Introduction
The US has always been a country of opportunity for many people coming to resettle. It is colloquially described as a melting pot of traditions, cultures, nations, and peoples, all molded into the contemporary American identity. When faced with a different cultural reality, migrants are often at odds with the traditions of the new world and seek to preserve what is called their national identity. At the same time, the longer their stay on the new continent, the more menial traditions, and cultural oddities are replaced.
These people settle in, acquire jobs, form connections, and adopt the customs of their new home. Depending on their closeness to their country of origin, migrants preserve more or less of their original identity, resulting in a cultural mix that eventually sees the washing out of the de-rooted persona, replaced by a new one roughly described as “American”. These trends are demonstrated in “The Third and Final Continent” by J. Lahiri, as well as in “Who Will Light Incense When Mother’s Gone?” by Andrew Lam.
The Influence of Age on Migrants Experiencing a Culture Clash
The issues of cultural encounters, culture clashes, and assimilation are more pronounced in people who have been born, raised, and reached maturity in their native cultures. The older a person is, the harder it becomes to uproot their national identity and replace it with a new one. Often, individuals from the same country of origin form diasporas, to accommodate their cultural traditions and seek companionship among people of their kind rather than become fully immersed and assimilated.
Park identifies a diaspora as “a group of people from a distinctive nation or ethnic group, being settled or resettled away from their ancestral homeland in another territory where the dominant national group has a different culture and history and, this group, to a certain degree, being aware of a collective memory preserved due to a shared history of collective relocation for inevitable political reasons” (26).
Lahiri’s story reflects an individual who grew up fully immersed in his Indian culture, before being sent to study in the UK, and later found work in the US. His cultural backbone is reflected in how he views and treats his wife, Mali. To him, initially, marriage is a duty, as it is to take care of his newly-found wife, despite having little to no knowledge of her. While most people in the West would be apprehensive of a loveless marriage, Lahiri views it neither with desire nor disdain (189).
Likewise, Lahiri recalls his obligations to his own family and considers his obedience to them largely outside his control (175). He also obeyed the religious traditions of his country by avoiding beef in his food, opting for milk and cornflakes as a meal (175). These tendencies demonstrate Lahiri’s conviction and dedication to some of the corner postulates of his collectivist Indian culture.
Lam’s experience, as illustrated in “Who Will Light Incense When Mother’s Gone?”, is different. Based on the snippet about the writer, and the story, he left Vietnam at a very young age. His schooling and establishing himself as a person happened in the US. “By contrast, on the shelves below stand my older siblings’ engineering and business degrees, my degree in biochemistry,… my journalist awards” – this line demonstrates Lam’s acquaintance and immersion in the cultural and educational backgrounds of his new home country (Lam 1115). His connections with the Vietnamese culture, however, seem lacking, as most of the traditions are upheld only by his mother.
He does participate in certain rituals, such as the lighting of incense, and wishes the woman happy holidays on Tet and other celebratory dates (Lam 1116). However, he follows these traditions not because they make up his identity, but rather as a favor to his mother (Lam 1116). Lam’s perspective offers another issue to try and solve – the feeling of cultural duty to past generations, and the uncertainty of which heritage the person belongs to. It is an issue that Lahiri does not have to face, but is strongly present in the afterthought of Lam’s story. Unlike Lahiri, who feels himself a part of the Indian diaspora, Lam cannot say the same for the Vietnamese diaspora in the US. At the same time, he views being called a “cowboy” as offensive, thus not subscribing to being part of the US culture either.
Overall, it is possible to see the cultural clashes in both of the reviewed stories. Lahiri treats foreign culture with polite deference, while Lam attempts to adopt it as his own, even engaging in individualistic practices and achievements that are valued in the West, over the collectivist-spiritualist culture of his Vietnamese mother. In either case, however, there is no full adoption or denial of the foreign culture, leaving individuals in a kind of limbo, where some activities and beliefs feel intrinsically foreign and discomforting.
Coping With Cultural Differences and Reviewing Traditions
The degree to which national culture defines one’s reflecting on what traditions and beliefs they see as non-negotiable. Lahiri, having been raised in India until adulthood, defers to religion, retains elements of his clothes, and follows his traditional duties to the letter. It can be seen in his meal choices, how he treats his wife, and even small habits. For example, he does not wear shoes at home, which is found odd by the lady’s daughter he rents a room from (Lahiri 185).
At the same time, Lahiri is willing to dispense with some of the traditions of his homeland, seeing them either as irrelevant or inappropriate. In his conversation with Mali, he tells her not to wear the traditional outfit to the letter, if she does not want to, pointing out that nobody would care, around here (Lahiri 187). Nevertheless, the man maintains the image of a diaspore-bound Indian person, who, despite, adapting to changing circumstances, retains his core identity.
Lan’s example is that of an individual almost completely disconnected from his roots. The text does not mention a single religious tradition, clothing fashion, or spiritual practice that he considers important or defining. He does not even speak Vietnamese in his household, at his mother’s behest (Lan 1116). This demonstrates that individuals without strong cultural ties to their place of origin are much easier to assimilate into the new dominant culture. Religion does not appear on the list of priorities either, as he views his mother’s traditions and beliefs with a degree of contempt, seeing them as irrational rituals of a bygone age. At the same time, he seeks the comfort and assurance that her religion gives her, longing for having stronger ties with a place where his ancestors lived.
Physical Discomfort vs. A Lack of Sense of Belonging
Lan and Lahiri demonstrate two different types of issues associated with assimilation. Lahiri is visibly bewildered and discomforted by many practices in everyday American life. It can be seen in the way he describes people, objects, and procedures. He finds Americans to be very boastful, loud, and bizarre individuals. He also does not understand their individualistic mindset, in which a 100-year-old woman could live in a house alone, only rarely visited by her daughter.
Lahiri recalls his mother going insane after his father’s death, demonstrating the importance of family and community to his culture (Lahiri 184). The discomfort comes from the lack of internalization of these traditions and practices. He respects them but does not understand or necessarily approve of them, which makes the man feel like a stranger in a place he is to call home for the foreseeable future.
Lan presents the different facets of cultural assimilation, being at a strange point where he manages to function well in a foreign society and even internalize some of its core tenets while failing to fully embrace his new identity. Lan is stuck at a point where he no longer feels connected to his Vietnamese roots while, at the same time, not being able to call himself fully American (Lan 1116). It creates a strange dichotomy where to other Americans Lan is still an Asian, whereas in his household he is viewed more as a “cowboy,” attributing him to the dominant culture rather than their own. As a result, he is neither American nor Vietnamese, and the struggle for identity weighs heavily on Lan’s shoulders. It can be demonstrated in the final quote of the essay: “I fear she’ll leave me stranded in America, becoming more American than I expected, a lonely cowboy cursed with amnesia” (Lan 1116).
It is important to note that neither experience offers a straightforward solution to either of these problems. While Lahiri can potentially seek refuge in diasporas and nationalism, Lan does not seem to have an option besides fully immersing himself in American culture, or returning to Vietnamese roots. The latter appears to be contradictory to his personal views and beliefs.
Conclusions
Immigrants to the US (or any other country) are exposed to assimilation by the locality’s dominant culture. Depending on how well-immersed their culture of origin, they may prove resistant or compliant with the new culture. Lahiri showed an example of maintaining his cultural core. This came at the price of feeling discomfort whenever encountering traditions and practices different from his own. He felt like a stranger in a foreign country, despite having plenty of experience immersing himself in western traditions during his tutorship in London. Lan shows a different side of the coin, when a young individual adapts well to a foreign culture, but loses the sense of national self his older peers have.
Both are real struggles that individuals have to face on an everyday basis. In essence, migrants appear to never fully settle, being either strangers in a foreign country or strangers among their people. Solutions to the problem are unclear, with diasporas offering only a partial escape for those whose national identity is firmly rooted in their culture of origin.
Works Cited
Lahiri, Jhunipa. “The Third and Final Continent.” 1999. Web.
Lam, Andrew. “Who Will Light Incense When Mother’s Gone?” Pacific News Service, 2003, p. 1115-1116.
Park, Jeong-Won. “The National Identity of Diaspora: A Comparative Study of the Korean Identity in China, Japan and Uzbekistan”, 2005. Web.