Maureen Down, Tea Obreht and Stephanie Elizondo - Essay Example

The third reading by Griest is set in Moscow, Beijing and Havana. These three places are defined by diversity of practices in relation to cultural and social aspects, all of which the author presents her experiences across the all the three places. In all the readings, the visits made by the writers are characterized by local customs practices, all of which are uniquely undertaken in every city highlighted in the readings. In other words, the three readings depict a lot of local customs, an outstanding similarity in all the three readings.

Saudi Arabia is slowly opening its social and economic doors to the international world. Amid this progress, there are limitations that her social context has to overcome to allow this process. The Saudi Arabian society has previously observed locked tourism doors, but Maureen Dowd presents the new phase in Saudi Arabia in relation to tourism pursuits. In so doing, the persons to whom these doors are open are limited, and only highly knowledgeable fellows are welcome in Saudi Arabia. The most significant account that cannot fail to be captured in Saudi Arabia is misogyny.

Being an Islamic state, Saudi Arabia has a notable disregard for women. In other words, they are inferior to men, and thus highly submissive. The cultural and social context of Saudi Arabia is characterized by enormous and rich local customs that are unique to every single social setting observed here. The dominant local custom is the position of women in the cultural, social, economic and political aspects. There are legal provisions that restrict women from engaging in certain activities that cut across the aforementioned aspects.

Practices that women engage in are highly monitored, and any deviations from the norms are highly punishable. Maureen Dowd (55) quotes, “A Saudi woman can’t even report harassment by a man without having a mahram, or male guardian, by her side.” Amid the integration of international practices in the social context of Saudi Arabia, this local custom remains uniquely observed, and few women, if not none are up to violate this custom. "Twilight of the vampires" by Tea Obreht presents an account of a vampire-like society, where there seems to be a hunt of undead real people.

In a nutshell, the reading is an account of unfortunate events that befall Tea Obreht in daily quests and interests in life. The Serbia and Belgrade simultaneous happenings pose a bad omen to what the author, the mother, the grandmother and the journalist are supposed to partake. Amid the devil-like interventions that Tea Obreht experiences, the spirit to press on remains vibrant. The underlying dilemma in "Twilight of the vampires" provides an opportunity to note the customs and practices undertaken in the Balkans society.

The most notable local custom in this environment is the one realized from Tea Obreht (19) quote, “Whereas garlic, holy water, and crucifixes are commonly accepted apotropaic across the Balkans, scissors under the bed are also popular, as is the black-handled knife buried in the doorstep to cleave incoming evil in half.” Cities highlighted in the "Twilight of the vampires" to practice this custom as a way of dealing with incoming devils or bad luck. Stephanie Elizondo Griest’s text is rich in cultural diversity.

The text presents and