Miguel Helfts Matrimony With A Proper Stranger Cultural...

Culture is an intermingling mesh of traits that, although unique to each person, brings groups of people together. It is comprised of numerous different aspects that are passed down through generations, including religion, food, clothing, language, music, morals, and greetings. Because of its extensive range, it is easy to see how much culture impacts a person’s life. One’s culture vastly affects how he or she views the world due to ingrained traditions, stereotypes, and values within his or her heritage. First of all, every culture has different customs implemented on its community. This is especially evident in â€Å"Matrimony with a Proper Stranger†, which details the circumstances of arranged marriage and its application in Indian life.†¦show more content†¦Some of us cant drink enough† (Burns 45). Oversimplified generalizations about a culture affect the way its members are viewed by others in the world. This can lead to prejudice which occurs in â€Å"Legal Alien† by Pat Mora when she notes that she feels â€Å"...viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different, viewed by Mexicans as alien† (Mora 30). Because her culture is a mix of both America and Mexico, she feels like an outcast because neither side will accept her. They do not know her personality or what is in her heart; after realizing that she is not one hundred percent of either side, they dismiss her. Both stereotypes and prejudice are constructed by negati vity and faulting built upon preconceived notions, which hinder interactions between people. Because of one culture’s lack of knowledge or access to erroneous knowledge of another culture, the affiliates are not properly informed and can not fully engage in meaningful experiences. In addition, culture shapes a persons ethics and what he or she finds important. For example, in â€Å"Funny in Farsi†, when a young girl from Iran comes to America and goes to school with her mother on the first day, her teacher ask her mother to find Iran on the map. While reflecting on this incident which caused extreme embarrassment, the girl realizes they during her mother’s childhood â€Å" a girl’s sole purpose was to find a husband (Dumas 12). In Iranian culture, education for girls