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Personal Fulfillment in Literature

6 Pages 1542 Words April 2016

Although Isabel Allende and Bharati Mukherjee are from two distinct cultures they are able to depict the same social problems people face. With the use of magical realism that Allendes integrates in her writing along with the cultural background that Mukherjee provides in her works we are able to see how these problems can be overcome. Consequently, Allende’s Stories of Eva Luna and Mukherjee’s The Middleman and Other Stories demonstrate personal fulfillment through their various characters.
The protagonists of both collections feature characters who contradict their culture in order to follow their dreams. In Mukherjee’s “A Wife’s Story” the narrator summarizes her life of defying her family traditions and other acts that would have been considered unacceptable so that she could become the modern women she felt like being. In one case, she confirms that the actions taken were making “something of [her] life” although she had “left home” and her “husband to get a Ph.D.” in her profession. The tone that she used in implying what she had done suggests that she had no regrets and that it was in her best interests in doing so. Also, being an Indian female, the protagonist manages to oppose her cultural norms of staying with her husband in becoming the educated woman she desired. Similarly, in “Buried Lives” by Mukherjee the protagonist, Mr. Venkatesan also displays acts of challenging his cultural norms as well. Having to take care of “a large family” including “parents, one set of grandparents, and aunt, and three much younger, unmarried sisters”, Mr. Venkatesan felt overwhelmed with his life in having too much responsibility. The parallelism employed of the listed family members and the diction of “unmarried” that described the sisters indicates that Mr. Venkatesan had a great obligation with his family in having to provide for the elders and protecting the unmarried women from men which is common...

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