Cultural Influence on Worldview: An Examination

One’s culture somewhat affects the way one views others and the world. It is up to the person whether they want to view things with an open new mind or from one’s cultural perspective. A few examples of how culture somewhat affects someone’s view of others and the world can be found in Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and in “By Any Other Name” in the book Springboard. It depends on what one’s viewpoints are on other cultures and traditions. If someone thinks that their culture is better than any other, then they might approach the world differently than how a someone that is open to new ideas and is willing to make a change. How much a culture affects the way a person views the world depends on the person’s past experiences and

In a short story called “Mrs. Sen’s”, Mrs. Sen, one of the protagonists, is unhappy with her life in the U.S. because she thinks that people don’t care about her as much as they did in India. She had all of her assets in India, but here she has to learn how to live independently and she has to learn how to drive because where she used to live she had a personal driver that took everywhere she needed to go, for example when she says, “Eliot, if I began to scream right now at the top of my lungs, would someone come?”(Lahiri 116) she is really asking if people cares about her. Eliot, a boy who she was babysitting, later answers her with a “Maybe” she says, “At home that is all you have to do. But just raise your voice a bit, or express grief or joy of any kind, and one whole neighborhood and half of another has to come and share the news, to help with the arrangements” (Lahiri 116) by referring to where she used to live she is showing that she liked it better when she was at home which is for her, India. Mrs. Sen had a better life in India so when she moved to America she did not like it because she had everything she needed in