Multicultural Analysis
Elizabeth Alston
ENG157
March 11, 2013
Melissa Sheppard

Multicultural Analysis
Multicultural literature offers the reader a brief look into a new or unknown culture. The traditions, values, beliefs, and lifestyle are revealed through the story, and the reader realizes why certain actions or decisions are made. In the various stories throughout this course there are common themes represented in many. Modern ideas and traditional beliefs often disagree and this is shown in Chinua Achebe’s “Dead Men’s Path,” Chitra Divakaruni’s “Mrs Dutta Writes a Letter,” and Subhadra Sen Gupta’s “Good Girls Are Bad News.” These stories illustrate the conflict between modern ways of thinking versus traditional beliefs and if the ability to change is present.
Every culture has their traditions and practices that make them who they are. These traditions are learned from past generations and continually passed on. It takes many years to change common customs as well as open minds. When something is practiced decade after decade it makes it harder to accept change, especially for the older generations who are very much set in their ways. This is demonstrated in all three stories. In “Dead Men’s Path” it is the young headmaster, Obi who wants to move forward and eliminate the path from the school as he thinks it is not necessary. Obi believes the school’s appearance is more important than years and years of tradition. In “Mrs Dutta Writes a Letter” it is the mother who moves from India to America with her son that cannot accept the modern westernized ways of living. Finally, in “Good Girls Are Bad News” it is the whole village that looks down on Bineeta for smoking a cigarette in public which was not proper for a girl at that time. “Dead Men’s Path” takes place in Ndume, Africa in the late 40s. Michael Obi is the newly appointed headmaster of