Read "Two Ways to Belong in America" (pp. 849) and "White Trash Primer" (pp. 852). After reading, answer the following questions: Both essays are about different ways to be in America—different ways to live, different ways to see yourself and be seen by others. Compare and contrast Mukherjee's and Johnson's essays. Which do you find more stirring? More persuasive? Imagine a conversation between the authors on the subject of culture. How might their definitions be similar and how might they be different? Your answers must be between 250-400 words.

In both texts, the concept of culture is considered; and ultimately, the focus of the texts shifts to how culture is flexible and evolves. Both "White Trash Primer" and "Two Ways to Belong in America" discuss how someone can change their culture to adjust to the opportunity that America provides.
In "White Trash Primer" the author addresses the struggle of working-class white Americans. At the start, her family struggles to eke out a living working on a farm, and the narrator falls works, despite being underage. The work that the author does at the start of the story and the subsequent sex-work she does is indicative of her social class, as well as her own view of herself and her station in life. She drops out of college to help her family make ends meet, and she operates in survival mode through the first half of the story.
Her vision of an evolving culture is what links her to the mindset of the author of "Two Ways." Like in "Two Ways," the protagonist of "White Trash Primer" eventually sees a choice. Her vision of herself transforms in the story and helps her to see beyond her upbringing and the mindset it taught her. She goes to college and seeks to make something new.
That transformation is similar to what the author of "Two Ways" talks about in her own choices to marry outside her ethnic group and to become an American citizen. Both authors see culture as something malleable. It can change and evolve, and those who participate in it can stay in one culture or move to another. The flow from one culture to another is seen as distinct in both stories, and the authors would share the idea that cultures may interact, but they rarely mix.
However, the authors might disagree with each other over the role of choice. In "White Trash Primer," the protagonist can move from one culture to another, and she makes a conscious decision to do so, but her parents don't have that same ability. Her choice is the result of privilege and not something that everyone within the culture has access to, as a rule.
In "Two Ways to Belong in America," the author treats cultural participation as entirely a choice. She is an immigrant who accepted citizenship while her sister preferred to stay a legal immigrant rather than a citizen. The concept of poverty does not figure into the narrative, and intersectionality seems to be foreign to her experience. She treats the acceptance of culture as a choice entirely—between her and her sister, it is all down to their desire, not their means.

To answer this question, I will first summarize each text. Then, I will take both sides—that of Mukherjee and Johnson.
Mukherjee's work is a personal essay about her and her sister Mira's different experience as immigrants in America. Mira, despite living in the US for more than 30 years, has retained her Indian citizenship and plans to retire to her home country eventually. On the other hand, Mukherjee has full American citizenship status and has assimilated completely into American culture. Mukherjee insists that the "self-transformation" she underwent as an immigrant makes her experience more meaningful and more satisfying that her sister's, who feels no real connection to American society or culture.
Lacy Johnson's "White Trash Primer" is a fictional short story about a young, lower class, Southern girl whose attempts at achieving upward mobility are often frustrated by her family's circumstances. The girl drops out of college and gets a job at the "fancy" Wal-Mart in order to help pay for her mother's medical bills related to her cancer diagnosis. The protagonist eventually returns to university at her mother's urging. Embarrassed of her family's poverty, the girl realizes that she is the only one with the power to change her situation.
The second part of this question asks which piece you find more stirring or persuasive. If you went with Mukherjee's piece, you could say that it is her desire to truly belong to her community that is the driving force behind her assimilation, and is not due to a wish to abandon her Indian heritage. If you say that Johnson's piece is better, you might discuss how she uses regionalism and dialect to capture the struggles of lower-class people in the US and how they can overcome these struggles through hard work and education.
If Mukherjee were to define culture, she would most likely say it is the culmination of one's clothes, interests, and rights. Throughout her piece, she frequently mentions how she abandoned her family's centuries-old traditions in favor of tee shirts, jeans, pop culture, and her "immigrant nobody" identity. As a result, she would likely say that culture is something we choose.
Johnson, on the other hand, might define culture differently. She seems to assert through her story that one can transcend their upbringing but will never escape their culture. Despite the girl's educational aspirations, she still retains her "white trash" identity and culture. Still, Johnson and Mukherjee would likely agree that, in order to live happily in the US, it is necessary to embrace one's culture.