Cultural Diversity

Running head: DIVERSITY

Cultural Diversity

Krista A. Blanton

Class # 49

Frontier Nursing School

Family Nurse Practitioner

Cultural Diversity

The novel I choose told of four separate stories relating to four different types of cultural background in where family of friends were trying to meddle in the life of a loved one to help them find love and happiness.

I found it interesting how important it was to the Asian family that their daughter becomes married because at the age of 30 it was a disgrace to still be single. All of the stories in the book were of individuals that live in America but who have a rich history and culture in other countries such as: China, Japan, India and Vietnam. This is a book I would have chosen for pleasure on my own, however it was far more interesting to read with a critical eye and keep a focus on diversity among cultures while reading.

While reading the novel I found myself very irritated that the women were struggling so much with their decisions. In one of the stories the daughter could not stand up to her parents who were definitely meddling in her life because she was trying to stay respectful. I had to keep reminding myself that as far as cultures go she had been trained and/or brought up to uphold a tremendous amount of respect for her parents no matter what the situation.

I do not believe myself to be versed in various types of cultures. Since this book dealt with four types of cultures and other required readings dealt with a few more I am pleased to say that I feel to have a general view of several different cultures. I know a little about several.

The book I choose gave a basic knowledge into their dating cultures. In all four of the stories I read it was very important for the women to be married. It is interesting to me that although the women were the main characters when the women found their love interest, finding a mate suitable to family members was just as important to the men and their families.

In this class and others I have taken in my undergraduate work I have learned that it is important to identify how you feel about cultural and ethical issues surrounding health care. If you understand your own belief and value system it definitely helps you accept others beliefs. I do like the alternate term for minority to read vulnerable instead. That was a good suggestion. I think that a negative stigmatism surrounds the word minority. It is very interesting to think of myself as a minority or vulnerable person in regards to my religious affiliation, gender, educational status, and the list could go on. Viewing me in that light can be a humbling experience.

Since I read four different tales in one book and about four different types of cultures it was hard to learn a lot about one type of culture because the story was very short in an effort to fit all four in the book. I believe a common thread in this book was that all four women had a desire to please their parents and they had all been raised in America but still had deep cultural roots.

It seemed that all four of the women felt out of place here in America even though they had been born here.