ipl-logo

Similarities Between 'White Lies And By Another Name'

609 Words3 Pages

Cultural Outsiders Many multi-cultural people live between two different cultures and often feel as if they do not belong in either. In the article “By Another Name” by Santha Rama Rau, two Indian sisters share their experience of going to an englo-indian school. In the poem “White Lies” by Natasha Thereway, the author presents a poor colored girl who lies to her community about who she really is in society. The two works differ because in the article the sisters mother does not get angry that her daughters were trying to change or “fit in” and in the poem the mother scolds her daughter for lying about herself , however the texts also have a couple similarities; both texts have characters who are ashamed about their ethnicity, and in both texts there are characters who struggle with being outsiders in their community. …show more content…

One of the daughters is discriminated by her teacher, and she became very upset and told her mother. “...So i do not think we should go back to that school.” (Rama Rau, pg 39) . In this text, one can see that the mother agreed to take them out of the school system. Thereways poem differs from the article because the girl in the poem has a fear of not being accepted in her community because she is a black, poor girl. “This is to purify you, she said, and cleanse your lying tongue.”(Thereway, line 23-25). In this quote one can see that the mother was very angry about her daughter

Show More
Related
255 Words | 2 Pages

The epigraph of Chapter Three highlights the ways both Mother and Mattie feel and relates to the novel’s theme of loss. Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Fever 1793, quotes from a letter from Margaret Morris, which states “Oh, then the hands of the pitiful mother prepared her child’s body for the grave.” , the “pitiful mother” representing Mother, and the child spoken about is Matilda. Mother has just experienced yet another death, the last one being Mattie’s father. Polly was their helper girl, and now they don’t have anyone to help around the shop.

Read More
1362 Words | 6 Pages

Lacy M. Johnson and Amy Tan came from two entirely different backgrounds. Johnson came from a rural poor family and Tan coming from a Chinese family living in America. Johnson wrote the short story “White Trash Primer” which is from the book “Trespasses: A Memoir” and Tan’s “Two Kinds” is an excerpt from her book “The Joy Luck Club”. Even though these two authors are entirely different they share similar qualities in their writing skills, message and how they both were outcasts.

Read More
258 Words | 2 Pages

After reading “Dothead” by Amit Majmudar I considered looking at the year in which the poem was written and right underneath the poem it marked 2011. Looking at the year I thought about the speaker's point of view, based off his writing it seemed to me as if he were going back in time and reviving his past memories. I pictured the scenario to be in a upper class school, that filled the cafeteria “Jesse sucked his chocolate milk,”(Majmudar 20) with pale faces and some seats with other skin colors. Just by picturing the scenario I became to imagine what that could do to a person who is different from everybody else. Majmudar poem gives us a glance of his past experience of being an indian in an all american white school.

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

In the realistic fiction book, The Red Umbrella, by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, the main character Lucia needs to remember how to celebrate her culture when moving to America. In the realistic fiction book, Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, the main character Kim-Ha needs to show her culture even though she thinks differently and is

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

A similar situation happens when she went to visit her sister-in-law in Colorado. Lastly, she talks about the privilege the white people have to be accepted in a university or haven’t been expelled from school because their skin color is white. Now she knows “how system work and where it gains its power” (154). The interracial marriage is very complicated because the racism is everywhere and they should know how to protect each other. “Dark trees in the landscape of love” by Kao Kalia Yang is reading about the lives of Hmong girls married white men and how their lives are different.

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

The speaker’s grandmother is originally presented in a way that causes the ending to be a surprise, saying, “Her apron flapping in a breeze, her hair mussed, and said, ‘Let me help you’” (21-22). The imagery of the apron blowing in the wind characterizes her as calm, and when she offers to help her grandson, she seems to be caring and helpful. Once she punches the speaker, this description of her changes entirely from one of serenity and care to a sarcastic description with much more meaning than before. The fact that the grandmother handles her grandson’s behavior in this witty, decisive way raises the possibility that this behavior is very common and she has grown accustomed to handling it in a way that she deems to be effective; however, it is clearly an ineffective method, evidenced by the continued behavior that causes her to punish the speaker in this manner in the first place.

Read More
418 Words | 2 Pages

As a child, she recognized that her imitation of ‘White” afforded opportunities of mobility, education, acceptance and privilege. Her mother’s appearance as “Black” afforded opportunities of poverty, inferiority, and inequality. So, she fails to mention her mother’s identity and occupation to classroom peers and teacher. Sarah Jane wants cultural assimilation and white privilege.

Read More
472 Words | 2 Pages

The narrator thinks otherwise because of the fact that she wants to do something that is in her best interest. For instance, the narrator’s experiences as a child were difficult to deal with because of the suffering that the mother gave to her. The mother had authority over the narrator and forced her to involve in things that she did not want to do. An indication of the story is, “Only two kinds of daughters. Those who obedient and those who follow their own mind!

Read More
371 Words | 2 Pages

Being the sibling to embrace and honor your culture or being the one to assimilate your own culture either way both has a different view on their culture. The short story  “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker portrays the differences between two sisters and their view on their culture or what their culture is represented by. The personal essay “Two Ways to Belong in America” by Bharati Mukherjee portrays both sisters lives in America but has a different viewpoint on either keeping their original culture of modifying it to both Indian and American. Maggie wanted her items from her descendants because they meant something to her. Maggie knew that she herself represented her own culture.

Read More
1329 Words | 6 Pages

5,6) the issues that have been mentioned above are expressed. Since, especially black women, are considered to be living in the shadow this passage exposes the feelings and representation of black women in society. Their existence in the world which is not considered and respected. Considering especially the fact that the lyrical I is a black maiden, she seeks for recognition and acceptance among the other figures of the poem. Referring to contemporary issues, the lyrical I would be classified as a lower ranked person since she is black and being occupied as a maid, which clearly makes her powerless and voiceless in society.

Read More
579 Words | 3 Pages

The Round House by Louise Erdrich and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie both examine the relationship between Indians on a reservation and their non-Indian neighbors. Throughout these novels, Indian and non-Indian relationships are punctuated with systems of white supremacy, which manifest both in non-Indians’ ideological belief in their supremacy, and in the material disparity between Indian and non-Indian communities. In The Round House, white superiority is primarily expressed in ideological measure, while The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian focuses largely on the material sphere, but the themes are not mutually exclusive. The Round House focuses primarily on the convoluted relationship between Indians and non-Indian neighbors.

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

Two Worlds, One Girl There are many different cultures around the world, but you never really know what is like being between two different cultures, until you are experiencing it yourself. While growing up, I had the privilege and misfortune of becoming familiar with two different cultures: my family’s culture, from their birth country, Guatemala, and the culture of the United States of America. I say misfortune not because it was a disaster, catastrophe, or bad luck; I say it because sometimes you get so used to being in one culture that you start to forget about your family’s origin. Sometimes you even like something in one culture better than the other, and you feel guilty for having a preference.

Read More
432 Words | 2 Pages

In her letter she wants her father to have some compassion and send her some relief, of clothing. In the end of the letter she put your undutiful and disobedient child, meaning she is performing the duties for her family, and she feels because what is happening to her that she is not an obedient child. The historic context of

Read More
971 Words | 4 Pages

The loyalty and selflessness of the mothers ' devotion speaks to the force of the bond between parent and daughter. In "The Red Candle" Lindo complains"I once sacrificed my life to keep my parents’ promise. This means nothing to you, because to you promises mean nothing"(49). When she says "this means nothing to you" Lindo 's tone is clearly frustrated because she is making accusations. she compares her daughter 's loyalty to her against her own loyalty to her own parents, and concludes that Waverly is somehow an inferior daughter.

Read More
1051 Words | 5 Pages

Although miscegenation is not a new topic, the effects that this phenomenon has on people’s lives has been the source of inspiration for many literary works. “Miscegenation” by Natasha Trethewey is an autobiographical poem that expresses the difficulty that mixed-race people face in accepting their identity in a society that discriminates people who are different. That is, this poem expresses how racial discrimination can affect the identity of those people who do not identify as white or black. Besides, in this poem, Trethewey narrates her origin, as well as how her parents were victims of a society that did not accept their relationship. Therefore, the speaker starts by saying “In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi” (Trethewey 1); those two laws that broke the Trethewey’s parents were that they were married and had a daughter.

Read More

More about Similarities Between 'White Lies And By Another Name'

Related Topics

Open Document