Cultural transition generally refers to the phenomenon in which people of particular ethnic and racial values struggles to integrate into a new society having different values, norms, and traditions. The novel The Gangster we are all looking for is written in the context of the cold war. After the end of Second World War two superpowers emerged in the form of America and the Soviet Union. The world became bipolar and countries were divided into two major blocks; communist and capitalist, Soviet Union was at the helm of former while America led the later block. This kind of world order actually initiated a long period of cold war that includes proxies between the two superpowers, around the globe. Vietnam War is one of them which the writer has reflected through her novel The Gangster we are all looking for. In this novel, the phenomenon of culture transition and failed integration is explored.
The novel describes the life of a family who has been pushed from its native land, Vietnam to a foreign land, America because of the ongoing war. The family in the novel constitutes of a father who is alleged to be a gangster, a hypersensitive mother, three uncles, and the young narrator herself. On a temporary basis, this
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She shows that cultural transition does not always lead to successful integration, which eventually brings the feeling of otherness among the migrants. This also leads to identity crisis for the migrants. Apart from that, the local community feels insecure of the newcomers for they differ in ethnic values, traditions, and life-style. In short cultural transition, which primarily entails the process of acculturation, keeps the emigrants in a struggling position while the host also feels insecurity unless an agreeable point for coexistence is reached. So wars should be avoided to make this world more