Culture… something that every society and/or country differ in. Many different societies have many different cultures. For example, in Saudi Arabia, their culture consists of the men of the society being the top dogs, arranged marriages where the men get to chose the women, and a society where they’re not very open to new ideas. Older America had been just like that, but in modern America, our culture has changed drastically. Our culture now consists of both sexes being on top, no arranged marriages, and we are open to new ideas. In the short story, “Carnal Knowledge” by Coraghessan Boyle, Boyle uses contemporary American culture to affect the readers of this piece. The cultural differences that he shows in his story are, how women are more…show more content… In the short story Carnal Knowledge, the main character, Jim, falls for a woman named Alena. Jim is a male who somewhat enjoys the consumption of meat products. This is evident at the beginning of the story when Jim says, “When I took a date to Anna Maria’s, I could never resist the veal scallopini” (Boyle 665). Jim later meets Alena. Someone whom he is totally infatuated with. But, there is one catch, she is a vegan. This is apparent because in a conversation they were having about dinner, she clearly states, “I’m a Vegan” (596). Throughout the entire story after Alena reveals that she was a vegan, Jim choses to try his best to change his ways and be a person that he’s not and tells her that he is also a vegan. In that same conversation, Jim says, “ I mean, I don’t eat meat myself” (569). If this was to occur in older American culture, Jim would not be so quick to change for the women, but most likely the other way around. But because this short story was written in contemporary America, it was the man who was willing to change. During the entire duration of the story, there was no sign that maybe Alena would change for Jim because in this culture, women are independent with the idea that they don’t need a…show more content… Back then, people were afraid to share what they thought because people didn’t like things that were “different”. Well people still don’t but day by day, we are getting more open minded as a society. In the story, there was a riot that was meant to spread and share the ideas of not killing any animal for any reason. Attending the riot, Alena starts the chant, “fur is death, fur is death”(570). Riots and everybody coming together to share differing ideas is a more common thing. Also, our culture is more liberal than it has ever been. The idea of not killing any kind of animal for any reason is also a very liberal
