Torn Between Two....Cultures.

One of the things I found most interesting while reading Power was how the narrator, Omishto, consistently talks about how her mother and Aunt Ama are so different. Her mother seems to be very modernized and believes in the traditional Western ideals. Aunt Ama, however, seems to act and believe in ways more traditional to the "ancient" ways; the way of the elders. I found it interesting the way that Omishto has relationships with both women and how their beliefs constantly mesh, leaving our narrator almost forced to "pick a side." It is like two parralls really; the way that Omishto is being raised in a mostly Westernized civilization, in the way that her schooling is modern, but her relationship with Ama pulls towards the older ways as well. Eventually, I believe this novel is about Omishto having to make a choice about which side to believe in, and perhaps that final choice is to make no choice at all....taking the pros from both sides.

One line that caught my eye was on page 22. "She [Ama] was going to be proud of what she is in a way the rest of us are not, in a way my mother has never been." I felt like that line was making the difference between the two main women in Omishto's life even more vast. It seems to set up the idea that these two women, although alike in the way that they have a relationship with Omishto, are from almost two completely different worlds, or at least believe in different ideals.