A generation gap is clearly evident between Rosie and Tome in the story. Rosie was born and resides in the United States, whereas her mother was born and raised in Japan. This implies that Rosie is living in the second generation and experiencing both the American culture and the Japanese culture. When Rosie goes to school, she is more Americanized. She enjoys performing excerpts from many American movies for her friend Chizuko. This helps one to understand for her lack of interest in learning or understanding haiku when she is home with her mother.

On the other hand, Tome spent most of her youth immersed in the Japanese culture. At the age of 18, the man she loved was given an arranged marriage to another woman. "...a

In conclusion, cultural conflict is an issue that carries along many factors. The factors of language, generation gap, and teenager versus mother help one to further understand Rosie and Tome's characters. In "Seventeen Syllables," cultural conflict becomes a big issue because it prevents two of its main characters from understanding each other. However, it helps explain why Rosie's behavior towards her mother might be different from that of other daughters who live within the same culture as their mothers'.

Conversely, Tome is a haiku writer, which indicates that Japanese language is what she prefers. The only similarity that Tome shares with Rosie is that they both live in the United States. The major difference between the two is that instead of becoming an American writer, which may force her to adapt more to the English language, Tome chooses to stick to writing haiku, a poem that originated in Japan. Moreover, she also chooses to compose these haiku for Mainichi Shimbun, a daily newspaper published in San Francisco. This implies that Tome is serious about writing them. In addition, her devotion to writing haiku is noticeable from all the effort that she puts into her work. She has conversations with her relatives and friends about them, and more importantly, she wins a prize for writing one. The writing of haiku, the

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Approximate Word count = 904
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)