Posts
I love this exchange between Dave and Bitsy about Maryam:
"She's just a woman of boundaries, hon."
"If she's so fond of her boundaries, what did she ever immigrate for?"
"Bitsy, for goodness sake! Next you'll be telling me she ought to love this country or leave it!"
"I'm not talking about countries; I'm talking about a basic...character flaw."
It's interesting to me that while Bitsy really wants Jin Ho to retain her Korean identity, she faults Maryam for not wanting to completely embrace American culture. I also think that Bitsy and Dave have made huge assumptions about Maryam without knowing why she moved to the U.S. Not everyone wants to leave their home country, not everyone feels they have a choice. For some people it is a compromise decision. Some people come thinking they will stay for a short period of time and end up living her for the rest of their lives. I think all of these factors can affect how you feel about your adopted country.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I thought it was interesting that Bitsy considered being reserved a character flaw.
ReplyDeleteAs I child, I encountered this point of view when my family moved from Rhode Island to Florida. My sister and I were typical reserved New Englanders - we kept private things private and were slow to warm up in social settings. Our Floridian classmates considered us snobs at first.
I'm still pretty reserved by nature - still run into social snags with a few aggressively outgoing people. Personally, I still think that some social boundaries are healthy. Privacy should be respected. Intimacy is something developed over time & only after establishing trust.
I agree wholeheartedly Kathleen! Here is another case of attributing a personality trait (Maryam's reserved nature) to a cultural value. Clearly not all Iranians (or Americans for that matter) keep things as private as Maryam.
ReplyDelete