A Cross Between Two Cultures: Bharati Mukherjee's A Father and Anjana Appachana's The Prophecy

"The Father" and "The Prophecy" are short stories written by Indian women, and they both deal with a very controversial topic: pregnancy out of wedlock. It is more controversial in Indian countries than in the 1^st world Western nations. Although India's social codes have decreased in strictness a great amount, they are still much stricter than what many in the U.S. are accustomed to. Both stories bring up ideas related to the differences between one culture and another. They make the readers questions what should be morally correct and who should decide. They bring into the light the challenges that a person who is tightly interwoven with two cultures might have.

Geographical settings of a story can literally make a difference between life and death. What may be considered socially wrong, but acceptable in one country, may be considered an unforgivable sin that should be harshly punished in another-this is the case in both the stories. In Indian culture, a woman becoming pregnant out of wedlock is breaking an extreme social law. In "The Prophecy," when the character Amrita relays to the narrator, "Last year, our neighbor's daughter got pregnant. She threw herself in front of a passing train. Her parents refused to claim her body. And my father said, that is how it should be." (491) , it is demonstrated that in India, many believe that death is considered to be better than shaming the family with an out of wedlock pregnancy. Generally in Western life, this situation would be frowned upon. Yet, in most cases, death would not be considered a better option. In "A Father," the narrator, Mr. Bhowmick, has to face the difficult problem of following his Indian culture while living in a more liberal Western world. He reveals this in his reverie when he thinks to his self about his unwed pregnant daughter, "Babli would abort, of course...It was the only possible option if she didn't want to bring shame to the Bhowmick family." (87) However, later on, he reveals his belief that much of the fault lies in the Western culture when he says to his wife, "It's your fault. You made us come to the States."