Growing Up in a Religious Family Essay

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Most religions have been based around putting their God above all others showing the good and the bad in many people. This mindset he kept practicing of the Hindu religion is shown in the short story “A Father” by Bharati Mukherjee. Mr. Bhowmick the main character lives this miserable life that he puts himself upon based on what his religion says is right or wrong. As a Hindu myself, the author expresses how the father would pray a lot to the Sanskrit Goddess Kali for a more joyful existence while the wife and Babli were agnostic. Reminds me of my parents and how they would also pray constantly to bring happiness and wealth to the family while my brother and I don’t believe that god brings us happiness and wealth. The reason why I chose “A Father” is because it's a story that I can best relate to with the way Mr. Bhowmick is shown in the story and how the family had to deal with him. What stood out to me the most was mostly shown how Mr. Bhowmick was overall and how he would blame god for the life he was living. I see the same connection as my parents because if something happened they would blame god. I want the readers to see how the story “A Father” and her reasoning behind what she wrote could impact immigrants or Indians who dealt and what she faced, in that case, the same way my brother and I once dealt with such situations since we were little. Many similar situations as us kids believing where we were younger that such things happen but they don’t. With these situations many religions being the center above all could affect other people just like Mr. Bhowmick was towards his family and how my brother and I had to deal with growing up. In these situations, there are many similarities that both Bharati and I had in common.

With the many problems that were shown in the text, the biggest problem was putting faith above all else. This behavior can make you do things that can be dangerous and that could occur more often. The story “A Father” and also “Cross-Cultural Quandary in Bharati Mukherjee's A Father '' show how the man Mr. Bhowmick hasn’t adapted to the american culture like how his wife and daughter were. In the story “A Father”, Mr. Bhowmick gets married to a woman and doesn’t love her, which is a custom in Hinduism that was practiced in the 90s. “He recited prayers in Sanskrit to Kali, the patron goddess of his family, the goddess of wrath and vengeance” (Mukherjee 364). This line shows that his religion which is Hinduism, though not a traditional type seen in America, is still an everyday ritual that he keeps sacred even though he has moved to America. This religion does not give him peace, or provide him with life satisfaction. Living at home with both his wife and daughter who were both agnostic and she annoyed his prayers by shutting her out of his life. An example is when the wife calls him for breakfast she annoys her and then blames her. In the same way as how my brother and I were essentially grown up as. We were grown into a strict religious household where my parents would constantly pray to god for us to become the top students in our class and other things our parents wished upon us. Similar to “A Father” we also had a statue of a different god. In the case of the story, Mr. Bhowmich had a statue of the goddess Kali while my parents had mini statues of other gods as well in a small decorative temple that we still have to this date. With also attended every Indian holiday and most of them completed a fast for the entire day which if you do complete it my parents told me that god would be happy for us when we were small. I do see many similarities to Mallum Sile and how he left it to god and let him handle the situation. Also, I see many similarities between Mallum and Mr.Bhowmick when it comes to the aspect that god was the one who did this to their lives. One similarity that all three examples had in common was it was all related to God and how putting faith was their solution.

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Another reason that was shown in the text, the biggest problem was putting faith above all else. This behavior can make you do things that can be dangerous and that could occur more often. One of the behaviors shown in the first example showed how Mr. Bhowmick and my parents were leaving it up to God for the different situations they had. A quote that she stated is “I am American, not Asian-American.' Writer Bharati Mukherjee (1940-2017) Never wanted a label” Sandip Roy stated when she interviewed and said that “I'm very moved by chaos theory, and that sense of energy. That quantum physics. We don't, in Hindu tradition, have a father figure of a God. It's about cosmic energy, a little spark of which is inside every individual as the soul.” This quote shows that in India the majority of the population are Hindus and these practices of god being the father figure are still practiced today as billions of people have statues of their god whom they worship to god in an everyday basis telling god their problems or things they have accomplished. In many of those billions, my family is part of it. From holidays that worship a certain god to praying to god for being alive and blessing the life that I have to be in the position I am in. Seeing how my parents made my brother and I pray to god often shows that they do want us to practice the Hindu religion so that one day when we have kids we could pass that on to them. Seeing that in the case of “A Father” and “Mallam Sile,” they all had one thing in common and that was they both believed in a powerful being which was god and how god is the one who controls their life. Seeing how in both cases they choose god. In the case of Mr. Bhowmick, he blamed god for the life he was living, while in Mallam Sile he let god control his life and how people would turn out. One similarity that all three examples had in common was it was all related to God and how putting faith was their solution.

Finally, another reason that was shown in the text, the biggest problem was putting faith above all else. This behavior can make you do things that can be dangerous and that could occur more often.

Therefore, seeing how in most religions have been based around putting their God above all others showing the good and the bad in many. The powerful being which is god can make someone's life bad in the case of Mr. Bhowmick or in another case change someone's life around by giving them someone to help change their life shows that many people do believe in that path how my parents were. Parents insist that only believers would get rewarded for their actions based upon what they do. In many of these similar situations, billions and billions of people believe that such things happen when you believe in a higher power. Within these situations many religions being the center above all could affect other people just like Mr. Bhowmick was towards his family as his wife and daughter were agnostic, the same way Mallam Sile had his relationship with god, and how my brother and I had to deal with growing up in a religious household. Within these situations, there are many similarities that both Bharati and many other people have in common. 

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Growing Up in a Religious Family Essay. (2024, April 10). Edubirdie. Retrieved December 13, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/growing-up-in-a-religious-family-essay/
“Growing Up in a Religious Family Essay.” Edubirdie, 10 Apr. 2024, edubirdie.com/examples/growing-up-in-a-religious-family-essay/
Growing Up in a Religious Family Essay. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/growing-up-in-a-religious-family-essay/> [Accessed 13 Dec. 2024].
Growing Up in a Religious Family Essay [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2024 Apr 10 [cited 2024 Dec 13]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/growing-up-in-a-religious-family-essay/
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