Cultural Differences In Two Kinds And Who's Irish?

Immigrating to a new country and assimilating to its culture is often very difficult for a family. “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, “Children of Loneliness” by Anzia Yezierska and “Who’s
Irish?” by Gish Jen explore the relationships of parents and children after immigrating to
America and the old country versus the new country’s way of life. Each story has conflict between the two generations caused by a cultural gap. Every parent and child disagree, but immigrant families have greater tension caused by cultural differences. Although there are divides between most parents and children, forms of discipline, differences in cultural behavior and high parental expectations increase divides between immigrant generations in order to reveal the tension sparked …show more content…
The clash of two cultures push the children and parents away from each other. After
Rachel’s parents decide not to conform to her demands in “Children of Loneliness,” Rachel becomes angry, exclaiming. “I’ll never be able to stand it here with you people” (Yezierska 178).
After immigrating to the United States, Rachel accepts American culture while her parents do not. She views her parent’s table etiquette as terrible but her parents think it is normal because that is how they acted in their old country. Rachel is so embarrassed by her parents’ terrible table etiquette that she ends up moving out of their family apartment and ruins their relationship. Due to the grandmother’s conservative upbringing in China in “Who’s Irish?”, she believes “Nothing the matter with Sophie’s outside, that’s the truth. It is inside that she is not like any Chinese girl that I ever see. We go to the park and this is what she does” (Jen 3) when Sophie takes her clothes off. Her take on Sophie’s undressing is different than her daughter’s. Natalie thinks it is a phase and advises her family not to punish her, but to let her grow out of it. The Grandmother believes it is because of her wild side that came from John and his family. She thinks he is

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Cultural Differences In Two Kinds And Who's Irish?

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