Culture in its broad sense is the cultivated behavior; this is the whole experience of the

educated person, the accumulated socially transmitted, or, in short, behavior through social
learning. Culture is a way of life for a group of people - the behaviors, beliefs, values and
symbols they accept, generally without thinking about, that are transmitted through
communication and tradition from generation to generation. Every culture is different from
the other. The customs and traditions are different between East and West, or even in the
East itself! When two collisions collide together, this phenomenon is called "cultural
encounters", an old idea that was acquired by wars, migrations, tourism, and others. It can
affect the identity of the person, their personality, their way of dealing, or their culture as a
whole. English literature is full of stories about "cultural encounters," one of which is
"Martha, Martha" by author Zaidi Smith.

Zadi Smith was born in London to a Jamaican and an English father. She is the author of
White Teeth and Autograph Man & on Beauty, which was nominated for the Man Booker
Prize in 2005 and won the Orange Award for Fantasy in 2006. Zaidi integrates cultures
together, in her novels and stories. The story of "Martha, Martha" tells the confluence of the
American and Nigerian cultures, depicting Martha - an English father and a Nigerian mother -
as well as Joseph the Moroccan married to an English woman. This "convergence" is adapted
from her own life, and she emphasizes by choosing her own words on the same principle.
For example, "Mid-Western by birth" is used to describe Bam, and it shows that Joseph's
house is "shabby" compared to the professor's house.