thus, the difference in the culture of Premila and Santha and the other children at the school was the reason she felt like an outcast. In conclusion, other people do not influence a person’s perception; culture influences a person’s perception.
The way someone perceives the world and life can have a big impact on a number of things and because of this, it is important to understand that culture is what influences perception. This stance is supported in “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, My Mother Pieced Quilts by Teresa Palamo Acosta, and By Any Other Name by Santhu Ramu Rau. This statement is also supported by the fact that no one perceives everything exactly the same which makes sense, as every person has a unique culture that influences their perceptions. In summary, a person’s unique culture is what influences their perception on the world, others, and items consistently.