Views On Identity And Culture: Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, And Khaled Hosseini

There are several authors that have written about their views on identity and culture, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, and Khaled Hosseini. Gwendolyn Brooks was an African American woman who wrote poetry about the people similar to her in her community. Brooks was the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Countee Cullen was an African American male born in the early 1900’s. After his family died he was taken in by a pastor and his wife, who shaped part of his culture. Khaled Hosseini is male and was born in Afghanistan, he also immigrated to the US as a kid. Culture influences identity by the manner we learn, live and behave as shown in A Thousand Splendid Suns and my own experience; however other characters might embrace this as culture is an important shaper of our overall personality which is shown in “Heritage” and “We Real Cool”.

Education plays a substantial aspect in culture by spreading different ideas among the masses, and teaches people to think in a different way than they might have had before. The power of education in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is tremendous. Through his style of writing it contains several significant quotes. For example “Marriage can wait, education cannot.” (Hosseini 114). This quote shows that education is valuable and precious because it is not always held with open hands and when the opportunity comes you should take it. Unlike education, marriage is something that can wait a lifetime. Education is more treasured because you can get farther in life with it, unlike marriage it doesn’t get you anywhere besides cleaning and cooking for your husband. Another crucial quote in A Thousand Splendid Suns is, “A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated…” (Hosseini 114). With Laila receiving education early on in her life is deeply benefited her later on in the story because eventually it becomes illegal for women to become educated. When women were able to be educated Afghanistan was in much better shape. There was less murder rates and women were being treated better than when women couldn’t be educated. Throughout the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, education was a gigantic theme carried throughout the novel. Another piece of literature that shares about education is, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. During the time Brooks wrote this poem school wasn’t very cherished as you can see in this quote, “We real cool. We left school.” (Brooks 1-2). In this quote you see that education was not a priority to her during her time which made her identity seeming slang and uncaring. Through these different pieces of literature you can see that education had different cultural views on it and how it was valued in different societies. Education is a crucial role in culture because it shapes the way people learn and think in the world.

Family portrays a tremendous appearance in culture considering you learn first through family cultural values such as traditions, roles, beliefs, and how we live. In A Thousand Splendid Suns Mariam is told by Nana advice that is crucial in the novel. “There is only one, one skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don’t teach it in school… Only one skill. And it’s this: tahamul. Endure.” (Hosseini 18). This quote explains how, in Afghanistan’s society, a man always finds a way to make any problem a woman’s fault. Men are in control and consider themselves superior to women; therefore, men can easily blame women for anything that goes wrong and escape punishment. The author demonstrates this in the book through many ways: one being the times when Mariam has her miscarriages. Rasheed makes it seem like the miscarriages are Mariam’s fault when in reality they are just natural tragedies. The author wrote, “With each disappointment, Rasheed had grown more remote and resentful. Now nothing Mariam did pleased him” (Hosseini 99). Mariam did nothing wrong but Rasheed blames Mariam, lowering her self-esteem, all so he can boost his own. Afghanistan’s society considers women the victims of society. If something goes wrong, a man will find a way to blame a woman. Another quote from the author is, “Where I come from, a woman’s face is her husband’s business only.” (Hossenini 70). This shows how controlling Rasheed is and how he makes Mariam wear a burqa to hide her face leading her to think that she is only his property. With Rasheed being the controlling and abusive husband he is, Mariam starts to change the way she lives by following everything he says and she starts believing the things he tells her. This shows how family can change the way you live and what your role is viewed by other people.

Culture determines how we behave and present ourselves in society by influencing individuals through the diversity of communities, including their own. An amazing piece of literature is “Heritage” by Countee Cullen. Cullen has a great representation of how culture determines how we behave and present ourselves in society. Cullen shares his story through his poem, for example, “So I lie, who find no peace, Night or day, no slight release, From the unremitting beat Made by cruel padded feet, Walking through my body’s street.” (Cullen 64-68). This quote shows Cullen’s culture he is living in makes his identity unclear to him as he struggles between what he came from and what he is being taught. Later on in the poem he quotes, ‘Must my heart grow sick and falter, Wishing He I served were Black,’ (Cullen 100-101). This quote shows how Cullen’s culture leaves him feeling conflicted between the culture he was descended from and the culture he is being taught to live in today. This influences his identity because it makes him wonder who he is and how much of it he decides or is decided for him. Throughout the poem he tries to learn how to act and behave in this new way of life because he is trying to find his new identity within this culture. With my own experience social class is a huge part of me because people always call me, “rich, “always get what she wants”, but truly no one knows what my life is like and it tears me down when people say that to me because if they truly knew what my life was like they would think different. Since that tolls an affect on me it teaches me not to call out others because you never know what someone’s life looks like. If you don’t know anything then you shouldn’t assume. Culture has taught me how to behave and act in society. Through “Heritage” by Countee Cullen and my own experience you can see how culture develops and defines a person how to behave and act in society.

Overall Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, and Khaled Hosseini share their writting and shows us the different views culture has on us. Throughout these pieces of literature we can see how education plays a substantial aspect in culture by spreading different ideas among the masses and teaches people to think in a different way than they might have had before, how family portrays a tremendous appearance in culture considering you learn first through family cultural values such as traditions, roles, beliefs, and how we live and how culture determines how we behave and present ourselves in society by influencing individuals through the diversity of communities, including their own. Culture is significant in our world because culture influences our identity by the manner we learn, live and behave.