Cultural Values And Cultures In Amy Tan's Two Kinds

Culture embodies the collection of values, beliefs, and traditions that shape an individual’s relationship to the world. Cultural attributes are similar to an iceberg in the sense that some aspects of cultural identify are overtly visible to the world, while others are hidden and manifest themselves because of unexpected experiences in life. The seemingly unrelated and latent values, beliefs, and traditions that combine to constitute a person’s cultural identity are often irregular and discordant, but are still extremely powerful. A person’s culture and cultural conflicts affect the way that he or she perceive others, the world, and himself.

The cultural identity of an individual influences his or her perception of other people. Amy Tan’s “Two

This type of discordance surfaces in every stage of our lives, and is an essential part of our culture’s effect on us. Without it, there would be very little to distinguish ourselves from other people, and all our relationships would be monotonous and

An individual’s perception of the world truly manifests itself when they are forced to reside away from the place of their cultural upbringing. Frida Kahlo’s painting “Self-Portrait on the borderline between Mexico and the United States” supports this idea. Kahlo is forced to move to the United States from her native Mexico because of her husband’s employment. Due to her distinctly Mexican culture, Kahlo feels out of place in the starkly different culture of the United States, which she reveals through her painting. The painting shows the border between the United States and Mexico. On the United States side, Kahlo draws factories, skyscraper, and advanced machinery, while on the Mexico side, she draws old Mayan ruins, statues, and