Interview with Ambika

Ambika (India, 16) 

CV: What is your home of origin? Why did you/your family settle in NJ?

I was born in India and I moved here because my dad was studying here. Then, the whole family decided to move here.


CV: What is your favorite aspect of your culture?

I don’t know the different clothes and the food. My favorite type of Indian food is paneer, which is unaged curd cheese that's used commonly in many dishes.



CV: Define and describe the most important (or most celebrated) holiday of your culture.

There’s Diwali which is a new year, when Indian families have fireworks and celebrate. This is it was in late October and even though my family didn't do much for Diwali, it's highly celebrated in India. It's celebrated for five days, where the third day is called the "festival of lights," when people light up candles all around their house for this auspicious occasion. 


CV: What would you say is, from your perspective, the most commonly held misconception about people of your culture?

I guess that we are not really modern and we are all still developing. I feel like India is portrayed as an undeveloped nation in a lot of the movies, such as Slumdog Millionaire. But there are places in India that are modern and lifestyles that are with "the internet".

CV: Have you ever experienced racism?

I don't think so. Well, I don't feel like I personally experienced racism. Maybe because in NJ there are a lot of different cultures.

CV: What is the best thing about living in the U.S.?

Probably meeting all these different cultures. The U.S. is the melting pot of all sorts of different people that individuals can be free to express themselves.

CV: What is the worst thing about living in the USA? 

I guess from our town there aren’t many Indians that I could connect to.

CV: Lastly, how do people greet one another? 

We say namaste (:

Interview with Mabel

Mabel (China, 16)

CV: What is your history? What is your home of origin? Why did you/your family settle in NJ?

Mabel: I was born in China, in Shandong province, a eastern coastal province. I first moved to Florida from China because my parents were doing their masters at the University of Florida. After living there for 11 years, my dad got a new job at Manhattan and so we moved to New Jersey.

CV: What is your favorite aspect of the Chinese culture?

Can I say food? I like all Chinese food.

CV: Define and describe the most important holiday of the Chinese culture.

Mabel: Definitely the Chinese New Year! It’s a really big festival because it celebrates the new lunar year. It’s the idea of a fresh start and everything starting over again. And also so there is this familiar aspect to Chinese New Year where you want to be with your family and celebrate all the good with your relatives.

CV: What would you say is, from your perspective, the most commonly held misconception about people of your culture?

Mabel: Probably the idea that we only care about education and school. That’s definitely not true because there’s so much more to Chinese culture like holidays and celebrations that people don’t even consider. And even on a day-to-day basis there is so much Chinese culture everywhere. So Chinese culture is not just about the stereotypical Asian kid that studies all the time to get into a good school. It’s not like that.

CV: Have you ever experienced racism? In what form?

Mabel: I mean going back to the idea of the stereotypical Asian kid. There is a stereotype because it’s generally true but it’s still racist to look at an individual and say that you only care about grades and good school because you are Chinese.

CV: What is the best thing about living in the USA?

Mabel: Probably the level of freedom to explore your dreams and interests because in China a lot of times you have to stay at home with your family to help and your parents expect you to do what they want you to do or is the most financially stable. For example, both my cousins work in banks because it’s a fairly common job and is stable. On the other hand, in the U.S., even though that can sometimes be true, there is much more freedom to explore what you want to do personally.

CV: How do people greet one another?

They shake hands and say ni hao.

Interview with Cindy

Cindy (South Korea, 18)

CV: What is your home of origin? Why did you/your family settle in NJ?

Cindy: I was born in South Korea but my dad wanted to come to the U.S. for graduate school. He stayed here and eventually my mom and I came. We have been living here ever since. And, we decided to move to NJ because I think NJ is a pretty well known as a Korean community so we thought we would be comfortable here with lots of opportunities.



CV: What is your favorite aspect of your culture?

Cindy:I respect the fact that manners are very important to the Korean culture. Age is a big factor in how people interact in the Korean community. We use formal Korean called jon-daen-mal to address older individuals and ban-mal to talk to friends and those younger than you.



CV: Define and describe the most important (or most celebrated) holiday of your culture.

Cindy: The most celebrated holiday is Chuseok, which is similar to Thanksgiving. Like Thanksgiving, we gather with all our relatives to meet up and eat. My favorite food from Chuseok is dduk-gook which is a type of rice cake soup.



CV: What would you say is, from your perspective, the most commonly held misconception about people of your culture?

Cindy: I guess a misconception is that Koreans, or more broadly Asians are very studious and hardworking which is not a general rule about everyone. I think this sets up automatic expectations from people, that may not reflect the person you actually are.



CV: Have you ever experienced racism?

Cindy: Probably... I probably experience racism day to day. I don't think I experience it directly, but the way people treat me on a daily basis.



CV: What is the best thing about living in the U.S.?

Cindy: I guess the good education system and lots of fun places to be able to go to, such as all the attractions and travel locations. Also, I like the clean air.



CV: What is the worst thing about living in the USA? 

Cindy: It’s far from Korea. It takes about 12-13 hours to fly from NJ to Seoul, Korea.



CV: Lastly, how do people greet one another? 

Cindy: You say ahn-young-ha-sae-yo to say hello formally in Korean while bowing.

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Racial Diversity in Our Community

	White alone, percent, 2010 (a)	69.3%	68.6%
	Black or African American alone, percent, 2010 (a)	0.9%	13.7%
	American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, 2010 (a)	Z	0.3%
	Asian alone, percent, 2010 (a)	26.2%	8.3%
	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent, 2010 (a)	0.0%	0.0%
	Two or More Races, percent, 2010	2.3%	2.7%
	Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010 (b)	5.4%	17.7%
	White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010	65.4%	59.3%

Source: US Census Bureau

Racial Diversity Across the U.S.

Credit: Randy Olson

Findings from Literature

Culture in the simplest sense is made up of only a few foundational elements: a common set of beliefs, values, customs, and language. These shared patterns that unite individuals, also distinguish each other from the wide variety of different cultures in the world. Culture can be seen in all types of societies—dystopian, the past, and the present—illustrating the prominent role it plays in the actions and thoughts of individuals whose perception alters in conjunction to the respective values. Regardless of our differences, culture defines our self-identity and dictates the values that we hold. Literature suggests through character perspectives and stylistic literary devices that identities do indeed drive from traits that are instilled by culture as well as one’s inert individuality.

In both Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Offred and Winston are seen to change to perceive reality in a form that is the norm to the new, yet forcefully familiar culture. Culture is forced upon them and their self-perceptions are subject to change appropriately to suit the new values and beliefs that are enforced. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is also shown to be forced, as part of his duty, into his plan for revenge, indicating that a culture overrules one’s nature to follow the customs of his time period. Hamlet’s interpretation of his culture demonstrates how culture eventually makes history, as the traditions ingrained in the beliefs of the people allow them to repeat the mistakes and actions of others in the past. The Happiness Project, however, proves Offred, Winston and Hamlet wrong, as it shows Gretchen breaking out of the shell that society has entrapped her in, and taking charge of her thoughts and actions through self-evaluation. Literature thus seems to capture the sense of the struggling balance that many attempt to juggle between ingrained values and individuality.