Cultural Clash
...r social status is not as high as she would like. Her restlessness derives from material possessions and desires to be better know around the community. Ibsen’s play titled “Hedda Gabler” is much the same. She marries a man who is supposed to turn out a prominent scholar at the local university. On their honeymoon, instead of spending his time with her, he explores the vast libraries around Europe searching for information to put in the book he wishes to publish. When she discovers that he is a bit of a bore and not in line to receive the promotion like previously thought, she desires another man. Both of these examples are contradictory to the way that the Eastern part of the world thought, at least as far as literature is concerned. The Eastern culture differed greatly from that of the Western Europeans. Unlike the possession minded Europeans, the Eastern culture was much more concerned with simply being. As authors like Doris Lessing, Mahasweta, and Basho pointed out, it is much more important to be right within yourself and others, than to have lots of worldly possessions or status. The Narrow Road of the Interior by Basho is a great example of just how different these to cultures are from each other. As apposed to the European stories, Basho is a religious and pious man who sets out on a pilgrimage to observe the beauty of the landscape and hopefully enlighten his own soul. Of course we know that Basho’s true motives in writing this piece do not seem to be as pious as the story lets on, though the story itself is more attuned to that of Eastern writing and culture. Mahasweta’s “Breast Giver” shows the changes that time induces on a culture. The story takes place through the mid to late nineteen hundreds (1950’s through perhaps 80’s) and in the country of India. This tale is unique because it shows how culture changes in one place due to time. The Breast Giver is about an Indian woman by the name of Jashoda. She is gifted with massive breasts that have the capability to feed many children. As long as she herself can have kids, her breasts continue to produce the milk. We see the country change as time passes. Her way of like is no longer the normal Indian lifestyle, and the country is “Moving on.” Electricity starts to take over, women are going to college instead of being only house wives, and people are losing the respect of the elders. In the end of the story she is distressed because so few of the people that she cared for return to see her before she dies. Another example would be “The Old Chief Mshlanga” by Doris Lessing. Her story is perhaps the best example of the cultural differences between the Western Europeans and Eastern philosophized Africans, because both cultures are represented in the piece. The story is told through the perspective of a young European girl whose family has colonized in one of the Coastal African cou...