Culture is a major part of every day life. It helps individuals identify with a group and relate to others. Authors in literature tend to use culture in many stories. In "A Pair Tickets" by Amy Tan and "House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, the authors chose to let culture influence their stories.
In " A Pair of Tickets" Tan uses culture through out the story. The main Character Jing-mei decides to go to China for the first time to find herself and meet her sisters. In doing so Jing-mei finds herself and learns of her Asian heritage. Growing up in the Unites States Jing-mei had no need to identify with her Asian roots. Eventually at 36 years old she realized in order to learn more about herself she needed to identify with her heritage. By the end of her journey Jing-mei realizes she was always Chinese. She understood the importance of culture in her life.
In "The House on Mango Street" Cisneros chooses to show culture through the eyes of a young girl named Esperanza. Although this character is much younger than that of Jin-mei she still begins to understand her place in the world. Esperanza realizes her family is not well off. They buy a house that young Esperanza is not very proud of. Finding a cultural identity can come at different ages and in many different ways.
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Cultural identity is the central theme here as well as simply finding oneself.
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