Acculturation in Literature Essay Example

There are thirty-eight hundred different cultures throughout the world, and the definition of acculturation states fully understanding information or ideas of a different culture, typically the dominant one. The author Karen Russell of “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” starts by introducing us to a pack of girls who only know their way of life. The Nuns of the home try to teach the girls how to behave and adapt to a working society. Through trial and error, the girls function in both societies. Although this is true, the girl ends up never truly knowing where they belong in society. “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee puts culture into a different but same agenda perspective. This story dives into the depth of grief when a terrorist attack kills hundreds of families. According to one’s religion, there are different ways to handle grief. Each culture fights to be right while neither is wrong. Although culture fights are negative these short stories are great examples of acculturation because the protagonists learn a new culture unwillingly, society enforces structure around their own beliefs, and the characters psychologically transform themselves through experience.

Both protagonists are told that their way of life is unacceptable, and they are forced to learn a new unfamiliar culture and way of life. In the story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves'' Karen Russell states, “The rest of the pack ran in a loose, uncertain circle torn between our instinct to help her or our new fear.” (267). This fear the girls are experiencing is the fear of the Nuns trying to teach another culture to them, and the reason they are scared is that they only know their own instincts as wolves. This culture is being drilled into the girls’ heads without them getting a say or a chance to help one another. The thoughts that are getting drilled into their heads are to only care about themselves instead of a pack-like view. Apart from this, Russell goes on to continue to say that “The whole pack was irritated, bewildered, depressed. [They] are uncomfortable in-between languages.” (268). This states that even though the girls were uncomfortable with this new language and new customs, they were still forced to be a part of a new culutre. This proves that due to the dominant nature of society's culture, the girls were being forced to adapt to new, unfimilar ways.

Having society understand and know every culture is a difficult task. This topic always sparks debates on what is wrong and what is right in various types of cultures. In “The Management of Grief,” Bharati Mukherjee exclaims, “[Shila’s] grandmother…shaved her head with rusty razor blades when she was widowed at sixteen.”(485). In Shila’s religion, a Hindu woman is defined as an addition for the male figures in the family, so when the male(s) become deceased they are taught to be ashamed due to the fact they were left behind. The Irish community tries to introduce Shila and the other families that suffered losses to a grief program. This process includes “stages to pass through: rejection, depression, acceptance, reconstruction.” (487). These programs are supposed to be used as a support system, that way it forms a structure around normal people versus grieving people. When this program of another cultural society is introduced, Shaila is now questioning what to do. This conflict of these cultures changes Shaila’s insight into society. Later when Shaila is confronted with her challenge, she goes to pray to her husband. Due to society's dominantion on her life, the puzzlement becomes unbearable. Eventually, Shaila starts on a new voyage by herself using both cultures that she was made known to. 

When introducing a dominant culture into a group of people the people who are introduced to it change. These people change due to learning new customs, but they change by the experiences of learning the new customs. This illustrates psychological transformation. For example, in “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” during the dance all of the girls turn against a member of their pack. “The pack has been waiting for this moment for some time.” (Russell 275). Being introduced to a new culture over time has provided them with enough experience to psychologically change how they view a pack of wolves. Due to this change, the girls are becoming more like individual civilized humans. In “The Management of Grief”, the author states that “[Mrs.Bhave] has worked as the liaison with accident victims, but [she] has no experience with a tragedy of this scale…and with the complications of culture” (Mukherjee 481). This shows that due to the cultural differences everyone including the natives has to change in order to deal with different cultures. This happens to Shaila when she learns to use both of her new and old cultures to carry on with her life. The cause of learning new customs and changing who these people are causes psychological changes to occur when new coping customs are introduced, but the grievers already have a coping culture. All in all, the culture that dominates the individual will psychologically change a person's mindset.   

In conclusion, both protagonists are told that their way of life is unacceptable, and they are forced to learn a new unfamiliar culture and way of life. The Nuns of the home try to teach the girls how to behave and adapt to a working society and a program that is used as a support system that conflicts cultures and adapting to a different society. Each culture fights to be right while neither is wrong, so the demonstration of acculturation in these two texts proves that the dominant culture always interferes with someone’s social connection, psychological thoughts, and causes belief confrontation.