Literary Analysis Essay on "Cultural Encounter" and "Martha, Martha"

Introduction

Culture is something dear to human beings as it provides them with a sense of belonging and identity. Notably, cultural aspects vary from one community to another since different people have different approaches to life as well as norms. Importantly, the advancement of technology and innovation is pushing people to interact despite diversity. The globalization era contributes to the dire need of communicating despite the diverse cultural backgrounds. For instance, the search for education has seen people travel out of their home countries to meet new practices of life. The result of diverse interaction leads to Culture Encounter which means the introduction of new cultures. People who are in a different setting embrace Cultural Encounter for effective communication. This paper analyses the concept of Cultural Encounter and how it impacts individuals' self-worth focusing on the events in the short story "Martha, Martha" by Zadie Smith.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

"Martha, Martha" is a story about two women who are still haunted by their sad pasts. Martha Penk, a twenty-two-year-old girl, is looking for a new house after losing her home. She meets Pam Roberts, a realtor, who helps her to search for a house. Pam is an outspoken and a lively character; thus, she uses her personality to cheer up Martha. On the other side, Martha is ambitious and secretive but still lingers in her hurting past which make her reject the house sold by a young couple that reminds her of her past. The time frame of the story's setting is shortly after the 9/11 terror attack.

Importantly, the author depicts the cultural exchange between Martha and Pam. The concept of Cultural Encounter enables the author to portray the theme of an intercultural clash. People of different cultures are interacting not at the same time. The author tries to show that intercultural communication happens whenever there are people from diverse background involved. Notably, the encounters are not coincidences; instead, they merely, and they are unplanned. For instance, the man who Pam identifies as a Middle-Easterny happens to get lost and un-coincidentally asks Pam for direction (Smith, 2008).

Notably, the author is aware of the theme of Cultural Encounter in which she manifests using several aspects. First, the characters use specific objects and aspects to identify cultures that are not theirs. Moreover, each in the story poses a feature or a thing that represents his/her group. According to Hallam and Street, such identifications prepare people to welcome diversity; thus, they become swift in accommodating their colleagues with different norms (2008). For instance, The Middle-Eastern man has an accent that is identified from the communities in the Middle East region. Moreover, the writer describes the man to be wearing a scarf and hat that is common in the Middle East (Smith, 2008). Notably, the man's possession of these items enables Pam to recognize his cultural identity.

Consequently, people's behavior depends mostly on where they come from (Hallam & Street, 2008). According to Hallam and Street, an individual's principles is guided by his/her cultural beliefs and rules (2008). For instance, one's religion will control how one treats others. Chiefly, Smith uses this approach to describe the cultural encounter. Martha's rudeness and stiffness come from her "black" identity. People with color particularly the blacks are considered to have negative traits.

Lastly, the writer awareness of Cultural Encounter is depicted by the social classes that emerge from the cultural variations. Some groups belong to the high class and are considered to be better off than those from low-classes (Hallam & Street, 2008). It is important to note that this classification culminates to discrimination against the minor cultural groups. As pointed out by Smith, each culture mentioned in the story represents a particular social class. For instance, from Smith's description of Martha's clothing tells the reader that she is less classy. She writes, "A cheap-looking grey trouser suit and some fake pearls were conspiring to make her older than she was" (Smith 2008). These words explicitly show that Martha, a black woman, belongs to the low social-class.

Notably, Pam Roberts is aware of the Cultural Encounters as depicted in the story. As mentioned above, Pam is a realtor; thus her career makes her interact with clients from a diverse background. The author portrays Pam as a lively and sociable personality (Smith 2008). Her awareness facilities her efficiency while communicating with persons from other cultures. Importantly, she manifests her encounter through her capability of recognizing different cultures. According to Hallam and Street, Cultural Encounter provides an individual with knowledge about diverse cultures regarding the norms, objects, language, and beliefs (2008). For Pam's case, she was able to identify a man from the Middle East region by analyzing his accent together with the appearance concerning clothing (Smith, 2008). The sentence, "This temping agency? He asked with a heavy accent, quickly identified as Pam as Middle-Easterny," shows how Pam is conversant with other cultures (Smith 2008).

Consequently, Pam portrays her Cultural Encounter through her ability to accommodating other people's cultural behavior despite their annoyance. Hallam and Street explain that Cultural Encounter is beneficial in the prevention and management of inter-cultural conflict as it promotes mutual understanding despite the differences (2008). Therefore, Pam finds Martha with a problematic personality to interact, but she still treats her well with politeness (Smith, 2008). According to the narrator in the story, Pam understands Martha's attitude by linking it with her past; thus, she does not reciprocate her arrogance (Smith, 2008).

On the other hand, Martha is not aware of the Cultural Encounters theme. Martha is an introvert who is hiding many secrets from her past. Notably, her lack of Cultural Encounter makes her poses a negative attitude that makes impossible for her to interact with individuals from other cultures. For instance, she rudely interrupts Pam when she was explaining the benefits of the house she wanted to buy (Smith, 2008). Notably, People who interact less with others from a different background usually feel discriminated even when they are not treated as such (Hallam and Street, 2008). According to Hallam and Street, this feeling gives birth to a sense of resistance which in turn causes conflict in conversations (2008). Chiefly, Martha feels the same when Pam asks her whether she is a university student (Smith 2008). She feels despised; thus, she becomes defensive and talks to Pam (Smith, 2018).

Again, she finds the snow season pathetic whereas the residents in the area perceive it as fun (Smith, 2008). She says "Grown men playing in the snow" to show her discontent on the people enjoy the snow (Smith, 2008). Moreover, she sees how people are creating dolls using snow childish (Smith, 2008). Importantly, her lack of Cultural Encounter makes her not to see the amusement and relevance of the snow practices. More so, the narrator let the readers know that she is from a background that people are not conversant with affection (Smith, 2008). Therefore, when she meets Yousef and Amelia, a couple in love, who wants their house, she feels hurts and refuses to purchases (Smith, 2008).

The idea of skin and color promotes the theme of Cultural Encounter as it stands for the existence of different cultural groups in the storyline. Notably, the two aspects enable the writer to portray discrimination that emerges from the race. For instance, Smith describes Martha who is black a masculine physique which means that she is less beautiful due to her skin tone (Smith 2008). Moreover, the racial concept regarding skin color enables the author to explain the social classes that culminate from skin color variation. It is evident that the Black people in "Martha, Martha" are from the lower class as represented by Martha when the narrator says that he wore cheap and fake clothes and accessories respectively (Smith, 2008). Besides, color enables the readers to guess the origin of the characters in the plot.

It is evident that Cultural Encounters are essential in the promotion of globalization. It is critical for people to learn and accommodate new cultures since the dire need of interacting globally increases daily. Similarly, the short story "Martha, Martha" is a suitable literal work that depicts the diversity of people. The author incorporates characters from different backgrounds with diverse traits to show that harmony can still be achieved despite the differences with the help of Cultural Encounter.

References

Hallam E. & Street B (Eds). (2008). Cultural Encounters: Representing Otherness. Taylor & Francis Group, New York.

Smith Z. (2008). Martha, Martha. In An Anthropology of Short Stories from Five Continents, Prescot L. (Ed.) Palgrave Macmillan, New York.