The Gospel According To Mark Essay

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Different cultures have different values, and more often than not, these values tend to clash when cultures come together. In “The Gospel According to Mark”, cultural conflict is shown through the consequences of introducing new thoughts and beliefs to people who are foreign to them. “The Gambler” portrays cultural conflict by describing the actions of a person from one culture who is among people of another culture. The Gutres family was “barely articulate”. This contrasted dramatically with Espinosa’s skills of reading novels and the Bible. Espinosa thinks of himself as a freethinker, but the Gutres family regards him as a holy savior. “When the family literally crucifies their Christ, their actions reveal the greater irony of the story,…show more content…
He was born in Thailand and spent a considerable amount of time living there. He has retained a vast amount of culture from his homeland that clashes with American culture. “Every week I go to temple and pray for them, light incense and make a triple bow to Buddha, Damma, and Sangha, and pray that they may have a good rebirth, and then I step into the light and noise and vibrancy of America.” The narrator, Ong, prefers to write stories that he thinks are important, but his boss and coworkers do not find these stories interesting because they produce almost no revenue. The “American” press is different to him because in Thailand news were spread a different way. “Real news came on the wings of rumor, stole into our house at midnight, sat with us and sipped coffee and fled before the call of roosters could break the stillness. It was in the dark, over a burning cigarette that you learned Vilaphon had disappeared or that Mr. Saeng’s wife had been beaten as a warning. Real news was too valuable to risk in public.” This cultural difference did not allow him to progress in his career. In the end of the story, Ong realizes that he will not change his cultural ways. “My father gambled on Thoreau. I am my father’s

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