English literature texts

Both Rohinton Mistry's "Squatter" and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's "Decolonizing the Mind" utilize literature to challenge the idea of a uniform national and cultural identity, primarily through the means of depicting situations in which there are clashes of culture. Both are cautionary tales that warn against the forsaking of one's initial, primary heritage in exchange for a Westernized adaptation. The primary difference between the two works lies in the perspectives of both the authors and the events which affect the characters in the stories: Mistry's does so from the perspective of assimilation, while Thiong'o's does so from the perspective of suppression.

That Mistry's short story, definitely farcical in nature, is a warning to those who risk abandoning their culture in favor of willfully assimilating to another, is evident from the subject matter: that of a triumphant Parsi young man settling into Canada to become a fully integrated Westerner....
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