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Comparing Bharati Mukherjee's Two Ways To Belong In America

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“Heritage is something that your parents instill in you, your morals, your heart, mind and soul”. “Culture is something that changes over time and is passed down to the next generation and so on”, these two things should be something that is important to you. In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” and Bharati Mukherjee’s personal essay, “Two ways to Belong in America” by Bharati Mukherjee the comparison of Maggie and Mira show two women who hold on to their original culture while Bharati and Dee want another life. These stories make me wonder the same question. Why do the younger siblings appreciate their culture more? I’ve came to the conclusion that they both understand and admire their culture and understand the importance it has on them and their families unlike …show more content…

In “Two Ways to Belong in America” Mira sticks to the “pure culture marriage in the Mukherjee family” and marries an Indian student. She also does not want to become an American citizen. She “passionately clings to her Indian citizenship hoping to go home to India when she retires”, but when she finds out she has to become an American citizen to stay in America she becomes angered. Mira had already lived in America for 30 years, contributed to the field of pre-school education, and earned a degree. Even though she was not an American citizen she had still been invited to stay there because of her talent. Now she was being treated like an outsider instead of being welcomed. While in “Everyday Use” Dee looked at Maggie as someone who was stuck in their culture. Maggie didn’t hope for anything more than her simple life as an African American farmer. It’s not really the fact that she would have enjoyed another life, it’s the fact she was comfortable with her life and how it was already. She was already extremely shy so her country style heritage was the best way for her to

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