Essay about Cultural Expectations in a Selection of Texts

Psychological realism is evident almost immediately in the story. “She had already decided that she could not let him stay…” (Howells 43), Editha begins making decisions in her mind without consultation from those that it affects. As the story continues, readers learn that due to George’s upbringing, he is anti-war. However, Editha believes that war is glorious and that George enlisting would be a symbol of his love to her, “…if he could do something worthy to have won her- be a hero, her hero…” (Howells 44). The character contest comes into play when readers discover that George is willing to do whatever it takes to please Editha, and she knows this too. It isn’t a matter of who loves who more but, a matter of which individual is willing to sacrifice their own ethical beliefs to save the relationship.

“Rip Van Winkle” is a classic American Mythological story that tells the tale of a man who sleeps for twenty years after drinking a mysterious drink. Rip Van Winkle is a very lazy, American man who one day, ventures off into the woods with his dog named Wolf. While in the woods, he finds a group of men playing Skittles and drinking liquor in the middle of an amphitheater. He joins them, and drinks some of their alcohol, but he soon passes out. When he awakens, twenty years have passed, and he missed the Revolutionary War, his children growing up, and even his wife passing away. What characteristics make this folklore such a classic fable in American literature? The story is set in the past, features exaggerated and strange characters, and

W.D. Howells uses irony to illuminate the difference of perspective and conflict of interest between Editha and George. Editha is so busy trying to fix what she believes is wrong with George; she does not recognize the flaws in her own thinking. She secretly sees George as less than he is because of his peaceful nature, and she does not imagine that George is aware of her low regard of him. Editha uses three reasons to support her advocacy for the war, first, that to fight in the war will be glorious. Second, that the war is ordained by God, and third, that to fight for the country is to show devotion or loyalty. Similarly, war advocates have used these same reasons to rally the citizens to battle in past wartimes.

George, unlike the reader however, is unaware of Editha’s dishonest reasons for her support of the war and ignorantly goes off to war with the innocent belief that his girlfriend actually cares about the outcome of the war itself and not that it might potentially shape him into the man she secretly wishes he was. Howell’s use of Editha and her deceitful motives for supporting the war add a layer of realism to the story, as peoples’ motives in real life are not always pure.

Anderson, K. (2013). The Difference Between Macro and Microeconomics | Mint.com. Retrieved October 13, 2013, from https://www.mint.com/the-difference-between-macro-and-microeconomics/

Over the past 100 years, the United States has changed the way it views other cultures including more respect, equality, and freedom for all people. As much as America has grown, has America really changed that drastically? Across the nation and world, cultural differences still exist, misunderstandings continue, and fighting persists. Recent attacks within the United States that are similar to the conflicts between the Japanese and Americans in the early 1900’s include the 9/11 attack, the bombing at the Boston Marathon, and the mass shooting in Orlando.

Editha glamorizes it, whereas George recognizes the actualities such as death and destruction. George wins Editha’s affection by entering the War, but George becomes unhappy with all

The school atmosphere was different I was hanging with Caucasian girls and the African American children did not understand what I was doing being so close to children opposite of my own culture. At that point, I was unsure of what their problem was but realized they were sheltered from other cultures and raised differently. This caused several fights as a child because other children would call me a “little white girl” and I had no idea of what that meant and was offended. I was raised around majority boys in the neighborhood, until I started playing softball, some would consider me as a tomboy. So

The world has millions of people of diverse cultural backgrounds. They have their own beliefs, food habits, art forms, and dressing styles. Since ancient times, these people are coming across each other and are exchanging their ideas. However, sometimes people turn hostile because of their cultural prejudices. This tendency to judge the other people based on the standards of his or her own culture is cultural bias. It is a major hindrance in performing a cross-cultural research. A person who is culturally biased ignores the differences that exist between his own culture and other cultures. Cultural bias can stereotype a culture. When a person says his cultures superior to others, he is undoubtedly culturally biased. Such a person never appreciates

The character of Rip Van Winkle was one who was considered lazy and unproductive. He was "one of the happy mortals...who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, which ever he can be got with least thought or trouble..." (Irving 983). Winkle was the kind of

Literature is an imitation of societal values and is thus a reflection of the human experience of a time period. Written works emphasize the elements of culture, by means of characters, particular events, setting and theme, specific to the time period in which it was composed. Furthermore, literature mirrors the troubles or hardships of society and projects the core values that define said society. Thus, as culture has changed over time, literature has remained a critical facet in representing time periods of the past. Essentially, the culture of a time period is manifested through writing in the projection of society’s values, symbolism of the center of community and literature itself.

“Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own: but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible,” (Irving 10). Washington Irving is a romantic American writer in the 1800s with works including Rip Van Winkle as a part of the collection of essays and short stories called The Sketchbook. Rip Van Winkle is set in a village near the Kaatskill Mountains during the American Revolution and tells the story of a man who is loved by many in the town but spends his days in idleness. His wife often nags him because Van Winkle does not work for anything in his family. One day, to escape his wife’s nagging, Van Winkle walks off into the mountains with his dog, Wolfe. He stumbles upon a group of strange

If we look at the world today, there are millions of cultures centered everywhere. With this much cultures in the world, everyone is bound to believe that they’re all different. Even though they are different in some aspects, all of them are similar to each other in some way. So if this is the case, do we as human beings have the right to judge these cultures as ethically wrong or just a cultural difference? Cultural Relativism is the belief that we cannot judge the cultural practices of other societies and that we should let them do as they please. But if we cannot judge them, does it make it right when they threaten the lives of others? Through the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, we begin to have a deeper insight this idea of

Cultural differences effect many aspects of our daily lives. With the many different cultures embedded in the United States, it is important that everyone has an understanding and respect for the melting pot that is encountered daily in our communities, workplaces and schools.

Every society and culture has different ways of interpreting and defining occurrences by the way their own culture or society functions. “A society’s culture, consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members”(Geertz 242). The rituals, customs, ethics and morals that are attributed to the cultures have caused these differences. To understand how the people of one culture interpret a situation or event, one must evaluate the attributes that a culture has. The criteria that an event is based on changes as one culture applies their own ideas to the given situation. Heroism and violation are two concepts that are easily misinterpreted depending on culture’s ideals. Since cultures