Cultural Fluidity: Changes in Environment Impact Culture - Essay Sample

Culture can be defined as the characteristics and knowledge of a specific group of individuals and encompasses language, cuisine, social behaviors, and religion. As much as individuals may be willing to hold on culture, changes in the environment, through traveling, technology, circumstances, or social changes, can significantly influence an individual's culture or that of the offspring. Culture can be considered dynamic and thus complicated. Culture can be regarded as fluid instead of static, meaning that culture will always change, in both subtle and tangible ways. The aspect of change can be associated with human interaction as they can express and exchange their cultural methods making it challenging to trace the actual cultural dynamics that are at play as depicted in On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family by Lisa See (See, 2012). The book affirms the assertion that although individual culture can be compelling, all culture that immigrants bring with them is eventually washed away by the acids of the culture the immigrate to, such as the Chinese culture being influenced by the modernity in America. The publication is a representation of several themes, including the immigration experience, laboring in California, race in the late 19th and 20th century, the experience of women in California, inter-generational tensions, and the clash of culture and the personal identity. This review will support the argument that despite the attempt of that traveling generation to hold onto a particular culture, the environment they migrate to influences their behaviors and a larger extent that of their offspring, whose identity is entirely absorbed by the culture they grow into.

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Generations and culture evolve, although the rate may be affected by the location and the older individuals' influences. Generally, culture evolves slowly. In the case analysis of the family history of Lisa Lee, Lisa lives in a reasonably contemporary culture that is different from the culture of Fong See. A lot of the traveling generation traditions are irrelevant as she has been exposed to the American Culture (See, 2012). Though the first generation may have attempted to preserve the Chinese culture, the environment the preceding generation grows in is a blend of modernity that influences the culture's key components.

The first traces of cultural shift are witnessed in the method of doing business, where the Chinese are renowned for their prowess in herbal medicine. This was a culture/knowledge transferred through generations, making Fong Dun Shung able to treat several injured Chinese laborers (See, 2012). One of his son Fong See traced him to Sacramento, where he received the knowledge of herbal medicine. Fong See opened a similar herbal shop, but because of the need for survival and lack of passion in the herbal culture and business, Fong See opened what related to the new environment. In the era of the California Goldrush, prostitution was widespread, which eroded Fong See knowledge of herbal medicine and introduced him to selling outfits unfamiliar to his culture and those that fitted the new fashionable lifestyle of prostitution in California (See, 2012). However, before See could settle on business, he had tried other menial jobs related to the American-Chinese. His passion, however, led to him manufacturing and selling ladies undergarments suited for brothels. This represented the first cultural generation change as Fong drifted away from the traditional herbalist lifestyle.

The second cultural shift was experienced when he met Ticie, a Caucasian lady in her late teenage years who influenced the business model. Her adventurous nature and business-minded character led to Fong See adjusting the business to selling regular ladies’ outfit (See, 2012). The Caucasian families, together with the business laws, were against such an association, which led to her family disowning her, making them migrate to a more accepting culture in Los Angeles. In this scenario, Ticie shifts the long-standing perception of the Caucasians and beliefs that the Chinese are inferior (See, 2012). At the same time, a Chinese and an American marrying translated to an intercultural association that would lead to either adjusting to the culture of the other an aspect that would influence their daily lives.

Chinese had the culture of having an arranged marriage, and as such, before Fong See had traveled to the United States, he had already had a ten-year-old girl, Yong, who he was supposed to marry. However, his stay in America changed the arrangement as he was introduced to the aspect of love and dating, a phenomenon that led to him marrying Ticie for love, instead of the Yong. Fong See, however, traveled to China with Ticie, where he met Yong (See, 2012). After meeting his parents, they informed him that Ticie should be his first and only wife. This was besides the fact that individuals in the century were allowed to have more than one partner in China. The cultural shift may have been influenced by Ticie whose culture was strictly monogamous.

Fong See and Ticie had children who can be termed as mixed race. Being born from parents from different cultural backgrounds, it was impossible to follow one culture (See, 2012) strictly. Although Ticie had embraced a majority of the Chinese culture, particularly the food and customs, she did not bring up her children in the strict Chinese discipline leading to conflict between Fong See and Ticie (See, 2012). This shows that older generations are more susceptible to conformism, where they desire to retain a specific culture through their generation. Fong Dun Shung further depicted the aspect through passing his herbal knowledge to his son and also the desire Fong had for his children to grow in the Chinese discipline. It also shows that it is easier to pass knowledge and culture in the next generation, but it is impossible to repeat the same in the third and preceding generations. Another aspect was introduced where the half-Chinese and half-Caucasian children blend a new theme of closeness since both cultures treated them reservedly (See, 2012). As such, despite the differences between the parents and general treatment, the children were able to retain closeness. The need to retain one's culture increased the strain between the family, an aspect that led to Fong See buying land in China, an act that was opposed by Ticie, leading to separation (See, 2012). The children became more ingrained in the American lifestyle that led to them completely abandoning the Chinese ways of planned marriages in favor of contemporary American culture. By the time Lisa Lee is born, the family lineage is wholly absorbed in the American Lifestyle (See, 2012).

The book's analysis shows how the culture shifts from one generation to the next, leading to an eventual blend of an entirely new culture with no idea of the initial cultural arrangements. The phenomenon may be misunderstood, leading to a generational analysis that is disdained. Though some may argue that that old and young are the same, there are notable differences between the generations influenced by the environment, circumstances, and other developments. For example, aspects such as marriages either from the same culture or a different culture are often associated with generational changes since the two adults are derived from different exposures and backgrounds meaning that their children are most likely to grow in a new subculture, as seen in the children of Fong See and Ticie. Alternatively, circumstances such as the need for survival may lead to individuals shifting from traditional beliefs to newer ways of doing things. For example, the Chinese were renowned for their herbal knowledge aspects that make them the most preferred in treating ailments. However, the going concern, passion, and need to blend in a particular culture led to Fong See, adopting a new business method unfamiliar to the Chinese.

Works Cited

See, L. (2012). On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. Vintage.