Culture and identity Essay

betwixt Ourselves is to the highest degree an Indian girl who has travelled to the States for further education. She is Hindu and her start is telling her not to marry some mavin from there. She go throughs and marries an the Statesn and of course her parents do not approve. Later the woman regrets the loss of Indian purification. Lovelaces story is about Joebell a Trinidadian who is trying to go to America. He conceptualises that he is a hero and is risk taker and would have a damp life in America. In the end he fails to go to America and then realises that Trinidad is where he belongs partly because he never saw an American fail.Joebell as a character is very different from lots of passel he is courageous and takes risks e.g. he takes a big risk getting the fake passport. Joebell has been influenced very much by American films especially punch films. In Joebells mind America is everything e.g. Where everybody have a ram car and you could ski on s at one time and where it have seventy fin channels of warp television. This is what Joebell is thinking about nothing else, comely abide bying television all day. I think Joebell has a movement of fame, as he would go in a snackette and would take up a big space and just ask for a toothpick. in a higher place all I think Joebell is a very interesting psyche, as he would do things that former(a) people wouldnt. The Mother in betwixt Ourselves is someone who cares about her daughter a lot, she is worried that her daughter result meet and marry a man in America and marry. She writes Your Ghosh Mashima asked me the other day if I was expecting an American son-in-law. Of course not our Miru is as she was forward and she would not do such a thing, she went to America to study not to catch a husband, this shows that Mirus bewilder is proud of her religion, faith, culture and tradition.When Miru replies saying that she is difference to marry an American, the mother shows her frustration e.g. Both your tiro and I are astounded by your letter, so Ghosh Mashima was not so wrong after all How could you This shows the ira of the Mother as she sends the coin for her flight back. The daughter (Miru) is a person who is very determined and independent. The plectrum for her to go to university in America changes the rest of her life and a prime(a) that she cant change. Her relationship with her Mother that was once strong is now vulnerable, E.g. I miss you a lot, wit respect and love, yours Miru. This was Mirus first-class honours degree letter, the last letter that she wished she had written conveyed a lot more than anger e.g. I am even more astounded by your wish of understanding, you show no sympathy for my inner struggle, this shows her anger at her mother.Between Ourselves is a story that has been written in a serial publication of letters between mother and daughter. I think that this shows that it is a ad hominem story and intimate. The letters give the take aimer the idea that they are eavesdropping on someone elses conversation. In Joebell and America the story changes from third person to first person. I think that Earl Lovelace has written this brilliantly, when I first read it I did not notice it, it was wish well looking at someone doing something then the next minute you are in that persons brain, the effect of this is stress because it is at a extremely crucial part, when the two immigration officers Squirrel eyeball and the other man sit next to Joebell. It also slows down the tension, its like the reader identifies with Joebell.In Joebell and America there is some very entertain language, the whole way through the story, e.g. When Joebells mother hears that her son is divergence to America she says Joebell gone away praise God . The way Joebell thinks that he is a hero and how Joebell tries to be a Yankee How ya doin, main Hiya mess up. The story is written in a Trinidadian dialect, which makes it more fun, more interesting because it is written in a way that someone speaks and it has a powerful rhythm. This is very different to Between Ourselves, this story funny whereas Between Ourselves is a lot more tense, more serious between the mother and daughter e.g. the way the mother reacts when she reads what her daughter has written in the letter that she is going to marry someone from America, the mother is astounded, and shocked with disgust. I think this story would keep you at the edge of your seat in a more serious way.The different stories tell two numerous attractions of America, for the first time in Between Ourselves the letters make you think that this is the homeland of the world, where you meet a whole new world, but the food is not as good as the food in Calcutta, whereas in Joebell and America, the attraction to America is having a chance to watch seventy five channels of colour television. Personally I think that just going to America to watch TV is very sad.When Earl Lovelace wrote Joebell and Americ a I think he treasured to make us feel that Trinidad society is worth closureing in, rather than going to America, and that Joebell would be better in Trinidad because he likes to walk and likes to know everyone well-nigh him, in Between Ourselves the author wants us to think that when you move from one country to another, it is like changing cultures and is never simple, also when you move countries and stay for a long time your culture and identity from your homeland perhaps lost.