The Arranged Marriage Summary

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Throughout the course of history, storytelling has been an extremely popular method of preserving tradition and culture, as well as detailing significant events occurring in a particular society. The tradition of reciting stories through various oral methods resulted in the creation of poems, which are literary works typically rich in intensity, expression, and feelings. Poems, which are nearly always rhythmical and metaphorical, can effectively be used to study the culture and tradition of a particular society. Asian Americans, whom have a vast history of creating descriptive cultural poetry and literature, have played a vital role in contributing to the study of various Asian ideals and cultures. Since the early 1970’s, which marked the beginning of Asian Americans’ recognition in “mainstream academia, over 50 Asian American studies programs, centers, and institutes have been established to further promote the study of Asian American” culture and literature (Harriet, par.2). An excellent example of two notable Asian American poets can be seen in Svati Shah and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, whose literary works can be found in Shirly Lim’s Asian American Literature:An Anthology. Both authors explicitly detail the several characteristics of their…show more content…
Svati Sha is said to be a Southeast Asian born in 1971 (Lim 118). She is a social activist, and has written several poems and literary works in a variety of anthologies (Lim 118). Lim states that Sha’s poem tells the story of an Americanized Southeast Asian woman’s visit to an ethnic restaurant (Lim118). The purpose of her visit is to create a connection with her heritage through the traditional foods of her native country, India. It is a warm and touching poem which details a woman’s longing for the culture she left when she came to

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