compare and contrast

Maxinne Hong Kingston 's The Woman Warrior ' and Jhumpa Lahiri 's Interpreter of Maladies ' shared a common motivation in their collection of short stories which is to show consequences of living between two distinct ways of life . However , beyond this general convergence , specific elements of their stories are unlike each other Kingston narrates the outcomes of living between a Chinese and American life while Lahiri chooses to show the products of living between an Indian and American life . With this , their stories are separated by history , myths and beliefs of one society

(e .g . Chinese or Indian ) to the other (e .g . American . These differences are largely observed from the decisions of characters opt to select when confronted by a difficult situation . The characters are faced with conflicts either from Chinese or Indian issues against American issues and vice versa . As a result the decision variables of characters in Kingston as having Chinese-American inputs vary greatly from the decision variables of characters in Lahiri as having Indian-American inputs

The disempowerment of women is more prevalent in Chinese than Indian culture . Kingston 's individual stories in No Name Woman ' and At the Western Palace ' ended with women tragically ending their life due to helplessness and misery of a failed marriage and family . Giving birth on a pigsty led a single parent to demean her status and curse her fate while the inability of an abandoned wife to learn even a single English language or to acknowledge its adverse effects led her to suffer painful and failed search for her husband . On the other hand , Lahiri 's individual stories in Temporary Matter , A Real Durwan , Mrs Sen 's , This Blessed House ' and The Treatment of Bibi Haldar showed how women particularly on a role of a wife can express her own persistence and independence amid conflicts with a dominating husband There are at least three Lahiri 's stories to back this up : a wife who had a miscarriage needed not to result a disadvantaged status in the eyes of her husband , a disregarded wife is free to alleviate her loneliness and the lack of marriage time from her husband by having a chance to get busy in her own terms , and a wife can have a strong will and personality even as far as challenging husband 's religious principles just to express her own identity

In Chinese culture , Kingston revealed that the most effective way for women and wives to elevate their social and family status is to become a civil leader or shaman practitioner . This is told in White Tigers and Shaman ' where a warrior named Fa Mulan led an army to dismantle the social shackles placed by a corrupt emperor while the shaman known as the Brave Orchid is able to treat both earthy and unearthly causes of health diss . There are minimal opportunities that Chinese women can prove their potency in other fields and roles to neutralize Chinese men in their dominant stance . Indian society , in the reverse , has...