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Personal Essay 'Two Ways To Belong In America'

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A person's view on culture heavily influence how one sees and views the world around them. People are influenced by the cultures surrounding them as well as where they live. In the personal essay Two Ways to Belong in America ,written by Bharati Mukherjee, Bharati and her sister Mira were both born in Calcutta, India , but later moved to the United States. Bharati loved America and said "I am an American citizen and she is not" speaking to how she had embraced and been influenced by her surroundings but her sister had not. Sometimes you can ignore your surroundings and not be influenced by your experiences such as when Bharati says " Mira still lives in Detroit but hopes to move back to India when she retires". This shows how one can ignore …show more content…

Maggie valued her family quilts differently than what Dee thought they meant. In the passage Dee states Maggie’s use of the quilts, “Maggie would put them on a bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” little did Dee know that the purpose of these quilts were intended for everyday use. Maggie was taught to quilt by her grandmothers’ and she remembers them by using the quilts. Maggie uses the quilts to honor their memory because she and her mother view the quilts for daily use. On the other hand, Dee’s view on culture is seldomly influenced by her experiences. This is because when the house burnt down Dee watched it be engulfed with flames, and she hated the house so much she could care less if it burnt down. Dee detests everything about her family’s culture. One way she despised it was by finding the meaning of her culture that does not relate to her family. Dee never grasped the meaning of her culture because she went off to become famous and let her family slowly slip away from her life the more famous she got. In the short story, Dee use of the quilts was for them to be hung shows how Dee valued her culture as an artifact and something that needed to be of the past.

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3. In third essay “Two Ways to Belong in America” by Bharati Mukherjee, the author used the effectively comparison and contrast between two sisters form India. In addition, Bharati gave us good example about her and her sister for immigrants in a different culture, and how its effects on a person’s identity. I think, Bharati offering different opinions about her who adapted to US culture, when she said in paragraph 11,"America spoke to me-I married it"; And Mira who related to Indian heritage and culture in when she said in paragraph 10, "some kind of irrational attachment to India that I don't to America.".

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Everyone has their opinions on a subject. In the short fictional story,”Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, we see how different personalities equal these different thoughts. We see this in Maggie and Dee who have different opinions on their African American heritage. Dee and Maggie both grew up in a poor household. They have different views as they grew.

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424 Words | 2 Pages

Another way Walker shows how Dee is hateful is when she wants her mom to be something she is not. "In real life I am a large, big boned woman, with strong, man looking hands" (60). The imagery in this quote shows how the mother feels about herself and this is not what Dee wants her to look or be like. The poem and short story use both, figurative language and imagery to reveal the quilt as a symbol for a mother's love and family heritage. Acosta shows how the quilts have love built into them.

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451 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story, “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker creates a conflict between Maggie and Dee for the belongings made by their relatives whether they should be kept to use in their house or kept to admire as antiques with Dee to last longer. Walker made items to have symbolism to be used as an everyday thing, but with Dee returning from college she believes she should keep items from being demolished and placed as an item in a museum for observation of her heritage. Walker in the story shows how Maggie and her mother use the quilt as a tradition that has been passed down by every generation in their family by putting them to use. The mother’s purpose towards the quilt is to pass it down by teaching how to quilt so that it could be quilted if

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1861 Words | 8 Pages

Through Dee, Walker critiques the modern trend of superficial appropriation of cultural symbols without deeper knowledge or understanding. Dee only values the quilts for their aesthetic beauty and the cultural stereotype they represent, disregarding their historic value and sentimental connection to her family. In contrast, Mama and Maggie understand the quilts' worth lies not in their surface appearance but their emotional meaning and historic significance. The quilts are passed down from one generation to the next as a way of maintaining their family history and culture. Walker uses

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798 Words | 4 Pages

In the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, a change in her daughter, Dee, causes Mama to grow a new appreciation for her often overshadowed daughter, Maggie. While Dee has returned to her home more educated, she has become ignorant to who she really is, causing a change in the attitudes of the characters towards each other. The new background that Dee has created for herself presents a sense of irony as her rise in education has resulted in her loss of knowledge about the world that she grew up in. After Mama refuses to allow Dee to take her grandmother’s old quilts because she promised them to Maggie, Dee claims that “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts...

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1032 Words | 5 Pages

This shows, unlike her sister Maggie, Dee’s perception of the quilts are strictly aesthetic and artistic pieces that reflect African Heritage. Dee never considers they may represent oppression themselves and it makes her seem as though she wants them solely just to show off. In addition, Ross goes on to state, “Her admiration for them now seems to reflect a cultural trend toward valuing handmade objects, rather than any sincere interest in her “heritage.” After all, when she was offered a quilt before she went away to college, she rejected it as “old-fashioned, out of style” (Ross 1-2).

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Her sister on the other hand holds less enthusiasm for the idea of citizenship. In addition, Mhurkjee uses the term “scapegoating of aliens” to emphasize the unfair treatment immigrants face on a daily basis. This reveals why one of the sisters is more inclined to continue her Indian heritage because America at the time was less accepting of immigrants. The author also uses juxtaposition in an emotional context to put across their opposing perspectives when it comes to the choices that they have made in their lives and their integration into the country. It’s clear emotions play a big part in their stances, for example, when Mira talks with her she says, "I feel used," Mira raged on the phone the other night.

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829 Words | 4 Pages

Dee goes through a situation with her Mama that taught her she cannot have everything she wants, she’s confused about her inheritance. At the beginning of the story Dee demands to be called a different name rejecting her family valuing the quilts, but as the narrator describes, “I didn’t want to bring up how I offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college she told me they were old fashioned, out of the style” (Walker 432). The narrator is the Mama telling about the event that happened between her and her daughters. While telling it she learned that she always neglected Maggie for De, and it brought a sense of realization to herself. At the beginning Mamas tone is self-confident and proud; however, at the end of the story it changes to defensive and sarcastic.

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828 Words | 4 Pages

This is show how there is a conflict between her and mama, underappreciated Mama 's feels. Mama is a hard word women she can eat a like pork, Her hand as a rough as man 's due to the rough work she do. Even of her dreams she put her daughters first as she dreamed that she is 100 pounds lighter with a skin like a pancake and that 's how her daughter want her to be but in real she is so fat. The mother at the end of the story when Dee want to get the quilt she prevent her, and she give it to the poor Maggie, cause she know very well that

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1053 Words | 5 Pages

However, quilts are made to be used to keep warm, not presented as an artifact. To Mama, these show her family history and she wants to use them accordingly, but to Dee, they represent her heritage and ethnicity in a very superficial way.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

The author also reveals Maggie through her mother's eyes and how she already was going to give Maggie the quilts. While the mom was talking to Dee she fortifies that ,"I promised to give them quilts to Maggie"(Walker 64). This depicts how the mother grasps the fact that Maggie is particularly familiar with the family's heritage and culture that surrounds the meaning of the quilt. The mother believes Maggie recognizes the quilt's importance to the family by it symbolizing the family's heritage and the pride and memories it

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1283 Words | 6 Pages

‘Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!’ She said. ‘She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.’ … ‘But, they're priceless!’ ” (172).

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799 Words | 4 Pages

The siblings in the story, Maggie and Dee, are fighting over a materialistic object: a quilt. Walker characterizes both Maggie and Dee to have the reader capable of inferring why Mama resolved the dispute the way she did. Because of Dee’s indecisive qualities and Africanized personality, she is blinded

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465 Words | 2 Pages

In the essay “Two Ways to Belong in America,” from 50 essays, Bharati Mukherjee contrasts the different views of the United States from two Indian sisters. The author distinguishes her American lifestyle to her sister’s traditional Indian lifestyle. Both sisters grew up in Calcutta, India, moved to America in search of education and work. Bharati adjusts to the American society very quickly, where her sister Mira clings to her Indian traditions more strongly. Despite both sisters living in America, only Bharati is an American citizen, while her sister Mira is not.

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