Acculturation and Assimilation in Bharati Mukherjee’s The Middleman and other Stories

Abstract

The present research paper focuses mainly on the problems of acculturation and assimilation in the host culture, faced by the immigrants in Bharati Mukherjee’s anthology The Middleman and other stories. Culture is a collective world of ideals, activities, processes, institutions and norms through which an individual recognizes, defines and affirms his or her own human identity as an integral part of a larger group collectively. Acculturation is a cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adopting or borrowing qualities from another culture. Acculturation happens when people of two or more cultures come closer to one another and also exchange their beliefs, customs, traditions, clothing styles, food types etc. Acculturation brings new ways of living, thinking and acting among different cultures. Bharati Mukherjee’s own experiences of racial discrimination and marginalization in Canada as an expatriate, immigrant sensibilities in the United States and finally acculturation and assimilation in American culture finds its reflection in her works.