Reading literature that explores another culture serves as a vast and positive learning experience. By providing material that not necessarilyrelates to the reader's background, a multicultural curriculum opens upthe opportunity for a reader to absorb the material as is, without theinterference of previously gained information or prejudices. Suchmaterials have a tendency to immediately interest and captivate thereader, and therefore can easily integrate in the book cultural andhistorical facts that will be remembered. The Kitchen God's Wife by AmyTan is a perfect example of a fictional novel in the American Literaturecurriculum that expands the students' knowledge of Chinese culture. Thenovel contributes to the reader's understanding of pre-World War IIChinese customs and exposes to the reader information about political andsocial events in China during the World War II time period. Whileproviding a wealth of information, the novel still manages to retain a f!ictional plot that keeps the reader entertained and interests him or herin continuing the reading.The Kitchen God's Wife opens up as a simple modern day narrativeabout a family to which a modern day reader can relate. The story leadsinto a flashback, which almost immediately begins to shower the readerwith examples of Chinese culture and intricate explanations of Chinesecustoms. This overwhelming amount of cultural information is closelywoven into the plot, which combined allows the reader to, withoutrealizing it, understand and remember facts about Chinese ways.Immediately the reader is wrapped up in a world where polygamy andpolytheism are commonly accepted practices, and where all customs arebelieved to be practical. As the story unwinds, the reader is bombardedwith all these multicultural facts, and virtually without realizing it, heor she is exposed to a wealth of information.Not only cultural but also political and social events arepresented throughout the book. Th...
