It Was The Custom

"She said that very often-- ' It was the custom.' The native servants were always saying it. If one told them to do a thing their ancestors had not done for a thousand years they gazed at one mildly and said, ' It is not the custom' and one knew that was the end of the matter,"

(Burnett, 19).

I really like this quote so I decided to do an entry on it... It kind of brings to mind everything that I've learned about in my LING 307 class this semester. It's a class about language and culture and so this quote is very applicable to the class, as it discusses varying cultures. In India, Mary had a very easy life. Everything was done for her. She didn't even have to dress herself. When she is uprooted her life is turned upside down. She has to learn to do things for herself, she has to grow up.

Likewise, when people move cross country they have to adjust to a new life as things are different. For instance, in the south I've found people to be more friendly. When I went to D.C one time I found people to be extremely rude. When ordering food at a fast-food restaurant in a mall the people working there kind of snapped at us. They weren't polite and instead of greeting us and asking us what we wanted they merely asked us what we wanted. It doesn't sound too bad, but they really took a serious tone with us. I remember after that that someone in our group ran into a guy's wife and he got very confrontational with the kid in our group. I know that I shouldn't make my assumptions based off of this one, or these two experiences but I guess I have. And it wasn't just that one experience; I make that judgement based on other experiences...

When people move across oceans and continents the culture shock is big. It isn't just that people are unfriendly- people are completely different. For instance, we were talking about hospitality in varying cultures in class recently and someone mentioned that they had known of a missionary family who had gone on furlough. When they got back the friends of the missionaries greeted them and cooked for them. The meal consisted of the missionaries pet dog, I think. I don't remember if it was a dog or another animal but they did eat the meal. They wanted to show that they were polite and thankful for the hospitality. In another culture, I think this happened in Samoa, a man served his wife, to a guest. It's gross huh?

Anyway, my point is that customs differ from one place to another. I was stoked to find this quote as it kind of fit within the realm of LING 307 and that I could write about this... And I am glad to say that Mary does change. It was kind of a relief that she did, because it seemed kind of annoying that she was so unwilling to change. But, I postulate that she acted how she did because she missed her parents and her home. Rebelling was kind of way to embrace her past and to keep to what she knew.

So, I think that wraps it up for now... I should go.